We have few historical examples of women who refused to play their roles as scripted. One of these rarities is an anonymous eyewitness account of the beheading of a twenty-year old girl for murder in Appenzell, Switzerland in 1849, a girl whose last name was Koch and whose first name is not recorded. Far from a dignified tragedy able to impart its edifying moral, her execution became a grotesque horror show, and for one simple reason: Girl Koch refused to play along. Our witness relates that she ‘was visited diligently by the local priests in order to prepare her for her near end. Nevertheless, the unhappy woman […] was so little able to accept the thought of death that, in her despair, she refused the solace of religion and declared being unable to die.’ Girl Koch was dragged by four strong men to the scaffold, fighting tooth and nail all the way, drowning out both the priest’s attempts to console her and the public reading of the sentence with her screams. Because she refused to hold still, the executioner was unable to lop off her head. At this point, the senior judge presiding over the execution hastily conferred with the city council, asking whether the execution should still go ahead, and received the laconic reply that it was now the executioner’s job to deal with her. This unprecedented interruption of an execution in progress indicates two things: it shows the extent to which a successful execution depended on the cooperation of the condemned—so much so that Girl Koch’s tumultuous resistance actually raised the question whether it would not be better to postpone her beheading or cancel it altogether. And it eloquently documents that the authorities saw the execution as far more than merely punishment of the culprit; its primary purpose was its hoped-for salutary effect on witnesses. The story ends as it must: after further protracted screaming and struggling, a man from the audience advised the executioner to tie Girl Koch’s long braid to a staff and then force her head upward while holding her body down, and thus Girl Koch was finally beheaded.

this article got me thinking. it must be terribly heartbreaking to see such a scene. what do you think?

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/why-executions-were-gendered-affair/

 

Our particular interest in female executions is a fantasy, and a key part of the fantasy is that the victim plays along. Scenes like this don't lend themselves to the fantasy.

 

Absolutely, Sam. That is the whole point. Reciprocity, consent, the fantasy shared. It's not about coercion or force. That is anathema. Fantasy is the crucial word here. Harming people is NOT the name of the game.

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