- Most people have personal experience
of a woman who is violent, and they accept it as a normal part of her personality,
according to new research.
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- Susannah Chappell, a researcher at the
Open University, found that society sees violent women in five different
stereotypes that can be found in real life and fiction.
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- Presenting her findings on "Violent
Women - Reality or Media Hype?" to the British Psychological Society
conference yesterday, Ms Chappell said the most extreme form manifested
itself in the fictional portrayal of "the bitter and twisted revenge-seeker".
A classic example in film, she said, was the psychotic nanny played by
Rebecca De Mornay in The Hand That Rocks The Cradle.
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- "Society believes that more women
are becoming violent," said Ms Chappell. "The research showed
that there was a split between the portrayal of a new breed of uncontrollable
violent women on television and in film and the more mundane violence of
everyday life."
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- The study analysed the responses of 100
people who were asked to think of a violent person, real or fictional.
They rated them on a 13-point scale for 81 statements such as: she is cruel
and sadistic; she does not care who she hurts; she is well able to stand
up for herself; she has a nasty temper. Seventy- two respondents identified
a real person while six people identified a fictional character and 22
could not think of a violent woman.
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- Ms Chappell then grouped the portrayals
of violent women into five groups:
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- The most violent was the bitter and twisted
revenge-seeker, who was seen as menacing and sadistic.
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- The second, the attention-seeking outcast,
was both selfish and impulsive with a nasty temper. She did not trust others,
yet craved their approval.
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- The third type was the bully who was
seen as intolerant, someone who "gets a kick out of having power over
others". Ms Chappell said: "This image is much more normal, an
unpleasant but sane person."
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- The fourth type, the "stroppy friend",
was verbally aggressive rather than physically violent. She was seen as
strong-willed and stubborn but also as lovable and loyal; Bianca from the
television soap opera EastEnders was a prime example of this personality
type.
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- The fifth type, the "assertive go-getter"
such as Melanie Griffith in the film Working Girl, was seen as self-assured
and able to stand up for herself.
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