Reduced to Bad Sex: Narratives of Violent Women from the Bible to the War on Terror

Abstract

In almost every culture and everyperiod of history, a she-devil emerges asan example of all that is rotten in thefemale sex. This Medusa draws togetherthe many forms of female perversion:a woman whose sexuality is debauchedand foul, pornographic and bisexual;a woman who knows none of the fineand noble instincts when it comes tomen and children; a woman who liesand deceives, manipulates andcorrupts. A woman who is clever andpowerful. This is a woman who is fardeadlier than the male, in fact not awoman at all.