Sihir Perempuan

There is always stigma about women, there are always names―bitch, witch; and even when people point their finger at a man and curse him they will say “son of a bitch”, son of a female dog. In our culture there are not only a few myths and ghost stories filled with female spirits depicted in every horrible, miserable, frightening way; and these stories are commonly widespread, perpetuated through word-of-mouth and told from generation to generation. And, unfortunately, the message is one and always the same: women are bad, or, there are just so many bad women (physically or otherwise). The stereotype needs to be broken, the representation needs to be reshaped―that if we don’t want to live a miserable life believing that we women are all “evils”. Sihir Perempuan is Intan Paramaditha’s obvious, courageous attempt at doing so. The eleven short stories on its list show her determination to break down women’s “bad” stereotype by displaying, quite the opposite, the “bad” representation that the society usually attaches to them. The “bad” representation used here intends to bend not only the common narrative about women but also the women’s characterization itself so readers can see them as “human beings”, can see that the “bad stereotype” is debatable, and with this “bad stereotype” women have fallen victim so unfairly.