Forum Topic

Women worse than men?

These are the words of a sister to a female accomplice to the murder of her (adult) brother, Adrian Murphy.'You stole my little brother Adrian from me and as you are a woman your actions are even worse than your partner in crime and a complete disgrace.'Thoughts on this, please!

Anne England ● 2037d23 Comments

Expectations that women will behave better than men are as old as the hills. Remember how Myra Hindley was more reviled than Ian Brady despite his having been the driving force behind their despicable crimes?

Susan Kelly ● 2037d

The West's were equally wicked, women don't often kill so think worse of them when they do.

Janice Evans ● 2037d

Women are seen as the more caring and nurturing sex, so that's why any woman committing a particularoly vile crime is more reviled than a man, perhaps unfairly. But, that overlooks nature - the female of the species is deadlier than the male.

Vanessa Smith ● 2037d

Wicked is wicked regardless of gender - sexual differences range over a huge array of initials, too much for me to encompass, so cannot comment.  All I've noticed in my personal life is that some, very few I know, females can be more spiteful and and sharp tongued than the males.    I get very weary of all this trying to force both genders to be identical - they are NOT, they are two very separate genders who react and behave quite differently.  I do believe in equal pay and conditions for doing the same job, however.  That rarely happened in my day but on the other hand I got away with a lot of things that a male would not have, no complaints from me but that was all in the past.  What you really can't alter is the fact that males approach a task in one way, a female in another.  It is hard wired into the two genders.    As stated, wicked is just plain wicked!

Jennifer selig ● 2037d

Agreed Vanessa - just look at the number of females who have a good "mate" and then kill off their partner!  Spiders spring to mind but there are other species.  Nature can be brutal.

Jennifer selig ● 2037d

It's the male spiders' own fault for not having good jobs to support the family and not helping with the child-rearing and housework.

Susan Kelly ● 2037d

Whatever else, it must surely be indisputable that when it comes to extreme violence and murder etc, women are far less likely to get involved than men.And while the phrase: "The female of her species is more deadly than the male" is well-known, much less known is that it originates in a poem by Rudyard Kipling.And Kipling's point was that when it comes to protecting her offspring, thereby preserving her species, then the female will prove deadlier, but only in that context.In other contexts, his view of the woman's place was, shall we say, rather more traditional:"And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave himMust command but may not govern; shall enthrall but not enslave him.And She knows, because She warns him and Her instincts never fail,That the female of Her species is more deadly than the male!"https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-female-of-the-species/

Richard Cathcart ● 2037d

It may have originated with Kipling, but it was used to great effect by Sapper to describe Irma Peterson.

Richard Greenhough ● 2037d

Indeed, and would Macbeth have done the bloody deed if he had not been egged on by his more-determined wife?

Colin Jordan ● 2037d

And, by the same measure, would the woman in this case have been involved if she had not been influenced by her more-determined partner?Likewise, nothing like blaming Eve for Adam's downfall, the little temptress.I'm not, whatever, saying that some women aren't capable of the most heinous crimes, just wondering why they seem to get it in the neck (so to speak) more or are somehow considered more contemptible than their male counterparts.

Anne England ● 2037d

CJ: "Indeed, and would Macbeth have done the bloody deed if he had not been egged on by his more-determined wife?"I'm not sure it does much for the Prosecution's case to rely on a work of fiction written over 400 years ago, very loosely covering events which occurred nearly 600 years earlier, and which was a somewhat transparent attempt to ingratiate the author to his new (Scottish) monarch.Though it certainly says something for the male playwright's ability to do a hatchet-job on his female leading character that we're still in thrall to her after all this time.https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Duncan-MacBeth/

Richard Cathcart ● 2037d

Cleopatra was none too kindly I seem to remember.  A couple or so Roman women were pretty dangerous too - poison featured frequently I think.  Nasty lot.

Jennifer selig ● 2036d

There's always Lucrezia Borgia..

Keith Iddon ● 2036d

Away from murderThe only stat that i can remember that points heavily on the female sideto crime or peti crime is theft that being the likes of shop lifting. One could say that living in poverty brings out the Maternal instinct to commit such crimes thus being higher in proportion to that of males. Cant remember the percentages but the gap was high

Julian Pavey ● 2036d

And then there was Elizabeth Báthory, aka Countess Dracula.I'm not sure whether, when a woman goes bad, they are worse than the contemporary men, or that we remember the bad ones because they are relatively uncommon.

Richard Greenhough ● 2036d

Even in this era women who have finally snapped and killed or severely injured their abusive partners have been judged far more harshly than most of the men who kill their female partners. There always seems to have been a deal more sympathy for the men until now and the recognition of coercive control and the damage to a woman's mental health.

Vanessa Smith ● 2036d

Any evidence for that statement,Vanessa?

Keith Iddon ● 2036d

Think there is more awareness of mental cruelty which women used tosuffer in silence.

Janice Evans ● 2036d

RG: "I'm not sure whether, when a woman goes bad, they are worse than the contemporary men, or that we remember the bad ones because they are relatively uncommon."It's the latter, no doubt."Dog bites Postman" = Not News."Postman bites Dog" = News.

Richard Cathcart ● 2036d

I do hope you are not equating women and dogs ;-)

Richard Greenhough ● 2036d

Was that a response to my question to Vanessa?

Keith Iddon ● 2036d

Keith, yes, on mental health only, think people much more aware now.

Janice Evans ● 2036d

Oh.

Keith Iddon ● 2036d