Kill the Body, the Head Will Fall: A Closer Look at Women, Violence, and Aggression [Hardcover]

Rene Denfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1997

Drawing on research and her own experience in the boxing ring, the author shows how aggression equals success in every arena of life, debunks the idea that women are less aggressive, and shows women how to unleash their rage. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Denfeld (The New Victorians) began boxing on the amateur level in 1993 and two years later won a Golden Gloves championship. Opening with a survey of technique, followed by an apologia for the sport and an account of her first sparring session, she then develops her principal thesis: women sometimes can be as aggressive and as violent as men. In support of this contention, she examines anger in the female; abuse and violence committed by women against children or adults with whom they have relationships; female criminals; and females in the military and in sports. Although few will disagree with her view that the differences between men and women are not as significant as has been thought, the book will raise some hackles. At a time when many psychologists are arguing that the "masculinizing" of boys and young men can create more problems than it solves, Denfeld's unspoken assumption that females can be just as macho as males may not win universal approval. Fight fans will find her views on the sport of interest. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Denfeld, an amateur boxer who was the first woman to win the Tacoma Golden Gloves tournament in 1995, is uniquely qualified to write a book on women and aggression. She had taken up boxing at age 26 as a challenging and healthy hobby but soon found that it made her question many of her own and society's assumptions about violence and aggression as intrinsically male traits. Women are supposed to be naturally nonviolent and passive. However, Denfeld sees aggression as a "human condition, not confined to one sex." Citing research on women and crime, child abuse, spousal abuse, and women in the military, she supplements her findings with stories of her boxing experiences--training in an all-male gym, sparring with teenage and preteen partners, and her first fight with a woman boxer who could throw punches better than most men. This calmly reasoned yet engrossing book may alter your opinions not only about boxing as a sport but also about the nature and extent of differences between the sexes. George Eberhart

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; First edition (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044651960X
• ISBN-13: 978-0446519601
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,791,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and insightful...a MUST-READ!, November 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Kill the Body, the Head Will Fall: A Closer Look at Women, Violence, and Aggression (Hardcover)

I'd LOVE to go out with this woman! Although there are a few holes in her attempts to find statistical corroboration of her claims, the book is generally a mesmerizing page-turner. Denfeld has a writing style which is as clean and crisp as any good boxer's punches---a pleasure to read and then to ponder. This book takes a position which is truly seldom heard on either side of the ideological fence...absolutely refreshing! Should be required reading for all 12 year old girls, before the adolescent cultural programming kicks in.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really got me thinking!, February 15, 2007

By 

Lupa (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Kill the Body, the Head Will Fall: A Closer Look at Women, Violence, and Aggression (Hardcover)

I love books that make me think in new directions--this is one of them! The author takes us simultaneously into the world of amateur boxing, and the social issues surrounding violence committed by women, whether in the ring or on the battlefield. A competitive amateur boxer herself, and one of the few women in the sport, Denfield has the vantage point for both of these topics of discussion, and weaves them together very well in a combination of social analysis and personal anecdotes.

The basis thesis statement of the book is that, contrary to popular opinion, women can be (and often are) just as aggressive as men, though social restrictions may affect how that aggression is given room to manifest. Denfield supports this idea with statistics and discussions on women as criminals, as soldiers, and as athletes--as well as domestic and child abusers. She argues that because women continue to be seen as less dangerous, weaker, that their anger is often seen as "cute" or "bitchy" rather than aggression. This also contributes to the lower number of women arrested for violent crimes (Denfield cites a case where a woman decked a man with no provocation, and was then driven home by a concerned cop after the *man* was heavily questioned).

She also details the negative effects this can have on men, particularly victims of domestic abuse by women (as well as female victims of female abusers). She even shows how media attention and public opinion (such as in the Susan Smith murder case) can be swayed due to the sex of the defendant.

Within all this Denfield describes the microcosmic effects of being a female boxer. She tells us about the reactions of men who have sparred with her, of her trainer, Jess, a septuagenarian who trains her not to be a woman boxer, but a *fighter* as with the rest of the guys. She uses this arena to demonstrate the theories about female aggression and the reactions to it that she presents.

I highly recommend this to anyone, whether you were raised as a woman with traditional attitudes toward female aggression, or just someone of any sex interested in how these attitudes affect women on a practical basis. What I found valuable in particular is that this has given me some food for thought in regards to my own socialization as a biological female, and my own aversion to violence and aggression (as well as the passive-aggressive behaviors I've been working on deprogramming).