running head: FEMALE KILLERS MEDIA DEPICTIONS AND GENDER ROLE PERPETUATION

Medusa or Madonna: Understanding how the United States and United Kingdom news

media representations of female killers perpetuate gender roles in society today

Aisha Hanson-Alp

S3112446

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Thesis BA Media Studies

Supervisor: Dr. Clemens Apprich

Second reader: Dr. Chrissy Dagoula

LJX999B10

Date of submission: 6-13-2020

Wordcount: 10468

Declaration

I, Aisha Hanson-Alp, declare that this thesis and its content are my own and are the result of

my own original research unless otherwise stated. The thesis, ‘Medusa or Madonna:

Understanding how the United States and United Kingdom news media representations of

female killers perpetuate gender roles in society today’, has not been submitted nor accepted

anywhere else for the award of any other degree or diploma.

Abstract:

This research project aims to explore the ways in which the United States (U.S.) and United

Kingdom (UK) news media perpetuate gender roles in society through the representations of

female killers. To explore this concept three notorious female killer case studies were used:

Amanda Knox, Jodi Arias and Casey Anthony. Each of these women were given a profound

amount of media attention before, during and after their trials. A multimodal critical discourse

analysis of 25 news media items from the U.S. and UK found that these female killers were

mainly depicted as psychopaths, sexually deviant women, evil women, femme fatales and bad

mothers. They are considered to have transgressed normative femininity. In turn their

representations deny their agency as women, remove them from the realm of normative

femininity and cast them into that of the non-woman. This research has found that sexist and

traditional perceptions of women are still dominant in the media today and are perpetuated in

Contents

Introduction

4

The Female Killer Case Studies

5

2. Theoretical framework

7

2.1 Historical Context

7

2.2 Feminist Media Theory

8

2.3 Framing Theory

9

2.4 Representations of Women in Media

9

2.5 Representations of Female Killers in the Criminal Justice System and Society

10

2.6 New Media Ecology

12

3. Methodological framework

14

3.1 Data Collection

14

3.2 Data Analysis

16

4. Findings and Discussion

19

4.1 The Psychopath

19

4.2 The Evil Woman

22

4.3 The Sexually Deviant Woman

23

4.4 The Femme Fatale

26

4.5 The Medusa/Madonna Dichotomy

27

4.6 The Bad Mother

29

4.7 Limitations

31

Conclusion

32

References

36

Bibliography

44

Appendices:

45

Appendix 1: Coding scheme

45

Appendix 2: Images of the female killers

47

Introduction

Female killers are usually considered anomalies by society and the media. The idea of the

female killer is presented to us in the myths of an evil archetype and is represented as all that

is opposed to real womanhood. She is the Medusa, not the Madonna. There are no links

between the two. She is considered so bad, evil, and sly that she is not even truly perceived as

a woman. This is because violent female criminality transgresses society’s idea of the “true

nature” of women (Startup, 2000, p. 21).

Though 90% of homicides are perpetrated by men, female killers are often awarded

more infamy in the media. Perhaps this is due to their rarity, or perhaps this is due to

transgressing the society’s normative ideas of femininity. Regardless, their media

representations do not depict them as normal women who have happened to kill. Instead they

are given sensationalised media coverage that focuses on aspects of their lives that are

seemingly irrelevant.

Traditional Western ideals of femininity see women as “gentle”, “yielding”, “tender”,

and “childlike” (Bem, 1974, p.156) and therefore, the act of murder directly opposes this idea.

Ideas of normative femininity are entrenched in society as the ‘natural’ and ‘normal’ way to

perceive women. I argue that such ideals are learned behaviours persistently reinforced through

the media. Framing theory supports this idea as media frames can only be understood if they

already somehow exist in our schemata (Entman, 1993).

To illustrate my argument, I conduct a multimodal critical discourse analysis of 25 U.S.

and UK news media items to answer the research question, ‘how does the U.S. and UK news

media representations of female killers perpetuate gender roles in society today?’ To answer

this question, I analysed three female killer case studies, Amanda Knox, Jodi Arias and Casey

Anthony, selected on the basis that each case garnered mass media attention.

understand the main discourses surrounding female killers in the criminal justice system and

society. Their discourses will facilitate in creating my own themes that are based on the

representations of the female killers in this sample. These themes, that attempt to illustrate the

main U.S. and UK media representations of my female killer case studies, coupled with framing

theory, will then reflect how the media perpetuate female gender roles in society.

I present a theoretical framework that discusses the framing, feminist media theory and

feminist criminology concepts that underly my research. I will also discuss historical

assumptions of female criminality and the new media ecology to how this relates to media

representations of female killers today. My methodological section will describe the use of

multimodal critical discourse analysis and outline how my research was conducted. In

presenting my research results, I demonstrate the main ways in which these female killers were

represented and how those representations perpetuate gender roles in society. I conclude with

an answer to my research question and discuss the relevance of my research. Here, I will also

discuss some noteworthy occurrences and potential avenues for further research.

The Female Killer Case Studies

In order to answer my research question, I have used my analysis of three notorious female

killer case studies: Amanda Knox, Jodi Arias, and Casey Anthony. Each of these women was

at one point or another subject to mass media attention and public scrutiny for their apparent

violent crimes. Each sparked media outrage in the U.S. and UK and were branded guilty long

before any of them stood trial. They were all young, white, attractive, middle class women at

the time.

Amanda Knox, an American exchange student, was first convicted and later acquitted

of the 2007 murder of her housemate, Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy (Povoledo, 2014).

Knox was alleged to have murdered Kercher along with her “boyfriend at the time, Raffaele

Sollecito, and an Ivorian-born acquaintance, Rudy Guede” (Povoledo, 2019, para. 7). Guede

was tried and sentenced separately from the two and is now argued to have acted alone

(Povoledo, 2015, para. 16). In 2009, Knox and Sollecito were convicted of first-degree murder

and spent 4 years in jail until their conviction was overturned in 2011 (Povoledo, 2014).

However, in 2013, the Italian Supreme Court ruled that Knox and Sollecito would be tried

again and finally were exonerated in 2015 (Povoledo, 2019).

