Five Evil Women

Joanna Bourke OBE is Professor Emerita of History at Birkbeck, University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy. She is also Professor Emerita of Rhetoric at Gresham College. Her many books include Disgrace: Global Reflections on Sexual Violence (Reaktion, 2022).

Another brilliant, thought-provoking book by Joanna Bourke. In her riveting stories about the crimes of five reviled female murderers she analyses responses of experts and the public, and convincingly argues that the concept of the “evil woman” is inappropriate. - The Rt Hon. Baroness Tessa BlackstoneThis is a remarkably interesting book. It explores, in a clear-headed way, why some women turn to violence and why, in doing so, they are regarded with special disdain. Written with great lucidity by a truly distinguished scholar, Five Evil Women breaks new ground in the study of gender and criminality. - Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst CollegeThis is a probing, compassionate and deeply ethical book exposing society's biases when faced with examples of extreme violence in women. Joanna Bourke untangles how prurience, sensationalism and misogyny entwine to conjure monster myths that leave an enduring impression that evil acts committed by women are far more deviant and horrifying than those of men. She takes us through a series of contemporary ‘evil’ women to reflect on how our starting points of gendered prejudice serves to strengthen the horror and disgust that their names evoke. - Jude Kelly CBE, founder of The WOW Foundation