Female Aggression

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 Killing for love 133 Women who kill from fear 134 Women who kill for money 136 Girls who kill 137 Manslaughter 142 Suicide 142 Conclusion 143 9 Serial Murder and Women 144 What Is Serial Murder? 145 Explanations for Serial Murder 146 Childhood 146 Psychiatric explanations 152 The role of psychopathy 153 The role of paraphilias 155 Neurological contributions 157 Female Serial Killers 158 Comfort serial killers 158 Couples Who Kill 160 Conclusion 163 10 Conclusion 165 References 169 Index 217