Female Aggression

Conventional wisdom states that men express their aggression through physical violence, while women do so in less direct and more nuanced ways. Female aggression is often ignored by mainstream social and medical commentators, and writings on the topic seem to view aggression by women or girls as either a pale imitation of male aggression or specific to certain situations, such as alcohol abuse or domestic violence. Yet viewing female belligerence as poorly expressed imitative behaviour minimises and trivialises women’s anger, perspectives and viewpoints. This study of female aggression makes a critical assessment of this position, and explores ideas about female aggression, its motives and outcomes. In doing so, it explodes a number of social myths about gender. This thorough, holistic review takes theoretical positions drawn from a range of scientific perspectives as its starting point, then explores how women experience and express their aggression, including through sexual assault and murder. In doing so, aggressive female behaviour is acknowledged, in its own right, as an issue that requires examination by researchers.

Helen Gavin is Director of Graduate Education at the University of Huddersfield, UK, where she  also lectures in Forensic and Criminal Psychology Previously, she was Head of Psychology at the University of the West of England, UK. Her publications include The Essence of Cognitive Psychology (1998), Understanding Research Methods & Statistics in Psychology (2008), Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll: Psychological, Legal and Cultural Examinations of Sex and Sexuality (2010) and Criminological and Forensic Psychology (2014) Theresa Porter is a forensic psychologist currently practicing in Connecticut, USA. She worked for the Federal Bureau of Prisons for nearly a decade where she had extensive experience with female offenders. She lectures and publishes on violence by women, including Infanticide and Neonaticide: A Review of 40 Years of Research Literature on Incidence and Causes (with Helen Gavin; 2010), Woman as molester: Implications for society (2010), A Case of Factitious Paedophilia (with Mark D. Feldman, 2011) and Hits Like a Girl; Women who Batter their Partners (2011).

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