Jodi Arias was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 2008 murder of her

on-off-again boyfriend Travis Alexander. Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in May 2013,

for stabbing Travis, shooting him in the head and almost decapitating him (Santos, 2013, para.

1). It was argued that Arias killed Alexander in a “jealous rage”, though Arias claimed it was

self-defence (Santos, 2013, para. 1). Evidence showed that Arias and Alexander engaged in

sexual intercourse and “took explicit photos of each other” before she killed him (Lohr, 2012,

para. 20). In 2015, she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole

(“Convicted killer Jodi Arias”, 2015).

Casey Anthony was accused of the murder of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee Anthony

in 2008 but was found not guilty of the crime by a jury in July 2011 (Alvarez, 2011). Casey

Anthony did not report the disappearance of her daughter, who had been “missing for 31 days”

(2011, para. 14). According to prosecutors, Casey Anthony acted unaffected after her

daughter’s disappearance as she killed her to live a life inhibited by children, full of partying

and spending time with her boyfriend (Alvarez, 2011, para. 16). Though Anthony was never

found guilty of the murder, she was considered a murderer by both the press and the public,

earning her the title of America’s most hated mother (“America’s most hated”, 2017, para. 8).

2. Theoretical framework

To answer the research question, it is important to first establish a sound theoretical framework.

This framework will situate the research question and topic in its historical context and discuss

the current discourses surrounding the media representations of female killers today.

2.1 Historical Context

To begin, it is important to understand the historical context in which assumptions of female

criminality emerged as “it is only by looking at the past that we can begin to understand the

genesis of modern views of criminal women” (Zedner, 1991, p. 314). The historical

assumptions about female criminality have been closely intertwined with the governing morals

of that time. During the early 19

century, the ideal woman was one of high moral standing

(Zedner, 1991, p. 308). There was also substantial belief of the “innate non-criminality of

women” (Startup, 2000, p. 20). Therefore, women who did commit crimes were judged as

deviating from their “true” nature as women and their roles as mothers and wives (Startup,

2000, pp. 20-21).

At the end of the 19

century, explanations of female criminality pertained to their

“flawed biology” and the idea that women were “moral imbeciles” (Startup, 2000, p. 21). These

explanations decontextualized acts of female criminality and denied women agency, the

capability “to make a semi-autonomous decision to act in a particular way” (Weare, 2013, p.

338). Women during this time were considered inferior to men physically but superior morally,

isolating women’s roles in society to marriage and motherhood (Hughes, 2014). Normative

ideas of femininity at that time reflected the notion that true womanhood embodied morality,

compassion, and passivity. Though society has progressed and moved away from many of these

rather sexist notions of femininity, I argue that female criminality is still considered and

from Whitely, “the act of murder by a woman stands opposed to the essential nature of

womanhood as realized through the discourse of normative femininity” (2012, p. 36).

2.2 Feminist Media Theory

Feminist media theory intends to examine “how gender relations are represented, or the ways

in which audiences make sense of them, or how media practitioners contribute to perpetuating

sexual inequities” (Mendes & Carter, 2008, p. 1701). Therefore, through the lens of feminist

media theory it will be possible to understand how female killers are presented, the audience

interpretations of them and how these representations perpetuate gender roles to society.

Feminist media theory also tackles power (Steiner, 2014, p.359), and in the case of this

research, the power relations between the patriarchal media and its audience: how patriarchal

driven ideologies about gender are conveyed and construed to be accepted as natural and

common sense by its audience.

Some feminist media theorists have found that female perpetrators of crime are

considered by society to have transgressed their “natural feminine traits” as “gentle, nurturing

and angelical” beings (Easteal, 2001, p. 22). That by committing a crime they deviate from

their natural impulses as passive, nurturing women. This concept is ingrained in our society as

a common sense as we have accepted the patriarchal notion that the female sex has a natural

state. Feminist media theory considers society’s gender roles system to be one that is “socially

constructed” and “naturalized but not natural” (Steiner, 2014, p. 359). To further this idea, Kara

Keeling proposes a new definition of this common sense as “a linchpin in the struggle for

hegemony that conditions what is perceptible such that aspects of what is perceptible become

generally recognizable only when they work in some way through ‘common senses’” (2014,

p.153). Thus, our society’s current consideration of common sense has been influenced by the

patriarchal hegemony that dictates our understandings of the male and female sex and therein

of women are ingrained in us as true and natural due to the media’s use of gendered language

and “extensive stereotyping of women” (Currie, 1997, p.455).

2.3 Framing Theory

Framing theory can be used to further the understanding of the concept of common senses

proposed in the previous paragraph. Framing theory describes the ways in which media

producers select certain aspects of a story and make them more salient in order to “promote a

particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment

recommendation for the item described” (Entman, 1993, p.52). Through the salience of specific

aspects in a media text, they become more visible, significant, and notable to the audience

(Entman, 1993, p.53). For female killers this means that certain aspects of their trials or certain

characteristics they have will be made more salient all the while negating other aspects that

could add context or that simply do not fit the narrative (Easteal et al, 2015). Easteal et al

discuss the significance of framing in the creation of the discourses surrounding women who

kill (2015). Frames draw on an individual’s existing schemata to interpret the encoded message

(Entman, 1993). This complements our understanding of common sense as it expresses that

gender roles are perpetuated and accepted as normal as the frames already exist within our

symbolic environment.

2.4 Representations of Women in Media

To understand how the media’s portrayals of female killers could perpetuate gender roles in

society, we must understand how women are represented in the media. Wood describes good

and bad women as two dichotomous and juxtaposed images of women designed and presented

by the media to “dramatize differences in the consequences that befall good and bad women”

(1994, p. 33). These two images can be considered two ways of framing the female sex. Their

juxtaposition against each other perpetuate ideas of what a woman should and should not be.

to men and are “usually cast as victims, angels, martyrs, and loyal wives and helpmates” (1994,

p. 33).

The bad woman, on the other hand, is depicted as “hard”, “cold”, and “aggressive”, and

is embodied in media characterizations as “the witch, bitch, whore, or nonwoman” (Wood,

1994, p. 33). This fabricated “good woman” fits into the stereotypical ideals of normative

femininity recognized in our society today. Though Wood does not relate this theory to

representations of female killers, we can. The female killer is presented as the bad woman of

society, a direct deviation from the good woman and encompasses a warning of all the things

the normal woman should never attempt to be.

