商品詳細

This book is an account of the lives and the crimes of convicted women sex offenders. The issue of women who commit serious violent offences is an extremely important one, not least because of the continuing fascination they hold for politicians and the public alike. Such women are alternately demonised and defended, their crimes denounced as 'unnatural' or explained away as acts of self defence, usually against violent men. While society slowly comes to terms with the fact that women are capable of a range of crimes against property, violent, especially sexually violent, women continue to polarise opinion. This book adopts a dual approach, describing women's life stories but also exploring their offending behaviour and the social context in which it took place, seeking to arrive at a realistic understanding of their involvement in this form of crime. Chapters in the book look at the range of stories that are told about women sex offenders: the story that emerges from the files compiled about them; the life stories they tell about themselves; and the complex, elusive story that develops around their offending behaviour. Only by considering all these stories together -and some of the stories that can't be told -is it possible to arrive at a real understanding of these women's offences, and to consider the implications for those who work with sex offenders.