75% to 80% of the killed victims were women, though, so it was mostly terrorism against women, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt#Execution_statistics

I seem to remember hearing that the final score in Salem being nineteen women and one man. Given this data, trivial statistical analysis tells us that the use of "witch hunt" in this context is 95% sexist, a value well within the margin of error.

Only if you ignore all witch hunts outside Salem. That would be incredibly US-centric.

Bertrand Guilladot and Louis Debaraz come to mind.

Anyhow, that completely misses the point - that witch trials were based on a presumption of guilt against which no defense could be made. Much like the way certain media sites attack people.

Literature review and meta-analysis seemed out of scope, considering the comment to which I replied. (And I seem to've fallen into the HN trap of being too straight-faced about a smart-assed comment.)

21 were executed, 6 male. Regardless, in common use, when someone uses the term 'witch hunt', it's gender-neutral.

Citizen, surely you need no reminding that so-called "gender neutrality" is merely a sexist excuse for the ongoing structural oppression of women and gender-fluid individuals.