Our differing reaction according to the gender of the offender!

Why do we react with much more horror if it is a woman who is convicted of a heinous crime particularly if it is against children?

We women shout about sexism in all walks of life yet this reaction would suggest that we think only men are capable of such crimes against children!

Because of the historical and societal assumption that women are the primary caretakers of the child.  It is also assumed, with evidence to support it, that the maternal bond with children is very strong and protective in nature.  Not that the paternal bond isn't, but the maternal bond, in addition to being strengthened by 9 months of pregnancy, is also tied to hormones and brain chemistry.

A woman willing to harm her own child is, anthropologically and biologically speaking, unusual.

on edit:  Are you thinking of any specific incident here?  Just curious...

2nd edit:  In cases where the woman is not the child's mother, the shock is still generated from the same assumptions.  IE: That women are basically maternal and protective when it comes to children in general.  Obviously, not a wise assumption in many cases.

Well the ones i am thinking of are/were by women against other peoples children so no maternal bond is there.

I dream of torturing them hate them equally!

My disgust for both wretched genders is equal, unwavering, and absolute.

In regards to the maternal bond hypothesis, these statistics may be informative:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm04/ figure4_2.htm

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm04/ table4_5.htm

I would also hypothesize, therefore, that a man willing to harm his own child is, anthropologically and biologically speaking, unusual.

andie, are you referring to melissa huckabee?

Well she would fall into the category. We have a case here just now where a play group leader has been charged with taking and selling sexual pictures of the kids who were in her care and the outrage about this results in angry mobs outside the court etc chasing down the police van.

yet we had a case a month or so back where a girls boyfriend murdered her little 2yr old son after months of torture, the mother faced charges too and yet although he was the one who broke the child's back there was more anger about the mother.

When we first here of a child abuse case in a second we assume it will be a man and are horrified when it's revealed that it is in fact a woman.

Original Post by bagga:

My disgust for both wretched genders is equal, unwavering, and absolute.

 this

i think maybe because it runs so counterintuitive in that women are stereotypically considered the nurturing gender

So does this not then contradict our own demand for equality? 

To assume that women just shouldn't be capable of such things (not just child abuse) but men are?

seems there are several in this thread who are not contradicting any demand of equality at all.

about 5 out of a population of how many? don't think it figures much in the scale of things really :D

hey did andie just call me insignificant?!

Original Post by andie-1:

So does this not then contradict our own demand for equality? 

To assume that women just shouldn't be capable of such things (not just child abuse) but men are?

 

do you think casey anthony will get the same sentence as say...if a black man killed her daughter?

hell no

do i think thats wrong?

hell yes

EDIT: for some reason the sexism of which you speak is insignificant compared to the death of an innocent be it by a man or woman. are you seriously more outraged by the sexism than the crime? gimme a freakn break.

Are you using this thread as a gauge?

Seeing how only thirteen have replied, and of those some made no personal admissions only offering potential explanations for the behaviors of others, I'd say on the thread scale those that do not discriminate the genders in this arena are significant.

Original Post by watergirl:

Original Post by andie-1:

So does this not then contradict our own demand for equality? 

To assume that women just shouldn't be capable of such things (not just child abuse) but men are?

 

do you think casey anthony will get the same sentence as say...if a black man killed her daughter?

hell no

do i think thats wrong?

hell yes

EDIT: for some reason the sexism of which you speak is insignificant compared to the death of an innocent be it by a man or woman. are you seriously more outraged by the sexism than the crime? gimme a freakn break.

Chill! i'm not outraged by any of it, just curious why women are treated different often receiving lesser sentences than men for similar crimes and why a women committing such crimes provoke angry mobs outside the court room but men are less likely to see this.

and i didn't call anyone insignificant.

Original Post by bagga:

Are you using this thread as a gauge?

Seeing how only thirteen have replied, and of those some made no personal admissions only offering potential explanations for the behaviors of others, I'd say on the thread scale those that do not discriminate the genders in this arena are significant.

no i'm not.

(re: insignificant) i was just joshin' ya andie - but if you look at a lot of sentencing, its very all over the place and not consistent at all. Almost arbitrary. (unless you're a celebrity)

ie: rapists get a month or so, someone caught with a dime of pot gets 3 years.

and no, I don't have examples. :P

sounded in post #12 like you where counting the five in this thread that don't discriminate and comparing it to some raving mob....my mistake.

It has been my experience that the outrage of the public is directly proportional to the offensiveness of the details of the crime that are reported by the press and not by the sex of the offender.