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The murderess in the twenty-first century is a figure of particular cultural fascination; she is the subject of innumerable books, websites, documentaries and award-winning movies. With female violence reportedly on the increase, a rethinking of beliefs about women's natural propensity towards violent and aggressive behaviours is inevitable. Using the Victorian period as a central focus, this thesis explores the contradictory ideologies regarding women's violence and also suggests an alternative approach to the relationship between gender and violence in the future. A study of violent women in representation reveals how Victorian attitudes towards violence and femininity persist today. On the one hand, women have traditionally been cast as the naturally non-aggressive victims of violence rather than its perpetrators; on the other hand, the destructive potential of womanhood has been a cause of anxiety since the earliest Western mythology. I suggest that it is a desire to resolve this contradiction that has resulted in the proliferation of violent women in representation over the last one and a half centuries. In particular, an analysis of mid-nineteenth-century popular fiction indicates that the stronger the ideal of the angelic woman was, the greater the anxiety produced by her demonic antithesis. Wilkie Collins's Armadale and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret illustrate both the contradictory Victorian attitudes towards violent women and a need to reconcile the combination of good and bad femininity that the murderess represents. Revisiting the Victorian murderess in the late twentieth century provides a potential means for resolving this contradiction; specifically, it enables the violent woman to engage in a process of self-representation that was not available to her in the nineteenth century. Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace suggests that any insight into the murderess begins with listening to the previously silenced voice of the violent woman herself.

Adolescent females are committing an increasing number of violent interpersonal acts. This study used the qualitative technique of focus group interviews to explore social control and self-control factors which impact such behaviors. Forty-seven girls aged 10-18 years described situations and events where interpersonal violence might be used and also what might prevent such acts. For the girls interviewed, social controls were the predominant means of controlling the use of interpersonal violence. Family and peer groups were the most powerful social controls, whether positive or negative. Self-control was deemed important but most girls lacked either the skills or desire to engage in self-control. Violence prevention programs need to teach techniques for improving self-control and increasing self-concept to be most effective.

Syftet med denna studie var att generera ökad förståelse för hur ett urval heterosexuella män som har blivit utsatta för våld av sin partner upplever att våldet påverkat dem. För att uppfylla detta syfte använde vi oss av semistrukturerade intervjuer som spelades in, transkriberades och kodades och därefter analyserades med hjälp av tidigare forskning på området, maskulinitetsteori, teorin om det ideala offret samt hermeneutisk meningstolkning. Resultaten från vår studie visade att informanterna upplevde ångest, självskadetankar, rädsla och skuld- och skamkänslor. Skamkänslorna var relaterade till den manliga identiteten och skador på denna, genererade av erfarenheten av att vara offer för en kvinnlig förövare. Männen upplevde också att samhället varken ville eller kunde hjälpa dem. Resultaten indikerade att män som utsätts för partnervåld av kvinnor kan drabbas hårt psykiskt, att föreställningar om ”manlighet” riskerar att bidra till deras dåliga psykiska mående, samt att myndigheter behöver bli bättre på att möta dessa män. / The purpose of this essay was to contribute to an improvement in knowledge of the experiences of a selection of heterosexual men regarding female violence in intimate partner relationships and its consequences. In order to fulfill this purpose we used semi structured interviews which were recorded, transcribed, coded and thereafter analyzed using previous research in this field, masculinity theory, the theory of the ideal victim and hermeneutics. The central findings in our study were that the men experienced anxiety, fear, thoughts of harming themselves, guilt and shame as results of the violence. The shame was linked to their male identity. They also experienced a lack of willingness and ability to help from government agencies. These findings indicated, among other things, that government agencies need to improve their strategies in order to help men who are victims of violence from a female partner.