Female Murderers & Wife Abuse

Society sees men as being aggressive and women as being passive. Because men are aggressive, it is understood that they are capable of violence and murder. By contrast, biological differences as well as differences in cultural conditioning seem to indicate that women are incapable of killing. In actuality, there are numerous cases of women who kill. Of course, there are far fewer killers among women than there are among men. In the United States, for example, it is estimated that there are less than half as many female murderers as there are male murderers. In recent years, however, there has been a rising incidence of murders by women. Women who kill rarely do so in cold blood. In this regard, there are a variety of motivations for a woman resorting to the act of murder. One reason that has received attention in the media is pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), or pre-menstrual tension (PMT), as it is known in England. PMS has been used as a defense in a number of legal cases involving women who kill. This defense is based on the theories of endocrinologist Katherina Dalton, who contends that the emotional anxieties of PMS can cause some women to become violent. However, it may be noted that this idea is highly controversial. Thus, "Dalton's theories are not uncontested: they are not universally accepted medically and certainly not politically" (Benn, 1990, p. 20).

In recent years, a great deal of attention has been given to wife abuse as a reason for murder. In the p

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taying in the relationship" (Paterno, 1991, p. E14). However, there are a number of reasons why an abused woman might find it difficult or even impossible to leave such a relationship. For example, some women fail to leave their abusive husbands because they are confused over whether they are still in love or not. Such women remember having good times with their husbands as well as being violently beaten. Another reason why many women stay in abusive relationships is because they are afraid of what might happen to them if they try to leave. Social conditioning also plays an important factor in keeping some women tied to their husbands. Furthermore, many women fail to leave because they don't think they would be able to support themselves or their families without their husbands' help. Many experts on spousal abuse point out that there is a typical "abuse cycle" that such women get trapped in. This is "a cycle of violence that destroys the woman's self-esteem, leaves her feeling powerless to escape her mate and eventually pushes her to respond violently" (Baum, 1991, p. E2). Despite the failure of the legal system to acknowledge the fact, it is obvious that wife abuse helps to explain why some women commit murder. Because

Category: Government - F