@article{018e9e56-a8ca-7390-8e17-9c1fe9b1ce4d,
author = {Anna Podciborska},
title = {“Improperly” Feminine: A Case Study in American Female Convicts Awaiting Execution, 1981–2019},
journal = {Studia Historica Gedanensia},
volume = {2023},
number = {Vol. 14 (2023)},
year = {2023},
issn = {2081-3309},
pages = {356-375},keywords = {femininity and defeminized; female offenders and female inmates; death penalty and death row; capital punishment; gender norms and gender stereotypes; motherhood},
abstract = {Women who are sentenced to death are often defeminized and dehumanized by prosecutors and the media. One of the factors influencing the severity of the punishment received is the assessment of the degree of femininity portrayed by the accused. These women are judged based on social and gender norms, stereotypes surrounding the role of women and femininity, their ability to fit into the “natural” primary social identity as mothers, and even homicidal gender norms. In cases of female filicide, the defendants often fall into three narrative identities constructed by defense attorneys, prosecutors, the media, and the public – “bad,” “mad,” or “sad” women. Those who have been sentenced to death are eventually labelled as “bad,” that is, extremely deviant from “proper” femininity. Although the “mad” and “sad” identity creations, if successful, might earn some leniency in sentencing, they still perpetuate harmful stereotypes that affect all women. The article presents an overview of 52 cases of women who received the death penalty from 1981 to 2019 in the United States. These women are perceived as “improperly” feminine.},
doi = {10.4467/23916001HG.23.021.18822},
url = {https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/studia-historica-gedanensia/article/improperly-feminine-a-case-study-in-american-female-convicts-awaiting-execution-1981-2019}
}