The Trial of Womanhood

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When a woman is on trial for murder, the media and prosecution often focus less on the evidence and more on the woman and her identity; the ways she meets (or doesn’t meet) societal expectations is often used against her. In my research, I explore this through rhetorical examination of women on trial for murder. I examine the rhetoric used by the media and the prosecution to describe the accused women, identifying the ways they dehumanize and other them. I argue that the societal expectations placed on women—to be gentle, submissive, and nurturers—cause a culture to reel in horror and disgust when she is accused of a violent crime like murder. What takes place is what I call the trial of womanhood—a close examination of her identity as a woman, and a focus on the ways she fails to meet the societal expectations placed upon her. This rhetorical trial takes place both inside the courtroom and outside, in the court of public opinion, and often results in women being misrepresented and receiving harsher—and at times, fatal—sentences.  My recent work has specifically examined cases from the State of Texas, exploring how social expectations directly reflect the ideologies of a state that is notoriously conservative, pro-death penalty, and harsh on violent criminals. However, the trial of womanhood is not isolated to Texas, and I plan to also study cases from other locations in future research projects.