Avståndstagande och fascination - Aileen Wuornos, Valerie Solanas och gestaltningar av kvinnors våld

Summary, in English

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how women´s violence is being portrayed in literature and movies. The material is chosen with Aileen Wuornos and Valerie Solanas as starting-points, and consists of Alias Monster (Russell 2005), Monster (Jenkins 2003), SCUM Manifest (Solanas 2003) and I shot Andy Warhol (Harron 1996). The methodology is highly influenced by Sara Ahmed´s (2004) ideas about reading ”the emotionality of texts”. Film-analytical ways to think about ”gaze” and ”signifying chains” are also considered. The theoretical perspectives that are used deal with normality and deviancy in relation to power and societal wishes to correct misbehavior. Theories about gender, emotions and antisociality are also applied. In the thesis two ways to describe women´s violence are indentified. One way, represented by Alias Monster, Monster and I shot Andy Warhol, is to renegotiate the violent women to something else than real or normal women. Other kinds of deviant and abnormal behavior are given as preconditions and explanations to the violence. The violence is especially associated to promiscuity and dysfunctional sexuality. The other way, represented by SCUM Manifest, is to present a new, antisocial understanding of femininity and women´s positions. In both cases the descriptions are strongly linked to emotions.

• Author: Lena Persson
• Department/s: Gender Studies
• Publishing year: 2010
• Language: Swedish
• Full text: Available as PDF - 608 kB; Download statistics
• Document type: Student publication for Master's degree (one year)
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Keywords: antisociality; emotions; Solanas; Wuornos; womens´s violence; deviancy
• Supervisor: Tiina Rosenberg (Professor)