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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

The Guardian: The myth of the she-devil: why we judge female criminals more harshly

2 replies

SPOFS · 02/10/2018 21:40

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/02/the-myth-of-the-she-devil-why-we-judge-female-criminals-more-harshly?CMP=share_btn_tw

Don't worry, there isn't a "cis" in sight!

An interesting piece on something that I think most people already know. I liked this quote especially:

“Women who murder summon up a special revulsion, especially if they do not present in a sympathetic way. Hindley did not cry. Real women cry. Yet, even when they do, it can be met with scepticism.”

OP posts:
Rednaxela · 02/10/2018 21:47

Would be interested to see the article rewritten with the headline "Why do we not judge male criminals harshly enough?"

Which is the point really.

arranfan · 02/10/2018 22:06

I've been thinking about this issue. Kennedy seems to write on it regularly with different examples. I'm taken with her arguments about the need for fair trials for the jihadi women.

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However, at present, it prompts the reflection that if we wait long enough, sufficient killers will be trans'd after their deaths (or during their lives) such that women infamy and demonology will fall into desuetude as we'll be responsible for many more of the heinous and notorious crimes. How difficult will it then be to write nuanced accounts of the UK criminal justice system?

For some reason, it puts me in mind of Amis' Times Arrow with its reverse chronology and narration:

The doctor, Odilo Unverdorben, assists "Uncle Pepi" (modelled on Josef Mengele) in his torture and murder of Jews. While at Auschwitz, the reverse chronology means that he creates life and heals the sick, rather than the opposite.

In the reversed version of reality, not only is simple chronology reversed (people become younger, and eventually become children, then babies, and then re-enter their mothers' wombs, where they finally cease to exist) but so is morality. Blows heal injuries, doctors cause them. Theft becomes donation, and vice versa. In a passage about prostitutes, doctors harm them while pimps give them money and heal them.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time%27s_Arrow_(novel)

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