Mad, Bad, or Reasonable? Newspaper Portrayals of the Battered Woman Who Kills

Noh, Marianne S.; Lee, Matthew T.; Feltey, Kathryn M.

doi:10.1007/s12147-010-9093-9

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…Although, as noted above, battered women who kill their abusive partners cannot use evidence of BWS to support a defence of loss of control, the fact that these women can still present themselves as battered means that they are labelled as victims. The image of helplessness associated with a battered woman has promoted '[a] collective understanding of the battered woman as a person whose identity is predominantly that of a victim' ( [14], p. 113). Indeed, the labelling of these women as victims sits well with gender discourse, particularly the idea that women are '[s]ubject to control at the hands of their partners and a patriarchal society' [4].…”

Section: Loss Of Control-battered Women Who Kill As Victimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using this explanation of madness fails to acknowledge that battered women who kill were acting in justifiable self-defence. Indeed, labelling a battered woman who kills her abusive partner as mad and denying her agency is in contrast to the feminist jurisprudence model which '[e]xplains the battered woman who kills as … a rational individual who defended herself under reasonable life-threatening circumstances' ( [14], p. 116).…”

Section: Diminished Responsibility-battered Women Who Kill As Madmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“The Mad”, “The Bad”, “The Victim”: Gendered Constructions of Women Who Kill within the Criminal Justice System

Weare

2013

Laws

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Women commit significantly fewer murders than men and are perceived to be less violent. This belief about women’s non-violence reflects the discourses surrounding gender, all of which assume that women possess certain inherent essential characteristics such as passivity and gentleness. When women commit murder the fundamental social structures based on appropriate feminine gendered behaviour are contradicted and subsequently challenged. This article will explore the gendered constructions of women who kill within the criminal justice system. These women are labelled as either mad, bad or a victim, by both the criminal justice system and society, depending on the construction of their crime, their gender and their sexuality. Symbiotic to labelling women who kill in this way is the denial of their agency. That is to say that labelling these women denies the recognition of their ability to make a semi-autonomous decision to act in a particular way. It is submitted that denying the agency of these women raises a number of issues, including, but not limited to, maintaining the current gendered status quo within the criminal law and criminal justice system, and justice both being done, and being seen to be done, for these women and their victims

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Section: Loss Of Control-battered Women Who Kill As Victimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Diminished Responsibility-battered Women Who Kill As Madmentioning

confidence: 99%

“The Mad”, “The Bad”, “The Victim”: Gendered Constructions of Women Who Kill within the Criminal Justice System

Weare

2013

Laws

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“…This is particularly the case following serious physical assaults (Berrington and Honkatukia, 2002) and homicide (Ashley, 2008). As such, according to Noh et al (2010), social constructions of women's violence alleviate responsibility. In addition, Sjoberg (2010) suggests that these constructions are problematic in that they maintain gender inequality and obscure the underlying reasons why female-perpetrated violence occurs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender representations of female perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Walker¹,

Ashby

Gredecki

et al. 2018

Jnl Aggress Conflict Peace Res

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Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to understand the constructions of female-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) among postgraduate (PG) students studying and preparing for a career in forensic psychology. A social constructionist methodological framework was adopted in order to explore students' dominant discourses surrounding gender and IPV. Of particular interest was how female perpetrators of IPV within heterosexual relationships were constructed and subsequently positioned by students in terms of social and gender identity. Implications regarding future practice for graduates in relation to risk assessment and treatment interventions are discussed. Design/methodology/approach-Six female PG forensic students took part in a qualitative focus group and discussed their understanding of IPV and views regarding perpetration. Focus group members were also asked to discuss details of a vignette depicting a violent relationship where gender identity was purposefully removed. The focus group interview data were analysed using Foucauldian discourse analysis. Findings-The students constructed IPV as a behaviour that was predominantly perpetrated by men towards women. Students acknowledged that female-perpetrated IPV occurred; however, such behaviour was constructed as non-threatening, and subsequently, less serious than male-perpetrated IPV. Moreover, the analysis revealed that the overall discourses drawn on by the students projected a feminine representation of female IPV that positioned women as emotionally unstable, vulnerable and acting in self-defence. Research limitations/implications-Students' constructions of female-perpetrated IPV appeared to minimise aggression. It is argued that the positioning of women in terms of vulnerability serves to undermine any responsibility for perpetrating violence among this group of students. In terms of implications for practice, oversimplified assumptions in relation to gendered constructions have the potential to inhibit female IPV from being recognised as a serious form of aggression, and it is argued that this could potentially bias assessments of risk leading to an underestimation of threat. Female perpetrators of IPV may subsequently receive inadequate supervision and intervention and inadequate levels of victim safety planning may occur. These gendered constructions may also inhibit male victims from seeking help and help being offered. Originality/value-This paper highlights the importance of understanding constructions of IPV among students who are preparing for careers as a forensic psychology practitioner. Female IPV is clearly challenging. With respect to the social construction of IPV, the students in this study made many assumptions about female identity by linking this to feminine and essentialist ideas that constrain women as emotionally and biologically vulnerable. Such findings raise questions about whether future training and study programmes are equipped to critically challenge the dominant discourses and subsequent constructions of gender and IPV....

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“…Drawing upon the existing literature which recognises the labelling of filicidal women as 'bad', 'mad' or 'sad' [see for example, 22,23,25,35], I take this further by exploring how these dominant narrative identities emerge in the macro-narratives of sentencing remarks, and case law, as well as critically engaging with the consequences of such narrative typifications and identity constructions. More specifically, I argue that in cases involving filicidal women, judicial and legal rhetoric typically creates a macro-narrative that is focused primarily around agency denial and the discursive construction of narrative identities for the filicidal mother as either 'bad', 'mad' or 'sad'.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bad, Mad or Sad? Legal Language, Narratives, and Identity Constructions of Women Who Kill their Children in England and Wales

Weare

2016

Int J Semiot Law

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In this article I explore the ways in which legal language, discourses, and narratives construct new dominant identities for women who kill their children. These identities are those of the 'bad', 'mad', or 'sad' woman. Drawing upon and critiquing statutes, case law, and sentencing remarks from England and Wales, I explore how singular narrative identities emerge for the female defendants concerned. Using examples from selected cases, I highlight how the judiciary interpret legislation, use evidence, and draw upon gender stereotypes in carefully constructing macro-narratives which produce gendered identities for filicidal women, thus nullifying the challenge these women pose to appropriate femininity and the motherhood mandate. Each of the narrative identities discussed deny the agency of the female defendants that they are attached to, albeit in subtly different ways, by denying their ability to make any degree of choice in relation to their filicidal actions. Although such identity construction and agency denial may not always be damaging to these filicidal women per se, its pervasiveness within legal discourse reinforces and reproduces damaging gender stereotypes surrounding women and femininity.

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Mad, Bad, or Reasonable? Newspaper Portrayals of the Battered Woman Who Kills

Cited by 16 publications

References 27 publications

“The Mad”, “The Bad”, “The Victim”: Gendered Constructions of Women Who Kill within the Criminal Justice System

“The Mad”, “The Bad”, “The Victim”: Gendered Constructions of Women Who Kill within the Criminal Justice System

Gender representations of female perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Bad, Mad or Sad? Legal Language, Narratives, and Identity Constructions of Women Who Kill their Children in England and Wales

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