Deadlier than the male? An examination of representations of female aggression as evil

The media presents us with a world that is increasingly violent. News agencies report on conflict, war, ethnic cleansing and torture. Yet another young man is stabbed to death on the streets of a major city, sportsmen or celebrities are in court accused of monstrous sexual assaults. These news stories have one thing in common; they are about men and male aggression. There is an unvoiced understanding that this violence is male, or originated by men. If this seems a strange thing to point out, try to imagine how these events would be reported if the instigators were female. This paper sets out to examine why that suggestion makes us pause for thought, and to explore ideas about female aggression, its motives and outcomes, possibly exploding a few myths on the way.