Doubly deviant, doubly damned : society's treatment of violent women

"Thelma and Louise" was a box-office hit because the audience identified with their aggression but we also knew there could only be one ending because the "system" could never vindicate their actions.

We regard men as "naturally" violent, women as non-violent; but when they are violent we look for reasons to explain why we punish them, not only for their violence but also for transgressing their sexual identity.The author of this book has talked to psychiatrists, doctors, lawyers and violent women themselves, asking searching and often difficult questions. Ordinary women can be and are capable of violence, she believes, but if you look at how women's violence differs from men's and why, see how differently women are treated and why you cannot avoid the conclusion that generally speaking violent women are unfairly treated because they are women.