SOSC 1350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Karla Homolka, Paul Bernardo, Psy

• School: York University
• Department: Social Science
• Course: SOSC 1350
• Professor: Reese Simpkins

Document Summary

Keywords: hegemonic femininity, r v. lavalle (1990, karla homolka, psy discourse, battered woman syndrome (bws, good vs bad girl dichotomy, fallen women. Discursive categories - such as victim , mad and bad - frame our knowledge about criminalized women who commit violence (comack and brickey, 4) Battered woman syndrome = valid justification of self defense. Recognizes gender bias in ideal/typical self defense scenario. Bws = new typical scenario - pathologizes and individualizes problem of violence against women - fails to medicalize the abuser. Makes women"s violence compatible with hegemonic femininity. Psy discourse and good girls vs bad girls. Psy discourse (used by defense attorneys to explain women"s violence) - contrast with crown attorney"s use of fallen evil or bad women. Girls" violence - no statistical increase - upcriming and relabeling. Late 80"s/early 90"s: she and paul bernardo kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered 3 teenage girls. Bernardo received less media attention than homolka.