2.5 Representations of Female Killers in the Criminal Justice System and Society

The concepts outlined below expand on the different ways in which female killers are

represented in the justice system, society, and the effects thereof. I used these concepts to help

create the coding scheme and to facilitate the analysis of my sample.

Lizzie Seal, whose work involves feminist criminology, identified five main discourses

that influence how female killers are perceived by the justice system and society (2010). Seal

uses female killer case studies to describe how and on whom these discourses have been used.

These discourses include the masculine woman, the female murderer whose depiction

considers her more masculine than feminine; the muse/mastermind dichotomy, interchangeable

depictions of women who killed with a male counterpart as (1) the complicit aids to the killing

or (2) coercive femme fatales who got the man to do their bidding; the damaged personality,

whose crimes are reduced to mental impairment or faulty female biology; the respectable

woman whose social position and societal status results in impressions of diminished

responsibility; and the witch, who commits multiple killings and unsettles normative femininity

by doing so as an older woman (Seal, 2010). These discourses show the ways in which female

the media representations of them.

On par with Seal’s five discourses is Siobhan Weare’s three labels for female killers

within the justice system and society: the mad, the bad, and the victim. Weare suggests that

labelling female killers as such is problematic as it allows for the continuation of gender role

perpetuation and denies them “agency”: the capability “to make a semi-autonomous decision”

(2013, p. 338). Weare’s the mad label, like Seal’s the damaged personality, refers to women

whose crimes can be argued away with mental illness, such as infanticide and battered woman

syndrome. Women who kill their abusers and plead ‘loss of control’ are often labelled as the

victim (Weare, 2013). The bad woman label has similarities to Wood’s description of bad

women in media representations. The label is awarded to female killers whose crimes cannot

be argued away using the other two labels (Weare, 2013). These women are sexually deviant

or bad mothers (Weare, 2013). The bad woman label refers to the “extra element” given to

female killers due to transgressing not only the law by committing murder, but femininity by

being a woman who commits murder (Weare, 2013, p. 346).

The theories presented by Seal and Weare show that framing female killers in certain

ways can deny their agency and perpetuate gender roles in society by portraying them as all

the things a normal woman should not be. Moreover, I argue that the frames used to portray

female killers can be considered common sense, in that they are believed and accepted as true

and natural.

The media and the criminal justice system implicitly work together to exert control over

women (Chesney-Lind & Eliason, 2006, p. 43). This is done by dehumanizing or demonizing

female killers and removing them from the ‘protected sphere of femininity” all the “while

celebrating the presumed passivity of the rest of womanhood” (2006, p. 43).

2.6 New Media Ecology

Framing is most often studied in relation to mass media logics; however, traditional mass media

are no longer the only dominant form of media today. Social media logics have emerged due

to digitization and new media technologies. Van Dijck and Poell describe mass media logics

and social media logics in relation to each other, their emergence and how they are received by

the audience (2013). Van Dijck and Poell indicate that media logics penetrate and establish

themselves within our society so that they are perceived as “natural or neutral” (2013, p.4).

This perception causes audiences to consider trusted media as objective, though they are

simultaneously and implicitly communicating their true ideologies (2013, p.4). The idea that

media are perceived as natural or neutral, links to the idea of common sense described in the

previous sections. News outlets “perfected audiovisual grammar to steer collective emotions

and feelings” (Van Dijck & Poell, 2013, p.4) in an implicit way. If we apply this idea to how

female killers are represented in the media, their depictions, though considered objective due

to media’s status in society, are brimming with the underlying ideologies of female

subordination and normative gender roles. These ideologies are then accepted as right and real

by the audience, instead of sexist and stereotypical.

This new media ecology, facilitated by digitization and new media technologies, has

increased the news media proliferation, and stressed their hegemony in society. New media

technologies were founded with egalitarian dreams; however, their logics are now increasingly

like those of the mass media, utilizing framing and agenda setting to convey their ideologies

(Van Dijck & Poell, 2013). This could be problematic as these technologies are being used to

give an increasing amount of exposure to criminal trials (Puddister & Small, 2019) which could

cause a trial by media and limit the ability of a fair trial.

Users can now follow news stories as they update in real time due to live blogging and

news app notification updates. “Live-blogging combines conventional reporting with curation,

where journalists sift and prioritize information from secondary sources and present it to the

audience in close to real time” (Thurman and Walters, 2013, p.83). Real time communication

technologies have created an increase in online news proliferation as these live updates are

small, easily readable, and constant, allowing users to stay updated at anytime and anywhere

(Thurman and Walters, 2013). However, this is also problematic as journalists must make

immediate content curation decisions due to them reporting in real time. Therefore, information

that may be damaging to the accused that is later scraped from the court record will have

already been published (Vermeys 2010; Janoski-Haehlen 2011; Schutz and Cannon 2013, as

cited in Puddister & Small, 2019). Furthermore, as live blogs are short and tweets have a

character limit, some context may be omitted in order to synthesize and make salient a certain

aspect of the case, which may change the audience’s perception of the accused (Puddister &

Small, 2019).

Another issue with this practice is that some judges are not fond of media exposure

during criminal murder trials and have found ways to prevent it by issuing gag orders (Flood,

2009). The problem here is that by issuing a gag order, none of those involved in the trial can

speak to the media which means that fabricated information cannot be corrected (Flood, 2009).

For example, a gossip magazine might publish false information about a female killer on trial

without anyone being able to refute it. This could cause serious damage to a person’s reputation

and negates the idea of innocent till proven guilty.

There are, however, several ways in which live-blogging positively impacts the media

images of female killers. As live blogging is composed of a constant stream of direct

information about the courtroom proceedings, a new standard of accountability may be

established that could facilitate in preserving the rights of the accused (Paciocco, 2005). It may

also increase the transparency of journalistic practices as audiences are being directly

3. Methodological framework

I conduct a multimodal critical discourse analysis of UK and U.S. news media content

pertaining to three female killers: Jodi Arias, Amanda Knox, and Casey Anthony. Critical

discourse analysis is especially apt for understanding “relations of power, dominance and

inequality and the ways these are reproduced or resisted by social group members through text”

(Van Dijk, 1995). Therefore, it is a reliable method of analysis to understand how the media

reproduce ideas of gender roles and perpetuate them to society using power and ideological

dominance. By combining the theoretical framework with real life case studies of news media

representations of female killers, interesting insights can draw on how they perpetuate gender

roles in the English-speaking world. By looking at both the United States and Britain it is

possible to understand how the two nation’s depictions of female killers differ or coincide as

they are “somewhat similar economically and socially” which would allow for fair comparison

between the two (Wiest, 2016, p. 332).

