Female Aggression

"This critique explodes the stereotypical assumption that men are more prone than women to physical 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 "--

List of contents

Preface ix
 
Acknowledgements xi
 
1 Theories, Research and Misconceptions about Female Aggression 1
 
Introduction 1
 
Aggression and Women 2
 
Violent Crime and Women 5
 
Theories of Aggression 8
 
Theories based on biological difference 8
 
Environmental factors 18
 
Psychological models 19
 
Measuring aggression 26
 
2 The Evolution of Aggression 29
 
Darwinism and Sociobiology 29
 
The Naked Ape - Was She in the Jungle or the Sea? 31
 
The Evolution of Aggression and the Archaeology of War 32
 
Intersexual vs Intrasexual Aggression 33
 
Conclusion 36
 
3 Indirect Aggression 38
 
Indirect Aggression in Girls and Teens 39
 
Women and Indirect Aggression 40
 
4 Child Abuse and Neglect by Women 44
 
Introduction 44
 
Prevalence 45
 
Mental Illness 48
 
Social Learning and Own Abuse History 49
 
Antisocial Mothers 50
 
Other Factors in Child Abuse 52
 
Failure to Protect 53
 
Abusive Mothers' Perspective on Their Children 54
 
Recidivism 57
 
Effects of Abuse on Children 57
 
Conclusion 59
 
5 Intimate Partner Violence by Women 61
 
Introduction 61
 
Prevalence of Women's Violence Against Heterosexual Partners 64
 
Prevalence of Women's Violence Against Homosexual Partners 67
 
Severity and Injury 67
 
Recidivism 68
 
Women's Intimate Partner Violence and Stalking 68
 
Intimate Partner Violence by Women Resulting in Homicide 69
 
Intimate Partner Violence Initiation vs Self-Defence 70
 
Anger, Communication and Control 71
 
Social Learning and Intimate Partner Violence by Women 72
 
Personality and Intimate Partner Violence by Women 73
 
Typologies 74
 
Reporting Issues by Victims 75
 
Witnessing Inter-Parental Violence 76
 
Treatment 77
 
Conclusion 78
 
6 Rape, Sexual Assault and Molestation by Women 80
 
Introduction 80
 
Rape, Sexual Assaults and Coercion: Beyond the Male Perpetrator-Female Victim Paradigm 80
 
The Prevalence of Female Sexual Assaults Based on Perpetrator Self-Report 81
 
Victim prevalence reports 82
 
Theories Regarding Sexual Assault by Women 83
 
Women Who Sexually Offend Against Children 85
 
Prevalence 85
 
Similarities and differences compared with male sex offenders (MSOs) 85
 
Typologies 87
 
Deviant arousal and mental illness 90
 
Past victimization 91
 
Child Pornography and the Internet 92
 
Victim Effects 93
 
Awareness, Gender Bias and the Social Construction of Women 94
 
Legal Issues 95
 
Assessment, Treatment and Recidivism 96
 
A Brief Note on Juvenile Female Sex Offenders 100
 
Conclusion 101
 
7 Filicide by Women 102
 
Introduction 102
 
Neonaticide 103
 
Pregnancy Concealment, Denial and Negation 104
 
Infanticide 107
 
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Infanticide 108
 
Child Homicide by Women 109
 
Language, Filicide and Objectification 111
 
Gender and Filicide 112
 
Typologies 113
 
Mental Illness and Filicide 114
 
Serial Infanticide 117
 
Legalities 120
 
Conclusion 122
 
8 Homicide and Women 123
 
What Is Homicide? 123
 
Types of Homicide 124
 
Genocide 124
 
Mass murder 128
 
Mass murder for ideology 131
 
Murder 132
 

About the author

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).

Summary

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.

Report

"This book represents a truly fantastic addition to the literature on female aggression. It covers a whole host of aggressive crimes from a very thoughtful and gender-informed perspective. This book is an absolute necessity for professionals working with or researching women who have offended. I've no doubt that this book is a landmark text which will springboard important future research and practice in this area."
--Professor Theresa A. Gannon, University of Kent
 
"Helen Gavin and Theresa Porter have written a brave and uncompromising book, one that is scholarly, firm, careful, and a bit daunting. They challenge our most cherished feminist beliefs about women as the more compassionate, cooperative, 'maternal,' and non-violent of the genders. Clearly, they are not only writing about teenage 'mean girls'; the authors are weighing the research on women, including mothers, who abuse and neglect children; batter their partners, both male and female, sexually assault (or join in group sexual assaults) of women, kill their babies, kill other adults. They refuse to minimize the importance of female aggression only because men are more violent and, to their credit, Gavin and Porter critique others for doing so. And why? Because the authors have treatment goals in mind, ways of helping anti-social mothers and/or of rescuing their children. An entirely laudable endeavor. This is a serious work and demands that the reader drop many preconceptions in order to benefit from the material presented. Brava for taking on this painful, difficult and important subject."
--Phyllis Chesler, Author of Women and Madness and Woman's Inhumanity to Woman

Product details

• Authors: H Gavin, Hele Gavin, Helen Gavin, Helen (Huddersfield) Porter Gavin, Helen Porter Gavin, Helen/ Porter Gavin, Gavin Helen, Theresa Porter, Porter Theresa
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 05.12.2014
• EAN: 9780470975473
• ISBN: 978-0-470-97547-3
• No. of pages: 240
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology; Non-fiction book > Psychology, esoterics, spirituality, anthroposophy > Applied psychology; Psychologie, Aggression, forensische Psychologie, Psychology, forensic psychology, Gender studies: women and girls