High heels and high tempers : a study into female violence

This thesis provides a critical account of a small-scale study into women who perpetrate
verbal, physical and sexual violence towards intimates, acquaintances and strangers of both
sexes. The sample was mainly taken from two sources in West Yorkshire: a women's self-help
perpetrator counselling group (S.T.O.P), and a women's centre which provides
support for females with a history of offending or at risk of offending (the Together
Women Project). Using qualitative data collected from anger management group
observations and in depth interviews with eighteen female perpetrators and eleven key
informants who have come into contact with violent women, this study affords a voice for
female perpetrators, whose perspectives and experiences are often overlooked in the UK.
This thesis examines the ways in which violent women are understood; not only in terms
of how perpetrators understand their own violent behaviour and violent identities, but how
others who work with violent women comprehend and problematise such behaviour. This
study analyses the nature and character of female violence and investigates the impact of
violence upon the lives of perpetrators. It also investigates what influence anger
management 'treatment' has upon the relationships and behaviours of violent women.
Aware that respondent's understandings of violence are influenced by the matrix of care
and control that surrounds them, this study explores the ways in which participants struggle
to retain and articulate 'their' own definitions of violence. Findings reveal that some
respondents in this study utilised power and control towards both male and female
opponents when using violence. Violence was often calculated and rational; for some
interviewees it provided great enjoyment, power and a sense of identity. As the issue of
female violence is such an under researched topic, these findings not only add an original
contribution to the current literature, they sometimes contradict long-standing theories
which surround gender identities and violence as a whole.