- Myra Hindley, with her partner, Ian Brady, raped and murdered five children and buried their bodies on the Yorkshire Moors in 1963–64. The two, dubbed the Moors Murderers, have remained in prison since their conviction in 1965. During the 27 years since their sensational trial, Ian Brady has been largely forgotten in the public imagination, spending his time in an asylum for the criminally insane. Myra Hindley, on the other hand, has been the focus of continued opprobrium and is frequently described still as ‘the most hated woman in Britain’ and as a sexual deviant with extraordinary powers of charismatic influence over others. For further information see Birch Helen if looks could kill: Myra Hindley and the iconography of evil' in Birch Helen (ed) Moving Targets: Women, Murder and Representation Virago London 1993 pp 32–61. Numerous popular ‘true crime’ narrations of the case are also available, for example Johnson P H On Iniquity Macmillan London 1967; Goodman J The Moors Murders: The Trial of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady David Charles Publications London 1973; and Ritchie J Myra Hindley: Inside the Mind of a Murderess Angus and Robertson London 1988.
- Birch above note 1 at 34.
- Pearson P When She Was Bad: How and Why Women Get Away With Murder Random House Toronto 1998 at 111.
- Kirsta A Deadlier Than The Male: Violence and Aggression in Women Harper Collins London 1994 at 280.
- Cases of other women who have killed and tortured children and young women, such as those of Myra Hindley, Rose West, Karla Homolka, Martha Beck and Patricia Moore, have all suffered from this dearth of research. For instance, I know of no feminist studies of Myra Hindley other than Helen Birch's (1993) essay in Moving Targets and Cameron D and Fraser E The Lust to Kill New York University Press New York 1987. The sole feminist study of Martha Beck is Sara Knox's thorough discussion of the narrativisation of murder with reference to that case Murder: A Tale of Modem American Life Duke University Press Durham NC 1998. I have not located any feminist studies of the other cases mentioned despite having researched this field for almost 10 years. Certainly there have been some extremely useful studies of women who commit violence, such as the work done by Allen Hilary Justice Unbalanced: Gender, Psychiatry and Judicial Decisions Open University Press Milton Keynes 1987. My point is only that these studies do not include women who commit crimes of sexual sadism.
- Birch above note 1 at 34.
- This ‘evil manipulator’ image presents Hindley as especially wicked because it claims that she seduced Brady into rape, torture and murder. It has a long history of precedents, including perhaps most notably the biblical Eve who encouraged or ‘manipulated’ Adam into eating the apple so causing their fall from grace.
- As Nick Mansfield has observed in Subjectivity: Theories of the Self from Freud to Haraway Allen and Unwin Sydney 2000 at 25: ‘No 20th century discussion of what the subject is and where it comes from has been untouched by the theories and vocabulary of Freudian psychoanalysis. Similarly, the whole field of 20th century culture—from the shocking disconnections of surrealism to the DIY self-healing manifestoes of pop psychology—exhibits the fundamental insights of Sigmund Freud and his followers.’
- Freud S ‘A child is being beaten’ in Rieff P (ed) Sexuality and the Psychology of Love Collier Books New York 1978 at 113–114.
- Freud above note 9 at 126–127.
- Freud above note 9 at 115.
- Freud above note 9 at 119.
- Massé M In The Name of Love: Women, Masochism and the Gothic Cornell University Press New York 1992 at 69.
- Masse above note 13 at 69–70.
- Masse above note 13 at 61.
- Masse above note 13 at 61–2.
- Masse above note 13 at 62.
- Massé cites Freud's use of this Nietzschean formula in relation to sadism. For instance, she quotes his conflation of the two in his Introductory Lectures wherein ‘the instinct for mastery… easily passes over into cruelty’ and also from his essay ‘Disposition’ where he states: ‘the instinct for knowledge can actually take the place of sadism…. It is at bottom a sublimated off-shoot of the instinct for mastery, exalted into something intellectual.’ Masse above note 13 at 78–79.
- Masse above note 13 at 41.
