Feminist Studies

Standpoint: “Murderous women”? Rethinking gender and theories of violence

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Given the high rates of gender-based and other forms of violence, it is understandable that substantial local research has focused on violence perpetrated by men (Boonzaier and de la Rey, 2004; Jewkes & Abrahams, 2002). However, given that currently 1020 women are incarcerated for violent crimes and 337 are awaiting trial in South African correctional facilities, we cannot ignore the reality of women’s violence (downloaded from http://www. dcs.gov.za/webstats , 20 August 2010). While it may be argued that women’s low levels of violent perpetration do not warrant feminist attention, I think that failure to explore this simply reinforce stereotypes about the meaning and shape of “gendered violence” and adds to the sensationalisation and demonisation of violent women in media and popular discourse. As a feminist researcher I am interested in the ways in which notions of “violent women” have been constructed and how this leads to the perpetuation of unhelpful discourses on femininity and violence.

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: Feminist Africa., 2010

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English

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Africa, A. 2010,'Standpoint: “Murderous women”? Rethinking gender and theories of violence', Feminist Africa, no. 14, pp. 79-92.

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