Bad, mad or sad?:legal language, narratives, and identity constructions of women who kill their children in England and Wales

Weare, Siobhan Francesca (2017) Bad, mad or sad?:legal language, narratives, and identity constructions of women who kill their children in England and Wales. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, 30 (2). pp. 201-222. ISSN 0952-8059

[thumbnail of Bad, Mad or Sad? Legal language, narratives and identity constructions of women who kill their children in England and Wales]
Preview
PDF (Bad, Mad or Sad? Legal language, narratives and identity constructions of women who kill their children in England and Wales)
Bad_Mad_or_Sad_Legal_language_narratives_and_identity_constructions_of_women_who_kill_their_children_in_England_and_Wales.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (165kB)
[thumbnail of art%3A10.1007%2Fs11196-016-9480-y]
Preview
PDF (art%3A10.1007%2Fs11196-016-9480-y)
art_3A10.1007_2Fs11196_016_9480_y.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (491kB)

Abstract

In this article I explore the ways in which legal language, discourses, and narratives construct new dominant identities for women who kill their children. These identities are those of the ‘bad’, ‘mad’, or ‘sad’ woman. Drawing upon and critiquing statutes, case law, and sentencing remarks from England and Wales, I explore how singular narrative identities emerge for the female defendants concerned. Using examples from selected cases, I highlight how the judiciary interpret legislation, use evidence, and draw upon gender stereotypes in carefully constructing macro-narratives which produce gendered identities for filicidal women, thus nullifying the challenge these women pose to appropriate femininity and the motherhood mandate. Each of the narrative identities discussed deny the agency of the female defendants that they are attached to, albeit in subtly different ways, by denying their ability to make any degree of choice in relation to their filicidal actions. Although such identity construction and agency denial may not always be damaging to these filicidal women per se, its pervasiveness within legal discourse reinforces and reproduces damaging gender stereotypes surrounding women and femininity.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
International Journal for the Semiotics of Law
Additional Information:
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11196-016-9480-y c The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3308
Subjects:
?? WOMEN WHO KILLAGENCYIDENTITIES FEMININITY MOTHERHOODNARRATIVES LEGAL DISCOURSE LEGAL LANGUAGE LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICSLAW ??
ID Code:
79092
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
18 Apr 2016 10:52
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
19 Sep 2023 01:33