- De Lauretis T Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics and Cinema Indiana University Press Bloomington 1984 at 135.
- The information cited here was undisputed at both trials. It was obtained from trial transcript notes: R v David Birnie WA SC Wallace J (10 February 1987); R v Catherine Birnie WA SC Wallace J (3 March 1987) R v Catherine Birnie WA SC Wallace J (3 March 1987).
- Once again, these are only the ‘facts’ undisputed at the trials. The information was taken from trial transcript notes: R v Valmae Beck Qld SC Kelly SPJ (10 October 1988); R v Barrie Watts Qld SC Kelly SPJ (29 January 1990); and R v Valmae Beck 43 A Crim R 135, Qld SCCA 1989; and from Beck and Watts transcript of unauthorised police recording Noosa Police Station 14 December 1987. Media coverage of both these cases is represented by articles from dominant mainstream newspapers.
- Cited in 1988 as above.
- Beck and Watts transcript above note 22.
- Beck and Watts transcript above note 22.
- McGregor Adrian ‘How they hunted down the beasts of Noosa’ Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 11 February 1990 at 21. Tellingly it took Valmae Beck one and a half hours to read her statement: longer than the pair spent with their victim in the first place. See Valmae Beck above note 22.
- Barrie Watts above note 22. Beck was not being extensively questioned during this response; she was replying to a single question: ‘Describe what events took place between yourself, Watts and Sian Kingi.’
- O'Brien N ‘I'm lucky to be alive’ Daily News (Perth) 4 March 1987.
- Cited in Dennis A ‘A loving letter from a mother who killed four’ Sydney Morning Herald 4 March 1987.
- Valmae Beck received gaol sentences of three years for deprivation of liberty, 10 years for rape and life for murder. Her partner Barrie Watts received three years for deprivation of liberty, 15 years for rape, and life for murder. See Valmae Beck above note 22; Barrie Watts above note 22. The Birnies were both sentenced to strict life imprisonment for the four murders and to 10 years imprisonment for the deprivation of liberty of their last victim and 20 years for her rape. See David Birnie; Catherine Birnie above note 21.
- Catherine Birnie as above.
- Beck and Watts transcript above note 22.
- Beck and Watts transcript above note 22.
- Michelle Massé notes that although the literature on beating fantasies insists that there is no correlation between the fantasy and the desire for actual abuse, some studies have found a correlation between sadistic fantasy and a desire to actually abuse. See above note 13 at 64.
- ‘Mystery of girl's letters’ Daily News (Perth) 12 November 1986; Berryman Nancy ‘Sex confessions shock police’ Sim Herald (Sydney) 16 November 1986 at 3.
- McGregor above note 26.
- Taylor N ‘Catherine his “little china doll”’ Daily News (Perth) 3 March 1987.
- Valmae Beck above note 22.
- Kavanagh on Saturday ‘Compassion? It's time for real justice’ Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 10 February 1990 at 28.
- Lang Margot ‘Law too weak for killer—judge’ The West Australian (Perth) 11 February 1987 at 1.
- Knox provides a fascinating discussion of this phenomenon with regard to the Honeymoon Killers, Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez. See Knox above note 5.
- Williams G ‘Poverty led her to killer's bed’ Daily News (Perth) 3 March 1987; Avris C ‘Journey to graves ends killing spree’ The West Australian (Perth) 4 March 1987; Dennis above note 29.
- Williams as above.
- Taylor above note 37.
- Dennis above note 29.
- Lang M ‘Judge splits lethal pair’ The West Australian (Perth) 4 March 1987; ‘Killer “should never be freed’” The Australian 4 March 1987.
- David Birnie above note 21.
- Catherine Birnie above note 21.
- Catherine Birnie above note 21.
- As above; Williams G ‘Horror deaths: woman's part’ Daily News (Perth) 3 March 1987; Lang above note 46; ‘Killer “should never be freed”’ above note 46.
- Catherine Birnie above note 21; Williams above note 50; Lang above note 46; ‘Killer “should never be freed”’ above note 46.
