When women kill: looking into the psychology of female violence and murder

Forensic psychologist Anna Motz has spent three decades working with violent women. In her new book, she tells their stories.

Pic: iStock

Here is how we view women. Woman are lovely, kind, caring, nurturing ladies and mummies, apart from the mad evil ones like Myra Hindley or Rose West or Aileen Wuornos, who are monsters and barely human. This is the dominant perspective even in 2023, which is a bit like Queen Victoria’s attitude to lesbians – we don’t quite believe that violent women exist. That women can be murderers, attackers, sex offenders, paedophiles or abusers. 

And while only 5% of the prison population is female, with an even tinier percentage in for violent crime, the truth is that female violence does happen. A lot of it happens underground, in the private domestic arena. We prefer not to think about it.