Werewoman

Lore & Background

Historical accounts include sixth-century Lebanon, where villages attacked by werewomen were advised by a local holy man to be baptised and take collective ritual preventive measures. A 1591 broadside, sometimes cited as 'Werewolves of Jurich' and attributed to Georg Kress, depicts male and female werewolves being executed, some wearing nun's veils; however, this specific title and printer are unverified and not recorded in standard bibliographies of werewolf literature. In 1601, French jurist Henry Boguet reported a woodsman who cut off a wolf's paw that turned into a woman's hand, recognized as his wife's; she was burned alive. Lewis Spence recorded an Armenian belief that a demon would command a sinful woman to wear a wolf's skin, after which she would spend seven years as a wolf at night, devouring children, then resume human form by morning. A Liberian legend tells of a lazy husband who asks his wife to shape-shift into a leopard to hunt; after transforming, she terrorizes him until he agrees to hunt again.

Reader's Guide

Werewomen occupy a distinctive place in the history of therianthropy, challenging the male-dominated narrative of lycanthropy. In early modern Europe, the line between werewolf and witch was blurred; some witches could transform into dogs or wolves, and witch trials sometimes mention witches riding wolves. Jean de Nynauld discussed werewolf magic ointments in 1615, though he viewed lycanthropy as a mental illness caused by hallucinogenic compounds. In late nineteenth-century Asaba, Nigeria, witches were often thought to be werewomen, with a close connection between all women and witchcraft. In LGBT culture, the term 'werewoman' has a different meaning: a man who transforms into a woman at night, possibly on a full Moon, a theme explored in internet fantasy fiction and graphic novels. In Victorian fiction, werewomen as wolves were used to explore women's rights and sexuality, as in Clemence Housman's The Were-Wolf and works by Frederick Marryat. Modern popular fiction includes C. L. Moore's 1938 short story 'Werewoman', Marvel comics featuring Tigra the Were-woman, and the 2012 novel Hemlock Grove with a werewolf girl.

Did You Know?

• In sixth-century Lebanon, villages attacked by werewomen were advised to be baptised and take collective ritual preventive measures.
• In a Liberian legend, a lazy husband asked his wife to shape-shift into a leopard to hunt, but she terrorized him until he agreed to hunt again.
• In late nineteenth-century Asaba, Nigeria, witches were often thought to be werewomen, and a close connection was thought to exist between all women and witchcraft.