REVIEW: "When She Was Bad"

SYNOPSIS:

“While national crime rates have recently fallen, crimes committed by women have risen 200 percent, yet we continue to transform female violence into victimhood by citing PMS, battered wife syndrome, and postpartum depression as sources of women´s actions.
When She Was Bad convincingly overturns these perceptions by telling the stories of such women as Karla Faye Tucker, who was recently executed for having killed two people with a pickax; Dorothea Puente, who murdered several elderly tenants in her boarding house; and Aileen Wuornos, a Florida woman who shot seven men.
 Patricia Pearson marshals a vast amount of research and statistical support from criminologists, anthropologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists, and includes many revealing interviews with dozens of men and women in the criminal justice system who have firsthand experience with violent women. When She Was Bad is a fearless and superbly written call to reframe our ideas about female violence and, by extension, female power”.

Credits to Goodreads.com

REVIEW:

We live in a patriarchal society and that is not a mystery. Since the beginning of time, women had been considered weak and naturally sinners. The fact that Eve ate the apple in Eden, condemning men with her, wasn´t really helpful.

Nevertheless, even if in literature there are many female figures that differ with Eve´s sweet appearance (such as, Lilith), as time passes and society grew to be sexist and opressed women,it was never thought that a woman could be aggressive, even less that she could make an attempt on somebody´s life.

With When She Was Bad, Patricia Pearson introduces her study that puts into perspective the stereotype of women as angelic figures and overturns the myth of innocence. The author analyses cases that prove aggressiveness in women.  The book is divided into nine chapters, which in turn, introduce different murder and brutality cases perpetrated by women. Pearson gathers evidences, statements and interviews with witnesses and even information about the investigations and subsequent trials.

In my humble opinion, I think this book is extremely interesting and is easy to read as Pearson´s fresh style hooks the reader up. When She Was Bad opens the readers’  eyes to the power of women and criticizes a society that victimizes them. The author proves that there are women that are as capable as men to commit crimes and as the society didn´t see women as criminals, they got away with murder most of the times.

I honestly think that this book is not really recommendable for extremely sensitive people, as the cases Pearson cites are hair-rising and make the reader question whether it is possible that society took so much time to realize that evil people can be found anywhere, no matter what their gender is.