When She Was Bad...: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence (Paperback)

by Patricia Pearson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
While national crime rates have recently fallen, crimes committed by women have risen 200 percent, yet we continue to transform female violence into victimhood by citing PMS, battered wife syndrome, and postpartum depression as sources of women's actions.

When She Was Bad convincingly overturns these perceptions by telling the stories of such women as Karla Faye Tucker, who was recently executed for having killed two people with a pickax; Dorothea Puente, who murdered several elderly tenants in her boarding house; and Aileen Wuornos, a Florida woman who shot seven men. Patricia Pearson marshals a vast amount of research and statistical support from criminologists, anthropologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists, and includes many revealing interviews with dozens of men and women in the criminal justice system who have firsthand experience with violent women. When She Was Bad is a fearless and superbly written call to reframe our ideas about female violence and, by extension, female power.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140243887
• ISBN-13: 978-0140243888
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #855,032 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Matriarchy Strikes Back, June 13, 2002

By	southpaw68 "southpaw68" (florida) - See all my reviews

The author Patricia Pearson is an independent-minded feminist who critiques foibles in the philosophy of her other sisters; namely, that women are morally superior to men and don't do as much violence against others. Or if they do, they only do it because they are oppressed by the patriarchy. They are victims.

Pearson wants women to be treated like adults, not children, being held to full account for their wrong doings in the justice system. She believes that women are equal or capable of being equal to men in all spheres, including combat. (This argument about equality in combat I think is erroneous). If the sexes are equal, she implies, then they should have equal punishment for their crimes. People and women should stop making excuses for women's crimes such as pleading temporary insanity, being a battered wife, being abused,or having PMS. Chivalry in the justice system should not mete out lighter sentences for women who commit similar crimes that their male counterparts do.

Pearson mixes her work with juicy stories about womens' crimes for the delight of your tabloid mind along with a scholarly analysis of what it all means. She talks about the nature of female aggression can also include things overlooked by society such as vicious slander against enemies, and "...an acid bath of words, the children used as pawns, the destruction of property, (and) enlistment of community as a means of control..."

She speculates that children dying of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome may have been purposely neglected by their mothers who were having crazy thoughts about wanting their children dead. She thinks that women are not as naturally nurturant in motherhood as society says they are. Society has a hard time seeing the true nature of the female and therefore has problems dealing with women gone bad.

Pearson even hints around that child are citizens with a right to life, are not possessions of their mothers, and that women should be responsible for their birth control--these statements have controversial implications for abortion and parents' rights issues.

She states that women are just as abusive and violent as men are in their relationships and there is such as thing as a battered husband. However, society refuses to help battered husbands because they don't think women are that violent. She deplores the power imbalance in the marital relationship in which women can falsely accuse a man of abuse and send him to prison with one phone call to the police.

Pearson's most fascinating topic is female serial killers or "nurturant monsters" as she calls them. She describes one who drugs her victims to death, but before she does, she has the facade of grandmotherly warmth that deceives people into thinking that she is harmless. She describes women in history who have killed as many as 600 victims, but people tend to forget women killers and focus in on male killers who lurk in the shadows and are more directly violent.

Because people see violent women as victims of abuse, they often glamourize or approve of their violence, such as in case of Lorena Bobbit emasculating her husband or the murdering wife who was replaced by a younger model.

To sum up, Pearson says, "...to separate one sex from the other as virtuous or blameworthy is to follow a false trail in understanding the causes of violence."

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bind Blowing, April 30, 2001

By	Cheryl Renee - See all my reviews

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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding..., March 14, 1999

By	Richard G. Wright (Boston, Mass.) - See all my reviews

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.