Female Aggression
Helen Gavin
- 05 december 2014
- 9780470975480
Samenvatting:
This critique explodes the stereotypical assumption that men are more prone than women to physical aggression by presenting a cogent and holistic assessment of the theoretical positions and research concerning female aggression. Gavin and Porter examine the treatment, punishment, and community response to female aggressive behavior.
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.
This critique explodes the stereotypical assumption that men are more prone than women to aggression
- A cogent and holistic assessment of the theoretical positions and research concerning female aggression
- Examines the treatment, punishment and community response to female aggressive behavior
- Examines topics including sexual power, serial murder and the evolution of gendered aggression
- Treats female aggression in its own right rather than as a counterpart to male violence