Women: victims OR perpetrators?

In reading Siva Thanabals blog it triggered my own thoughts about the representation of women in the media. The media usually either categorising them as either virgin or vamp (Marsh and Melville). The media also has a tendency to enforce the widely held assumption that women are naturally caring, emotional and maternal. Therefore the media sometimes represent woman offenders as 'victims of circumstance'. In recent years they have helped in the development of strong biological interpretations of female behaviour which have found there way into explanations for female criminality eg. PMS, post natal depression etc. The media sometimes write in a sympathetic manner towards women and women criminals. In my women and gender studies we learnt about violence towards women, although the proportion of violent male offenders is significantly much higher compared to women the study by Stubbs & Tolmle explains that the evidence such as battered woman syndrome tends to pathologise  women's violence, and reinforce traditional white gender expectations that violence is not within women's normal repertoire of behaviour (Mason 1998). So women for example, who have murdered their husbands after years of abuse have been victimised, but there is a difference between recognising this notion of the victim as being the only (primary) subject available to women.

The media has sometimes represented women in as this 'victim' due to peoples assumptions that women are more linked to biology that they are closer to nature as they are the ones that give birth (Marsh and Melville p. 77). I guess women offenders in a way have it tougher then men as they have they not only break the law but also break the norm and expectations associated with supposed 'appropriate' feminine behaviour.

An example of a case that the media wrote about that depicted a woman offender as extremely brutal violent  but suggested her crime was acted out due to mental illness and other circumstances, the media was not excusing her from her offence but giving the viewer sympathetic details that lead her to commit the crime. The story was a famous case, Andrea Yates women from Texas who was convicted to life for drowning her five children in the bathtub, however in 2006 on appeal was found not guilty by reason of insanity. The news papers and media at the time emphasised her insanity and her long history of media health problems. It featured quotes from the father saying she was a normal 'loving' mother' who was just crippled by disease (Roche 2002). This shows that although the women was found guilty (initially) the media still gives suggestions that she may have only committed this crime due to her mental illness, and adds to the fact that some people are still shocked when they hear of brutally violent women, hence the media giving explantions that lead to this unusual behaviour. It could be argued that the media portrays women this way to highlight the public assumption that women are not extremely violent offenders.

The above media content I realise was not current (2011) but I found it difficult to find current cases where the media has presented women offender is a particular way. As the only real large case of a crime committed by a woman in the media at the moment is the Keli Lane case which has already been discussed in Siva Thanabals blog. I did find however find footage of a video that showed a protest outside a Perth court when Kiesha Abrahams mother (who is now her accussed killer along with father) appeared in court. The public have had a very different reaction to what Marsh and Melville talks about in their text that is that people tend to think of women as caring and naturing hence the media sometimes being not as harsh to present the women offender as completely 'evil'. But this video footage showed an angry crowd with no sympathy for Kieshas mother, shouting their opinions of disgust and sadness about the whole situation. A protester Alison Anderson stated outside the local court "what an evil mother f---ing bitch (Howden & Raston 2011).

Aileen Wuornos:  notorious female serial killer. Brutally killed several men, claiming she did due to being raped by them whilst working as a prostitute

Reference 

Howden , S and Ralston N 2011 residents turn fury on accussed child killer. SMH
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/residents-turn-fury-on-accused-child-killer-20110429-1e0te.html
Mason, G entry on violence in Caine, B Australian Feminism: a companion oxford university press

1998 pp. 337-44

Roche, T Andrea yates more to the story march 18th 2002 times magazine online
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,218445,00.htmlMarsh, I & Melville, G 2009  crime justice and the media Chp. 4