Chapter 5 examines what happened to women who did not conform, the troublemakers and heretics who refused to adhere to the expectations of their faith and their societies. This chapter offers a case study of Ann Hibbens, who exemplifies the dangers to women who transgressed gendered boundaries. The wife of a wealthy and well-regarded man, Hibbens faced censure charges when she disputed the work and fees of a carpenter she hired. While negotiating such work fell within the boundaries of wifely duties, challenging a man in business did not. In her censure process, Ann did not adhere to the expectations for a female sinner and was resolute that she was right and refused to submit to the authority of men. Any deviance or defiance of the social norms branded women as suspect, and Ann’s determination to spar with men made her very dangerous. When her husband died, leaving her unprotected, she went from a troublesome woman to a witch. The costs were high for such women in early New England.

Puritans kept records of disciplinary practices, recording the censures, sins, admonitions, and confessions of members who strayed. By analyzing types of sins, punishments, and the language of confessions, this book reveals how Puritans altered the expression and practice of their faith, creating a “gendered Puritanism.” Examining more than fifteen congregations for the first three generations, this book shows how ordinary laymen shaped the gender conventions of Puritanism, challenging the ideas of ministers and reifying more traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity. Through the gendering of Puritanism, laymen contributed to the modern ideology of separate spheres, reifying public spaces for men and relegating women to the private space of personal piety. Chapter 1 explains the founding of the Dorchester congregation and the establishment of their covenants and disciplinary practices. Chapter 2 explores how laity charged men and women with different types of sins. Chapter 3 analyzes the language of confessions and the varied expectations for men and women. Chapters 4 and 5 explore the censures of John Underhill and Anne Hibbens, to illustrate the gendering of Puritanism.