When She Was Bad: How and Why Women Get Away with Murder
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Book Overview
Winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Non-Fiction Crime Book From award-winning author and journalist Patricia Pearson, When She Was Bad questions our understanding of violent women. Why do some women murder their children? Why do others team up with men in ghoulish killing sprees? What motivates the female serial killer?
When She Was Bad explores the enigmatic heart of female darkness, drawing into focus such fascinating characters as Dorothea Puente, who murdered several elderly tenants in her boarding house in Sacramento; Mary Beth Tinning, who killed eight of her children in upstate New York; Karla Homolka, who joined forces with Paul Bernardo to abduct, rape and murder school girls in southern Ontario; and Karla Faye Tucker, the born-again Christian who was executed in Texas for having killed two people with a pickax.
In this provocative book, Patricia Pearson explores women's innate capacity for aggression, an idea we remain deeply uncomfortable with.
When She Was Bad explores the enigmatic heart of female darkness, drawing into focus such fascinating characters as Dorothea Puente, who murdered several elderly tenants in her boarding house in Sacramento; Mary Beth Tinning, who killed eight of her children in upstate New York; Karla Homolka, who joined forces with Paul Bernardo to abduct, rape and murder school girls in southern Ontario; and Karla Faye Tucker, the born-again Christian who was executed in Texas for having killed two people with a pickax.
In this provocative book, Patricia Pearson explores women's innate capacity for aggression, an idea we remain deeply uncomfortable with.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0735281092
ISBN13:9780735281097
Release Date:January 2021
Publisher:Vintage Books Canada
Length:384 Pages
Weight:0.75 lbs.
Dimensions:1.2" x 5.2" x 8.0"
Customer Reviews
5 ratings
Used for Independent Study
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
I just completed an honors level independent study using this text. Well written, excellent bibliography and impactful content.
Bind Blowing
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
I consider myself an feminist and admit to it... I am not sure I agreed with Ms. Pearson on all her points, but in a long line of books on women's topics this was the first one since Out of the Garden to really make me sit back and think. Well researched, it is much more than just opinions and politics (for once). This book literally had me up nights reading, and has caused me to relook at many of the assumptions about what women do and don't do.. and why. Particularly compelling in comparison with the other books in this field. This is an incredible book and I reccommend it without reservation to anyone interested in women's issues or crime. Like me, you may disagree with Ms. Pearson's interpretation of some things, but the research and the points she makes will open your eyes.
Excellent -- esp. with the school violence update in this ed
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
This excellent book does a lot to explode myths about female violence. It is particularly timely in its discussion of female juvenile violence, and has an excellent update relating to school shootings, etc. Her finding seem to match those of the more insightful researchers in the field (see the website "violentkids," for a summary of research). A very helpful, and very well-written, book.
outstanding...
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
Ms. Pearson does an excellent job at both describing the issue of female violence and arguing about how it is publicly debated. She pushes mainstream feminism to expand its analysis about violent and abusive behavior to fully examine female violence. Much of theoretical discussion about female violence is usually set in a debate about "battered women's syndrome" or a childhood history of sexual abuse. Ms. Pearson documents several cases where childhood sexual abuse may have been a factor in a women's adult violent behavior, but is not a cause. Ms. Pearson does us all a great favor by pushing us to come up with a more complex understanding of why women commit violent crimes. If you are interested in crime and issues of gender, I would strongly recommend it.
Gender equality means equal responsibility and self-honesty.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
Pearson, an award-winning journalist, presents contemporary social science research that belies the cultural myths of female powerlessness and innocence - blinders society must remove for women to be understood as inherently equal and human, with all the freedoms and responsibilities this entails. The continued myth of feminine mystique and innocence must give way to a recognition of common humanity, with all of our fatal flaws and saving graces. As a counseling psychologist, I welcome the honesty and mutual understanding of which this book and other efforts are social harbingers.
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