Comments on: The gendered expressions of mental illness and violence

By: nliu

nliu — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:17:10 +0000

KC: “Of course, those four cases are all examples of young white women. If you bring race into the equation it probably looks much different.”

Minor thing, maybe, but I just wanted to point out that race is already part of “the equation” there. Especially (not only!) in the case of Amanda Knox. Race is never not part of the equation.

By: Shelley

Shelley — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:45:27 +0000

I’ve just been watching the (extremely well-written) U.K. version of Life On Mars, and one of the things I noticed is that rather than being defined as shooters, the police as portrayed in this program often don’t have guns, and when they do, loading them and carrying them is seen as an event, not just status quo.

Since the show moves back in time to 1973, it’s also a nice reminder of how the “norm” for treatment of women then would be reprehensible now….

By: KC

KC — Mon, 30 May 2011 01:40:16 +0000

Are men more or less likely to be convicted of violent crimes than women? After conviction, do men on the average receive harsher or more lenient sentences than women do for comparable crimes? If one man commits the same kind of murder as another woman, is one more likely to receive the death sentence?

I don’t know the answer to those questions but I think it would provide another data point for understanding how violence is gendered and perceived in society. I think I agree with about 98 percent of what Historiann and others have said in this thread, but I honestly cannot ever recall thinking that men who massacre their families get off more easily relative to women. I think society tends to regard both men and women who murder their families as “monsters,” although that’s not a term I would ever use.

In my extremely unscientific recollection, it seems to me that women who are accused of killing are often portrayed in a relatively sympathetic light: I am thinking in particular of the outrage in Britain over the second-degree murder conviction of Louise Woodward, or the various portrayals of Amanda Knox during her murder trial in Italy. Even Susan Smith was occasionally perceived in a sympathetic light, with many expressing hope that she would not be executed. In this respect, it will be interesting to see how the Casey Anthony case plays out.

Of course, those four cases are all examples of young white women. If you bring race into the equation it probably looks much different.

By: Branjor

Branjor — Sat, 28 May 2011 12:47:51 +0000

Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D, deals with the topic of women who abuse their children in her book, Don't Blame Mother. From the book:

Researchers who make these claims rarely ask how much time each parent spends with the children. In general, mothers spend far more time than fathers with the children, and many of the fathers in studies of abuse have left their families or are rarely home. So for each hour spent with the children, the mothers actually abuse them far less than the fathers do. But many "experts" continue to believe that mothers are more likely than fathers to commit child abuse - and this belief is a serious distortion.

By: Wonk’s Saturday Reads: Beyonce, Bridesmaids, and Big Business « Liberal Rapture

Sat, 28 May 2011 09:55:14 +0000

[...] The gendered expressions of mental illness and violence [...]

By: For the Love of Our Links « Grumpy rumblings of the untenured

For the Love of Our Links « Grumpy rumblings of the untenured — Sat, 28 May 2011 07:51:07 +0000

[...] Historiann talks about how even among the insane, insanity is gendered. [...]

By: scholasticamama

scholasticamama — Fri, 27 May 2011 22:15:55 +0000

Totally off-topic remark – I’ve always told my daughter to look for another mama if she is lost, then for a uniformed person. My daughter has special needs and recognizes “mamas” more than uniforms – those could be anyone from a suit, to a janitor, to a police officer. And most mamas will completely stop their day to assist a lost child.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Fri, 27 May 2011 13:29:07 +0000

KC–”sympathy” was a poor choice of words. But if you follow the first link in the second paragraph above, you’ll find discussions of stories of men who murdered their families that frame the murders in narratives that emphasize the stress (financial, emotional, or otherwise) that the men found themselves in. I think those stories are in marked contrast to the media coverage of Mine Ener, especially the right-wing demagoguery that that story attracted. (Google it–I didn’t want to link to it. The link above is to a Chronicle of Higher Ed discussion that included a detailed and sympathetic rendering of the story.)

By: Knitting Clio

Knitting Clio — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:10:34 +0000

Historiann, could you please provide examples of stories that portray fathers who kill sympathetically? The ones I’m familiar with do nothing of the sort and frame these as the culmination of domestic violence.

I should add that those of us who blog about disability have been talking about this subject for quite some time.

By: Lance

Lance — Fri, 27 May 2011 09:24:21 +0000

I remember reading a book titled, “Men are Not Cost Effective,” by June Stephenson, and feeling as if the author made a really good case. So I went home and pitched it my dad, a state judge, and he gave me the stink eye. I still fondly remember the book, though.

And I’ve often felt like the “mothers who kill their own children” trope is another version of the “white girl in trouble in the tropics” trope. That is, the actual storyline is less significant than its social function, which seems aimed at piling on more evidence that women are irrational/reckless/whatever-stereotype-hasn’t-been-discussed-lately. In terms of violent crime, “mothers who kill their children” are statistically invisible, after all. Whereas violent men are dandelions in the American landscape.

And maybe, to continue the discussion (a day late, of course), not *all* male killers are presented sympathetically. I think the logic of the representation requires that some small number be defined as beyond humanity, so that the great bulk can be more three-dimensionally defined.