3.1 Data Collection

The first step in the data collection process was to select the female killer case studies that I

would analyse in this thesis. I used purposive sampling to select both the female killer case

studies and the news media items analysed in this research project. Purposive sampling would

allow me to select the news media items that I considered most relevant to answering my

research question. Purposive sampling is used to identify and select the cases most relevant to

the research question in a purposeful way (Palys, 2008). I created several criteria to help me

systematically select the case studies that would be most fruitful to my research.

Firstly, this research focuses on the news media representations of one-time female

killers which subsequently omitted female serial killers from the sample. Secondly, it was

important to find women whose crimes differed from each other to see if this changed the way

in which they were represented. Weare and Seal’s theories helped me make these choices as

they have proven that the type of crime committed causes the female killer’s representations to

differ. Thirdly, I wanted to look at recent cases to understand how gender roles are perpetuated

today. This aspect is important as societal perceptions of the female sex change over time.

Finally, they must have garnered mass media attention in the U.S. and UK as the aim of this

research project is to understand how representations of female killers in the U.S. and UK

media perpetuate gender roles in society.

The selection of my sample of 25 news media items was also selected in a purposeful

way. Each news item was selected based on whether it focused on either Amanda Knox, Jodi

Arias, or Casey Anthony; described the crime of which they were accused; and fell into the

appropriate time frame selected for each woman. The selected timeframe being from the

moment of each woman’s arrest to her initial conviction or release. In the case of Jodi Arias

this timeframe was between July 2008 and May 2013; for Amanda Knox it was between

November 2007 and December 2009; and for Casey Anthony between July 2008 and July 2011.

The sample of 25 news media items includes 10 solely text-based articles, 12 articles

that contain both text and images, and 3 videos. The videos are embedded within the articles

but are analysed separately to ease analysis. Separate samples were collected for each of three

case studies. Eight items relating to Amanda Knox were collected: 4 UK articles, and 4 U.S.

articles. Seven items relating to Jodi Arias were chosen: 3 UK articles, 4 U.S. articles, and 2

U.S. videos. Seven items relating to Casey Anthony: 4 UK articles, 3 U.S. articles, and 1 U.S.

video.

I mainly used Independent U.S. and UK online news sources to collect the news media

items. The UK news sources included: Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Times (London), The

Sunday Times, and The Independent. While the independent U.S. news sources included: Fox

news, ABC news, HuffPost, Radar Online, Daily Beast, Buzzfeed News, and New York Post.

and UK and contained many news stories relating to the three women. I also made use of the

online newspaper research database, NexisUni

. However, as NexisUni does not include the

audio-visual content and images associated with the articles in their database, it was only used

as a source for text-based news articles or as a reference to find the original articles. I conducted

separate searches to collect data for each case study, using their names and date ranges to find

the appropriate material. The data was collected during one data collection session and then

saved to its own folder in my RUG student mail Google drive, so that all the data remained in

one secure location.

3.2 Data Analysis

I used a critical discourse analysis (CDA) to analyse the selected sample of news media content.

Critical discourse analysis attempts to shed light on how discursive means can produce,

perpetuate, and support social inequalities (Mullet, 2018). It is interested in “demystifying

ideologies and power through the systematic and retroductable investigation of semiotic data

(written, spoken and visual)” (Wodak, 2009, p. 3). As I am interested in understanding how

gender roles are perpetuated in society through media representations of female killers, CDA

is the ideal methodological choice. This is because CDA will allow me to understand the

underlying ideologies that are perpetuated through the media and interpret how the power

relations of the patriarchy present notions of femininity as natural and common sense.

According to Wodak and Meyer, “three concepts figure indispensably in all CDA: the

concept of power, the concept of history, and the concept of ideology” (2001, p. 3). These three

concepts are also intrinsic to feminist media theory, the theoretical lens through which this

research will be analysed, and therefore is the ideal method for this project. Discourse analysis

is “the study of language in use” (Gee, 2011, p. ix) and is usually conducted on text-based

1 _{NexisUni is an online newspaper research database.}

https://advance-lexis-com.proxy- ub.rug.nl/bisacademicresearchhome?crid=a6660f5c-088e-4fe1-90e9-d07653d08563&pdmfid=1516831&pdisurlapi=true

resources. However, as text is not the only media type being analysed in this project,

multimodal critical discourse will be employed to understand the process of meaning making

in the multimodal texts.

Multimodality, simply put, is media texts where meaning is communicated through

more than one mode, i.e. text and audio-visual content or texts and images (Mills & Unsworth,

2017). The use of multimodal news articles is something that has emerged from the new media

ecology, as new media technologies allow for a plethora of modes in one article. Multimodal

critical discourse analysis “draws attention to the way that meaning making is done through a

highly subtle interplay of different semiotic resources such as language, gesture and posture,

and in relation to context, proximity and rich cues in the environment” (Ledin & Machin, 2017,

pp. 62). In this way, the multimodal media texts analysed in this sample focus not only on the

social practice of language, but rather language as an element to be included in analysis with

other semiotic resources that will allow for a richer understanding of the meaning making

practices found in multimodal texts.

The multimodal critical discourse analysis employed on this sample of news media

content was carried out through the analysis of different layers of meaning as inspired by

O'Halloran, Tan, Smith, and Podlasov (2011). The first layer of analysis is a denotational or

naturalized reading of the multimodal text, where the intended or most obvious reading of the

text is established (O’Halloran et al, 2011). Next, the connotational layer of analysis is

employed where the researcher’s perceived meaning of the underlying ideology or intent of the

text is understood (O’Halloran et al, 2011). The audio-visual elements were analysed with

scrutiny towards the language used within the videos, the gestures and tone used by the news

presenter, the images shown, and the ways in which the female killers and their crimes were

The text-based elements, on the other hand, were analysed using traditional forms of critical

discourse analysis that focuses on written language as its main feature. They were analysed

with close attention to “the patterns, dichotomies, figures of speech, word choices,

contradictions, inconsistencies and gaps in the language that were used” (Bonnes, 2013, p.

