The Value of Life: Female Killers and the Feminine Mystique

This work presents a case study of two drastically different personas of female murderers, Aileen Wuornos and Andrea Yates. It explores the striking ideas presented in Berrington and Honkatukia's (2002) comparison of the trials of notorious female murderers. Using their distinction of the “mad” or “bad” media portrayal of the female offender, the current manuscript examines this unique dichotomy as it exists in America. By focusing on Labeling, Anomie, and Chivalry theories, this work offers social critiques as to why the media chose to depict Wuornos and Yates in markedly different lights. America's seemingly “blind” criminal justice system is challenged by the noticeably disparate sentences received for equally heinous crimes.