A01=Joanna Bourke
Aileen Wuornos
anti-carceral feminism
Author_Joanna Bourke
Category=DNXC3
Category=JBSF1
Category=NHB
Category=NHTB
Charlize Theron
crime
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethics
ethics of punishment
female perpetrators
female rapists
female violence
feminism
gender
Karla Faye Tucker
Karla Homolka
murder
Myra Hindley
Rosemary West
tabloids
violence
violent women
Product details
- ISBN 9781836391746
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 01 Mar 2026
- Publisher: Reaktion Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Why do certain women become icons of evil? This book offers the first comparative, non-sensationalist account of five of the most reviled women in the modern Anglophone world: Myra Hindley, Rosemary West, Aileen Wuornos, Karla Homolka and Karla Faye Tucker. It examines their lives, crimes and cultural reception in the UK, USA and Canada, asking how violence committed by women is understood, judged and remembered. Going beyond moral outrage or tabloid headlines, the book explores how concepts of 'evil' are shaped by history, belief systems and social context. Through historical and ethical reflections, it offers a deeper, more critical engagement with female violence, and considers how society should respond to those who commit acts of unimaginable harm.
Joanna Bourke OBE is Professor Emerita of History at Birkbeck, University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy. She is also Professor Emerita of Rhetoric at Gresham College. Her many books include Disgrace: Global Reflections on Sexual Violence (Reaktion, 2022).