216). The images presented and headlines used were also analysed as they may indicate the

ways that the content was intended to be perceived.

Codes were assigned to the main themes identified in both the audio-visual content and

the text-based content. As I used a mixed methods approach, the codes were influenced by the

feminist criminology theories pertaining to the main representations assigned to female killers.

Particularly, Lizzie Seal’s identification of the five main discourses surrounding female killers

in the justice system and society (2010). As well as, Siobhan Weare’s identification of the three

main labels that are assigned to female killers within the justice system and affect how they are

perceived within society (2013). I used these theories to help establish an initial coding scheme

that guided my analysis of the media texts and ensured that my interpretations of the texts were

backed up by relevant theory. However, to ensure that emerging concepts were not omitted

from the analysis, the coding scheme was adjusted several times throughout to create the final

version (See appendix 1).

Once both the audio-visual and text-based content were coded separately, they were

further analysed together to create a better understanding of each of the media texts in their

entirety. Finally, the codes used in each of the media texts were compared and the main themes

and underlying ideologies that suggested how the women were being represented were

4. Findings and Discussion

Through the analysis of each news media item it became clear that there was not a significant

difference in the ways in which the women were represented between the U.S. and UK news

media. The only significant difference being that UK news media items had more of a focus

on the sex lives of Arias and Knox, though both UK and U.S. news equally depicted the women

as sexually deviant. However, due to the small sample size of articles analysed, I cannot

definitively say that the UK news media focused more on the sex lives of the women than U.S.

news media did in general.

Outlined below are the main themes that emerged during the analysis of the sample.

These themes suggest the main ways in which the female killer case studies were represented

in the news and what the repercussions of these representations are. Though the themes will be

outlined separately, they are interrelated as the articles often portrayed them using a

combination of the themes.

4.1 The Psychopath: Depictions of female killers as having psychopathic traits

Most of the news media items from this sample depicted all three female killers as exhibiting

psychopathic traits. Though none, except one article which called Casey Anthony a “sociopath”

(Peyser, 2011, para. 31), explicitly stated that the women were psychopaths, instead their

behaviours and mannerisms were described as such.

An article that depicted Knox as displaying psychopathic traits referred to her as acting

“cold and emotionless” after the murder (“College student murder”, 2008, para. 11). By

presenting Knox in this way, the article suggests Knox lacks remorse for the murder and

empathy towards the victim. This not only cements Knox’s guilt in the article but also suggests

that she is simply non-feeling, a characteristic that diverges from normative ideas of femininity

where women are expected to be “sympathetic” and “compassionate” (Bem, 1974, p. 156).

Knox was also depicted, in the same article, as narcissistic, “the fresh-faced young woman

attributes the intense interest in her case to the fact that she's pretty” (“College student murder”,

2008, para. 2). Her narcissism is indicated by depicting her as vain by suggesting she is aware

of her own attractiveness.

Another example of a psychopathic depiction comes from an article relating to Casey

Anthony. She is described as showing “no signs of grief parading in a ‘hot body’ contest at a

Florida nightclub four days after her two-year-old daughter went missing” (Stevens, 2011, para.

1). This extract depicts Anthony as lacking in any remorse after her daughter’s disappearance

and condemns her for acting in an unmotherly way. It also shows Anthony as being narcissistic

with the use of the word “parading”, followed by “‘hot body’ contest”. It suggests she is aware

of her attractiveness and is flaunting it. The condescending tone of the article can be described

as slut-shaming

Anthony for flaunting her body to be viewed by others in a sexual way.

Anthony was also portrayed as having psychopathic traits, in a video snippet from the

ABC news channel. “Normally stone-faced, Casey started to cry. But tears were missing in the

days after her daughter died” (Hopper, & Banfield, 2011, 0:40). The video goes on to prove

this point by following the statement up with a compilation of three snippets from three

different witnesses all suggesting that Anthony appeared unchanged after her daughter first

went missing:

“[In court]: Lawyer to witness on the stand]: How did she appear?

Witness A: Completely normal.

Witness B: She was happy.

Witness C: She seemed upbeat and happy.”

2 _{Slut-shaming “is the act of criticizing women or girls for their real or presumed sexuality or sexual activity, as} well as for looking or behaving in ways that are believed to transgress sexual norms” (Karaian, 2014, p. 296).

The use of the repetition of the same answer given by three different people gives the

impression that her uncaring attitude is a fact which makes it more believable to the audience.

The segment also flashed images of a smiling Caylee Anthony, the victim, to cause sympathy

in the audience and make Anthony’s actions appear even more odd and uncaring. Anthony was

also described as crying

and was used to suggest that Anthony was not upset about her

daughter but rather about the predicament she was now in, reiterating a lack of remorse towards

her daughter. The news media items often described the women as emotional. Though being

emotional is considered a feminine trait, the publication’s used their emotions to suggest that

they were upset about being caught rather than upset about the actual crime. By doing so they

reiterated the frame to the audience that the women were cold and selfish.

Jodi Arias was also depicted as lacking in remorse for the murder of Travis Alexander.

An ABC news article described the account of a witness who met with Arias the day after she

allegedly murdered Alexander: “‘She was acting like Jodi, the same Jodi I'd always talked to

and knew,’ Udy said. […] In fact, Udy said, Arias seemed perfectly normal” (Curry, 2013b,

para. 10-11). Arias is described as acting normally, something that many would consider mind

boggling after committing such an act. It suggests Arias committed premeditated murder and

causes her actions and behaviour to seem even more abhorrent.

Without saying that these women may suffer from actual personality disorders, but

presenting them as having psychopathic traits, they allow the audience to have the impression

that they are simply wicked and uncaring women. This is problematic because it makes them

seem less human and especially less feminine as a lack of empathy and severe violence are

considered more masculine traits. This shows how the women are presented as departures from

femininity and decontextualized their actions as they are now wicked nonwomen. Furthermore,

it accentuates the idea that ‘normal’ women would never commit such crimes and reinforces

stereotypical gender roles.

