Friday, November 2, 2007

Complexities of Gender Biases

In order to better understand the way in which women who are accused of murder are brought to justice and punished, I am going to look into the cases of three famous female murderers, Andrea Yates Aileen Carol Wuornos, and Karla Faye Tucker. All three of these women were influenced by the ideology that surrounds appropriate female behavior and gender stereotypes, with one benefiting while the other two were sentenced to die. These women have unique experiences in comparison to the average male murderer, considering their sexuality and femininity were in the forefront of the prosecution against them. While on trial questions regarding whether or not they were "normal" females were called into question, giving us a glimpse into the assumptions made about the way in which women are expected to behave. Due to the fact that women are often viewed as helpless, gentle, and caregivers, women who kill are an issue that the judicial system are just not prepared to deal with in an appropriate manner. Andrea Yates drowned her five children one after another in her bathtub and immediately admitted her guilt. She plead insanity and was found not guilty on those grounds. This particular case bring to light very intense emotional issues for the general public, for Yates violated all the norms associated with motherhood and the idea that every woman yearns to be a mother. While Yates didn’t seem to be adverse to motherhood itself, she went against the requirement that women should be caregivers to children by hurting the children she was expected to protect. The death penalty was an option in this case yet Yates insanity plea was quite convincing, which her gender may have had role in. Since women are already viewed in our society as being more emotionally unstable than men, it has become more prevalent for women to be found not guilty by reason of insanity. The fact that Yates was conformed to the idea that women should still care greatly for their children, since explained her reasoning for killing them was because she had been a bad mother, aided in her avoiding the death penalty. While Yates benefited from gender stereotypes infiltrating our justice system, Aileen Carol Wuornos and Karla Faye Tucker are two perfect examples of women who failed desperately at measuring up to the standards of the ideal woman. Both women were sentenced to die for murdering men and both incorporated their own sexuality into the trial. This was a mistake for both women, especially in the case of Karla Faye Tucker and her statement about experiencing multiple orgasms while hacking her victims with a pick axe. Her case was sensationalized due to this bit of information, while if she were a man if would be no big surprise because of the assumption that men are the ones that have uncontrollable sex drives, not women. Aileen was in a similar situation considering she killed the men who hired her as a prostitute. On top of that, she alluded to being a lesbian, which placed her even further into the realm of the unnatural woman. Women's sexual orientation is often scrutinized, as if to provide a rational behind a killing, an explanation such as "hard core lesbian" to explain why a women acted in violence. The facts Aileen’s and Karla’s sexuality and gender identities were brought up repeatedly by the media, something that wouldn’t happen in a case where a man murdered unless sexual assault was involved. At the end of Karla’s life she declared herself reformed, a Christian, and married and continued her struggle to be granted a pardon. She also altered her appeareance and softened her voice, appealing to societal ideas about women being meek creatures in need of protection. Her reputation had already been ruined with her admittance to sexual satisfaction during her murders, and she was put to death. What does all of this mean? The main point is that there was unnecessary attention placed on the role of motherhood, sexuality, and gender norms in these three cases that wouldn’t have been included in the trial of a man. When men are on trial for murder they are not questioned about whether they were sexually promiscuous, gay, or their feelings on fatherhood. These differences spell out that there are still gender inequalities in our justice system and in particular cases that involve capital punishment. Motherhood and the ideal0gy surrounding mothers is an interesting case, especially in the instance of Paline Zile coming very close being issued a death sentence for the murder of her daughter at the hands of the child's stepfather. She was sentenced to life in prison for failing to protect her child, which tells us the types of expectations for women and the results if they do not conform to such ideals. This issue brings about questions concerning the death penalty as a whole, for how can we argue that it is right and just if it isn’t being distributed equally? The legal system is yet another arena where gender stereotypes run rampant and the oppression of women is viewed as normal.

1 comment:

hanghang said...

I agree with you completely, but I don't see a solution to this problem. If a person commits a crime, it should not matter the sex, race, or gender; all that should matter is whether there is enough evidence to convict. It's incredible how far women have come in attaining more rights, but I believe there will always be certain connotations attached to women. This is highly unfair and a great injustice. But I found it really interesting that in the cases you mentioned, sexuality could both be an advantage or a detriment. There is still a double standard in our society that looks down upon a woman that is too weak but yet will criticize her if she's acting "too manly".