We do not have a language to represent female killing Essay

We do not have a language to represent female killing - Essay Example Women aggression and violence is not tolerated in many societies as it deviates from the womanhood. Much stereotyping arises with the women violence and killing cases and media has taken advantage of the cases to report what is not. Involvement of women in violence is associated with lesbianism which is said to be change towards masculinity making women more like men and can do anything men can. Women violence and criminality is unique and unnatural under the natural womanhood and is associated with change towards masculinity and attracts much media attention, which may have an impact in the judicial process which seems biased against women. The Changing Trends Women involvement in criminal activities, violence and even killing has always remained an imagination but it seems it has turned to be a fact. In the twentieth century, several cases involving women aggression and violence were reported and included the Papin Sisters in 1933, Aileen Wurworns in 1989-1990, Stacey Wigginton in 1989 and Sanna Sillanpà ¤Ãƒ ¤ in 1999 were reported. In all these cases, women were involved in violence which led to death of some people. It is interesting that men were the majority victims in all these cases. The society takes the case of women killing differently compared to the cases involving men. Berrington and Honkatukia (2002) confirm that women involvement in crime is exceptional and unnatural. In an interview, Dr Lizzie Seal, the author of the book Women, Murder and Femininity confirms that women who kill are not natural women and they can be called failed women in the society. She goes on to explain that women are nurturing and gentle in nature. In that case, a woman killing is in total contrast to their natural characteristics (Taylor, Seal and Westmarland, 2011). The deviance to get to that level is surprising according to the expectations of women. In any society whether it is in the developed country or under developed, women are expected to be just women with well defined roles. Roles of women include looking after the house, taking care of children and most importantly complimenting the man especially in the white middle class. In this case, women are care givers and nurturers by nature as stated above. The traditional social role of women put them in a situation in which they could not engage in criminal activities. However, the society has been opening up and the roles of women are changing from the traditional social and home roles. These changes are the reasons women are now involved in criminal activities as Rosenblatt and Greenland (1974) explain. According to them, the new changes can easily create opportunities for women to be involved in criminal activities, violence and killing. However, the idea of women killing has not been accepted by many. Most people in the society keep wondering what can inspire women to kill other people. Several theories have been drawn to explain this idea. One theory which is stated in many books states that women can only kill when they have changed in their bodies. In this case, their bodies change to be like those of men. Men bodies are masculine and their traditional roles allow them in some way to kill, though it is not allowed by law. Therefore, a woman would have to be masculine to be able to kill. Barak, Leighton, and Flavin (2007 p.114) point out a women can kill when