4.2 The Evil Woman: Depictions of female killers as evil and wicked

Each of the women was also often depicted as evil or wicked. This theme was often used in

conjunction with the psychopathic traits theme and shares similar effects. It refers to instances

in the news media texts where the women were referred to with words such as cruel, devil or

evil. For example, Casey Anthony was referred to in an article from The Times as the “'Devil'

mother” (Goddard, 2011), while another stated “for this monster mother who possibly got away

with murder, hell will have to wait” (Peyser, 2011, para. 35). Knox was also referred to in this

way. One article referred to a prosecutor who called Knox a “promiscuous and manipulative

"she-devil” (“suicide watch for”, 2006, para. 8), while another suggested she was involved in

a “satanic Halloween rite” (“Amanda Knox’s sexual appetites”, 2009, para. 1).

The evil woman theme was not limited to the text in the articles. Images were often

used to support the narrative being told and to reinforce the theme to the audience. After all a

picture is worth a thousand words. One article referred to Arias as a “cruel waitress” in the title

(Blakely, 2013). Though not much else was said to suggest that she was evil, the image of her

that accompanied the text suggested much more than what was written (see appendix 2A). A

medium closeup shot of Arias looking directly into the camera with a sinister expression was

used to communicate this theme. The edges of the photograph are dark and blurred, making

Arias the focal point of the image. It portrays her as a cold and calculated killer cementing the

perception to the audience of an evil Jodi Arias. This practice was similarly employed on Knox

in an article where she was referred to as a “she-devil who destroyed [the] life of [an] innocent

man” in the title (Squires, 2009). The image from the article was a closeup of Knox looking

over her shoulder directly into the camera with an eerie smile playing on her lips (see appendix

an evil woman guilty of murder.

Similar to the psychopath themes, the problem with depicting the women as evil is that

it removes them from all ties to normative womanhood and casts them and their crimes into

the realm of the purely evil. Doing so rejects the notion of any contextual and logical

explanation for their crimes and perpetuates the idea that ‘real women’ are nonviolent. This

removes agency from the women as it suggests they were unable to control themselves from

committing the crime due to being so evil, rather than simply being someone who made the

choice to commit a murder. Labelling women as such reflects society’s fear and shows

society’s inability to comprehend that a woman could willingly commit a violent murder. These

women have transgressed societal notions of normative femininity making their crimes

incomprehensible, especially when they have killed without reason, murdered children, or

committed torture (Naylor, 1990, p. 6). This transgression is then resolved through

classifications of them as “witches or monsters” as it distinguishes them as “non-human and

non-female’ (1990, p. 6) leaving the rest of womanhood untouched and perpetually passive

(Chesney-Lind & Eliason, 2006).

4.3 The Sexually Deviant Woman: Depictions of female killers as sexual and promiscuous

One of the most common themes that appeared within the news media texts were depictions of

the women as having psychopathic traits and as being sexually deviant. The sexually deviant

code referred to aspects in the articles which painted the woman as being sexually deviant,

promiscuous, or as not having “the right kind of sex” (Weare, 2013, p. 347). This code was

coupled with the code focus on sex life which referred to aspects in the articles in which their

sex lives were highlighted though it did not necessarily refer to them hypersexual or deviant in

their sexual behaviour.

A Daily Mail article was titled “Secret diary reveals Foxy Knoxy was ‘always thinking

about sex’” (“Secret diary reveals”, 2008). Though only the first half of the article discussed

Knox’s diary extracts in which a few topics related to sex, the headline suggested that sex was

constantly on Knox’s mind. The article began with “On top of her list of things to do before

leaving for Italy, Amanda Knox wrote in her diary that she needed to visit a sex shop to buy

condoms” (2008, para. 1). This suggests that buying condoms is an unusual thing for a woman

to do, when in reality Knox was ensuring that she would have safe sex. By suggesting that this

was so unusual, the article perpetuates the idea that sexuality is something that is abnormal for

women.

Numerous articles discussed Jodi Arias’ sexuality. An article from ABC news described

Arias’ first sexual encounter with Travis Alexander; detailing Arias receiving and reciprocating

oral sex and then later performing oral sex on Alexander in his car (Curry, 2013a). Her

relationship with Alexander was also described as “an erotic” and “torrid sexual relationship”

(Curry, 2013a, para. 3; para. 15). Though this article seems to sympathise with Arias, the details

of her sex life are irrelevant when reporting on a murder trial. The only logical explanation for

constantly discussing Arias’ sex life is that sex sells. The article goes on to discuss Arias’

transgressing her religious belief of Mormonism by engaging in sexual acts before marriage, it

also describes Arias as having had a “flurry of boyfriends” (2013a, para. 13). This suggests

promiscuity and a lack of morals from Arias. Though nothing is explicitly stated in the article,

it does carry an element of ‘slut-shaming’. This was also true for Knox. For example, one

article discussed a book written about her which stated, “the book features a list from Knox's

diary which names four men in Seattle and New York, and three in Florence and Perugia, all

of whom she has had sex with” (“Secret diary reveals”, 2008, para. 7). This was once again

irrelevant information about Knox; however, their sexuality was constantly explicitly

highlighted and shamed. Knox is depicted here, as promiscuous and the tone of the article

suggests that this is negative, furthering the idea that these women are being slut-shamed while

Female killers are not role models, when their actions are described it is done in a

negative way as we consider them bad people. Therefore, by slut-shaming and depicting the

women as sexually deviant, it reinforces the idea that female sexuality is something that must

be controlled. Women must still conform to what is considered to be appropriate sexual

behaviour; that is to say that they must not have too many sexual partners, and that they must

have the ‘right kind’ of sex” (Weare, 2013, p. 347). According to Weare, “labelling women as

bad for this reason demonstrates an attempt by both society and the law to regulate female

sexuality” (p. 346). Furthermore, the sexual deviant representations of these women suggest

that they have not only committed a crime against the law through murder, but also a crime

against “appropriate female sexuality” making them doubly deviant (Weare, 2013, p.347).

