On 1 March 2026, my new book will be published. It is called: Five Evil Women: Hindley, West, Wuornos, Homolka, Tucker (Reaktion Books). So, I have decided to re-post a few talks I gave on 'evil women'. These are some of the women who did not make it into the book version. The woman for today is the Evil Queen in Snow White. Each generation invents evil. And evil women have incited our imaginations since Eve first plucked that apple. One of my favourites evil women is the

Each generation invents evil. And evil women have incited our imaginations since Eve first plucked that apple. One of my favourites evil women is the Evil Queen in the story of Snow White. She is the archetypical ageing woman: post-menopausal and demonised as the ugly hag, malicious crone, and depraved witch. She is evil, obscene, and threatening because of her familiarity with the black arts, her skills in mixing poisonous potions, and her possession of a magic mirror. She