It is of interest to note that though Knox allegedly committed the murder with two male

accomplices, only 7 of the articles mentioned her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, while only

6 mentioned Rudy Guede. Unlike Knox, none of the articles presented Guede as sexually

deviant, and Sollecito’s sexual deviance was only referred to in relation to Amanda Knox. This

is interesting as Guede was the only person whose DNA proved that he had engaged in a sexual

act with the victim (Donadio, 2008, para 6). Guede was mentioned the least in each of the

articles, with usually no more than two or three sentences discussing his involvement in the

crime. The murder was, however, often referred to as a “group sex game” (Squires, 2009, para.

11) or “drug-fuelled sex game” (“Secret diary reveals”, 2008, para. 30), suggesting that all the

accomplices were involved. However, only Knox’s sexual endeavours and deviancy were

discussed outside of the actual crime. This indicates society’s double standard and disapproval

of female sexuality. It suggests that Knox was more to blame and was more guilty than her

male companies because she had committed a sex crime as a woman and therefore, transgressed

normative femininity, while her male accomplices had not.

representations of women who commit crimes with male partners (2010). It positions the

woman as either the muse, the complicit helper to the crime; or as the mastermind, the woman

who got the man to commit the crime for her (Seal, 2010). Here Knox is positioned as the

mastermind and is therefore considered more couplable in society’s eyes than her male

accomplices.

4.4 The Femme Fatale: Depictions of female killers as sexy but evil

The femme fatale is the mythological archetype for the evil but sexual woman: one who lures

men into deadly traps using only her attractiveness and sexuality. The media items that

presented the women as femme fatales also often presented them as sexually deviant and

having psychopathic traits. This theme was less present in the news media content than the

others.

An article from ABC news titled “Jodi Arias Lured Ex-Boyfriend with Sex Before

Killing Him” exemplifies the femme fatale theme (Curry, 2013b). The title suggests that Arias

used her sexuality to entice her victim into a trap to kill him. This is a rather sensationalised

account of the murder and perpetuates the problematic idea of female sexuality as a weapon.

Another article suggests that Nancy Grace

_{believes Arias “uses her sexuality to her advantage,}

[and] is ‘not too pretty for the death penalty!’” (Tereszcuk, 2013, para 6). This exemplifies the

femme fatale theme as Arias is depicted as overtly sexual and attractive and as using it for her

own gain. The article is condescending in tone and focuses on the appearance of Arias calling

her a “sexy blonde” (Tereszcuk, 2013, para. 4). Aspects that once again seem irrelevant when

reporting on a murder trial and highlight the sexist attitudes that many media publications have

towards women who kill.

Knox was also depicted as a femme fatale in a few of the articles. For example, one

4 _{Nancy Grace was the host of the HLN news channel and extensively covered crime news stories that revolved} around “women and children” (Bromwich, 2016, para. 5).

article quotes the author of a book as a credible source, stating: “It’s as if you (Knox) were

always hunting men. You list your conquests as if you were displaying them like trophies”

(Follain, 2008, para. 10). The use of the word “hunting” in this article suggests that Knox was

like a predator rather than a normal woman interested in the opposite sex. This once again

perpetuates the idea that female sexuality is something negative. The sentence can also be

understood as Knox acting in a more masculine way, as this type of sexually aggressive

behaviour is something more commonly associated with men. It perpetuates the idea that

perusing the opposite sex is not something that ‘real women’ do. By presenting the women as

femme fatales, they perpetuate the idea that female sexuality can and is used as a weapon to

ensnare men and maintains the idea that women who are sexually aggressive are, to borrow

from Weare, “bad women” (2013).

It is interesting to note that Casey Anthony was not depicted as a femme fatale in any

of the news media items relating to her. This is because her crime was related to a child rather

than an adult and therefore there was no need for her to be depicted in this way as her crime’s

narrative did not allow it.

4.5 The Medusa/Madonna Dichotomy: Juxtapositions of the evil vs. ideal woman

The Medusa/Madonna dichotomy was inspired by Naylor’s identification of the

Madonna/whore narrative in media images of female killers (1990, p. 5). This category relates

to instances in the news media narratives where the idealised version of femininity was directly

juxtaposed with the bad, evil non-woman.

The Medusa/Madonna category was not found as prominently within the sample;

however, this finding is significant as it shows the clear distinction made by the publications

between femininity and female criminality. For example, one article juxtaposed Knox against

her alleged victim, Meredith Kercher. It portrays Kercher as the virginal innocent Madonna,

and Knox as the sexually deviant and evil Medusa. The article describes Kercher’s shock and

dismay at seeing that Knox owned a vibrator. The article reads: “'Meredith told us that Amanda

put down in the bathroom a beauty-case in which there were condoms and a vibrator. They

were visible and it seemed a bit strange to Meredith’” (Follain, 2008, para. 13). According to

the article Meredith said, “Isn't it odd that a girl arrives and the first thing she shows is a

vibrator?” (2008, para. 13). By bringing up the fact that Knox owned a vibrator, which seems

irrelevant, it shines a negative light on female masturbation which has been oppressed for

centuries. It implies that it is odd for a woman to own a vibrator, especially when it comes from

the victim and innocent character in the narrative. This is like the sexually deviant theme where

the female killers are shamed for their sexuality and promiscuity.

In an article from the Telegraph, the more common occurrence of the Medusa/Madonna

theme can be seen. The article quotes lawyer Carlo Pacelli juxtaposing two images of Knox

against each other when attempting to answer the question of “who is the real Amanda Knox?”

(Squires, 2009, para. 2). The article goes on to say “Is it the one we see before us here, all

angelic? Or is she really a she-devil focused on sex, drugs and alcohol, living life on the edge?”

(2009, para. 2). The angelic version of Knox is meant to represent the ‘normal’ feminine

woman, while the ‘she-devil’ version represents the nonwoman who is interested in immoral

things, like sex, drugs, and alcohol. By juxtaposing the two images against each other, the

article leaves no room for a negotiation between the two. A woman cannot be interested in sex

and alcohol without becoming a she-devil. This is a perfect example of how the articles in this

sample perpetuate ideals of the feminine gender by demonizing women who transgress them

and therefore removing them from femininity all together. It suggests that the women cannot

be both feminine and killers at the same time.

In one of the videos relating to Jodi Arias, the Medusa/Madonna dichotomy can be seen

once more. Jodi Arias is first described in feminine terms as “the soft spoken, framed 32 year

describe what she admits she did” (Owens, 2013, 0:16). This is reinforced with images of Arias

singing in her prison uniform with a pink jumper underneath, followed by footage of her crying

in court. The feminine and innocent version of Arias is delicate, slight, and emotional. This

image is then juxtaposed with the evil murderous image of Jodi Arias which is exemplified by

the image of her mugshot as the reporter goes on to say, “stab her one time boyfriend Travis

Alexander 27 times, slit his throat and shot him in the head” (Owens, 2013, 0:29). This video

was published before Arias was convicted of murder, so it was still unsure if she was guilty or

not. This is important to note, as the video was titled “Who is the alleged killer”, suggesting

that she is either innocent or a killer. If she is innocent then we must believe the feminine

version presented to us, but if she is guilty then she must be the nonfeminine evil version. This

example once again portrays the theme found within the news media items that indicates that

a woman cannot be both feminine and criminal. It projects the idea that true womanhood is

separate from criminality and perpetuates the gender stereotypes of what true womanhood is

to society.

4.6 The Bad Mother: Casey Anthony as America’s most hated mother

The Bad Mother category was designed specifically for the Casey Anthony case and was

inspired by Weare’s subcategory of the ‘bad women’ label: bad mothers (2013). A bad mother,

according to Weare, is considered to be one who does not put the needs of her children first,

whose world does not revolve around her children, or who acts in the interest of herself rather

than her children (2013). Casey Anthony is obviously a bad mother as she was accused of the

murder of her child, however, in this case it refers to the extra outrage and anger shown towards

her due to her having transgressed normative ideas of motherhood.

All except one news media item from the Casey Anthony sample depicted her as a bad

mother. The main finding was that she was depicted as having murdered her child, either

“A mother killed her toddler daughter, tossed her body in a swamp wrapped in her

favourite Pooh Bear blanket, then spent a month living “the good life” at clubs and

parties while lying about the little girl’s whereabouts, a court heard” (“Mother ‘killed

daughter’”, 2011, para. 1)

Firstly, the use of the word “tossed” to describe Anthony getting rid of her daughter’s body

suggests that she had a total lack of empathy or love towards her. By indicating she threw her

into a swap the idea is reinforced. This is the first instance in the sentence where Anthony

transgressed normative motherhood as she is depicted as being an unloving and uncaring

mother. Secondly, the tone of the sentence and the article chastises Anthony for going to parties

and clubs, as normative motherhood expects women to automatically be devoted to their

children as loving children is considered a feminine gender trait (Bem, 1974, p. 156). This is

the second instance in the extract where Anthony transgresses her expected role. Finally, the

sentence indicates that Anthony lied about where her daughter was when she was missing. This

indicates a total lack of remorse. Anthony transgressed her motherly role by not only killing

her daughter, but not caring in the least as she did not even attempt to get her back or give her

the dignity of a proper funeral.

It is important to note that Anthony was described as a good mother by many witnesses

during the trial, however this depiction of her failed to be reproduced in the media, painting

her instead as a party girl. For example, one article referred to Anthony as “Casey the party

monster” in the title and the article went on to suggest “Casey Anthony is in a hurry. She has

to get back to the party that was interrupted by the inconvenient life and death of a precious

little girl” (Peyser, 2011, para. 34). This was reiterated with images within the articles that

depicted her in sexually suggestive clothing, dancing in provocative positions, etc (See

appendix 2D and 2E). The tone of the article clearly points out the outrage at Anthony for

revolve around her child. The idea that a mother would rather live a single life than take care

of their child is shocking and establishes the bad mother theme. According to Weare, “the status

of women, both socially and legally is determined by motherhood. Women are not only

expected to be mothers, but they are also expected to be good mothers” (2013, p. 349). This

indicates why Anthony was not only considered a murderer but especially evil and earned her

the title of “America's most hated mother” (“America’s most hated”, 2017, para. 8).

4.7 Limitations

Though my research has uncovered interesting findings on how female killers are represented

in the media and how those representations perpetuate gender roles in society there are still

some limitations. One of such limitations is the use of three case studies to represent the broader

population of female killer representations in the media. According to Hackshaw, it is possible

to “overestimate the magnitude of an association” (2008, p. 1142). Another limitation refers to

the use of critical discourse analysis. The researcher’s interpretation of the text is entirely

subjective (Wodak, 1999) which could lead to researcher bias and could considerably reduce

the reliability of the research. However, I believe I mitigated this to an extent by incorporating

Conclusion

To conclude, my research illustrates numerous ways in which female killers are represented in

the United States’ and United Kingdom’s news media and how they perpetuate traditional

ideals of gender roles in society. The main ways in which this is perpetuated is by representing

them as psychopaths, evil and sexually deviant women, femme fatales and bad mothers. These

themes were relative to the crimes that the women had allegedly committed and therefore

perpetuate gender roles in different ways.

My research shows that by depicting these women as psychopaths and evil women, we

reject the possibility that their crimes may be contextualised. This also rejects their agency to

have made the acute decisions to carry out the murders (Weare, 2013). By shunning women

who kill, out of the realm of normative femininity, we deny the fact that women can and do

commit murder with intent and not just because they are evil or mad. The world is not filled

with villains and heroes, or angels and demons because the world is not black and white.

When female killers are depicted as sexually deviant or femme fatales, dangerous and

problematic impressions of female sexuality are unearthed. It gives the impression that the

female expression or interest in sex is a negative concept and something that must be controlled.

To society and the law, sexually deviant women are “sexually promiscuous, too sexually

adventurous or are not involved in heterosexual relationships” (Weare, 2013, p. 347). This is

not the same standard set for men and indicates that we still have a long way to go in terms of

shedding traditional ideas of femininity and liberating women from the shackles of the

patriarchy. This is most obviously noticeable in the Medusa/Madonna theme as the ideal

version or the expected version of a woman is directly juxtaposed with female criminality and

socially judged inappropriate female behaviour, such as sexual activity and the consumption

of alcohol. It indicates the belief that women have a natural state and suggests that the two