- Catherine Birnie above note 21.
- Catherine Birnie above note 21; Dennis A ‘Vicious spree of rape and murder brings life term’ Sydney Morning Herald 11 February 1987.
- Dennis above note 29.
- Catherine Birnie above note 21; Williams above note 50; Lang above note 46; ‘Killer “should never be freed”’ above note 46.
- ‘Police quiz couple over Sian murder hunt’ Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 13 December 1987.
- ‘Accused killers “knew mass murderers”’ The Australian 17 December 1987; Hansen P ‘Sian thrill-kill link’ Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 11 February 1990.
- Valmae Beck above note 22; ‘Time for justice for Sian, Crown tells death jury’ Courier Mail (Brisbane) 19 October 1988.
- Valmae Beck as above; ‘Time for justice for Sian, Crown tells death jury’ Courier Mail (Brisbane) 19 October 1988.
- McGregor above note 26.
- Budd J and Rowett L ‘The slaughter of innocence’ Courier Mail 8 February 1990.
- McGregor above note 26.
- Massé above note 13 at 44.
- Massé above note 13 at 43–44.
- Kavanagh above note 39.
- Evans Louise ‘West and Hindley, a link made in hell’ Sydney Morning Herald 25 November 1995 at 15.
- Hart Lynda Fatal Women: Lesbian Sexuality and the Mark of Aggression Routledge London 1994 at x.
- Shaktini N ‘A revolutionary signifier: the lesbian body’ in Jay K and Glasgow J Lesbian Texts and Contexts: Radical Revisions New York University Press New York 1990 at 29.
- Hart above note 67 at x.
- Hart above note 67 at x
- Irigaray Luce Speculum of the Other Woman (trans Gill G C) Cornell University Press New York 1985 at 11.
- Hart above note 67 at 18.
- Hart above note 67 at 20.
- Hart above note 67 at 21.
- Hart above note 67 at 21.
- Hart above note 67 at 15.
- Hart above note 67 at 15.
- Allen Hilary Justice Unbalanced: Gender, Psychiatry and Judicial Decisions Open University Press Milton Keynes 1987.
- Butler Judith Gender Trouble Routledge New York 1990.
- Franklin M ‘Reward should be offered for Sian's killer, says Gunn’ Courier Mail (Brisbane) 5 December 1987; Hansen P ‘Police home in on sex offenders in killer hunt’ Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 6 December 1987; McDonald L ‘Family and friends remember Sian—a radiant, special girl’ Courier Mail (Brisbane) 9 December 1987.
- I'm thinking here of the work of writers like: Young I M Justice and the Politics of Difference Princeton University Press Princeton N J 1990; Eisenstein Z The Female Body and the Law University of California Press Berkeley 1988; Thornton M (ed) Public and Private: Feminist Legal Debates Oxford University Press Oxford 1995; Cheah P, Fraser D and Grbich J (eds) Thinking Through the Body of the Law New York University Press New York 1996; Smart C Feminism and the Power of the Law Routledge London 1989; Carrington K ‘Postmodern and feminist criminologies: disconnecting discourses?’ in Daly K and Maher L (eds) Criminology at the Crossroads: Feminist Readings in Crime and Justice Oxford University Press New York 1998 pp 69–84; Cornell Drucilla Transformations: Recollective Imagination and Sexual Difference Routledge New York 1993; and Naffine N Law and the Sexes: Explorations in Feminist Jurisprudence Allen and Unwin Sydney 1990.
- It is impossible to enumerate all such texts here. Some of the more recent which fail to acknowledge women's crimes of sexual sadism are Cook S and Bessant J (eds) Women's Encounters with Violence: Australian Experiences Sage Thousand Oaks CA 1997, Gravear R and Morgan J The Hidden Gender of Law The Federation Press Sydney 1990, Roach Anleu S L Deviance, Conformity and Control Longman Cheshire Melbourne 1991, Daly K Gender, Crime and Punishment Yale University Press New Haven 1994, Kelly L ‘Journeying in reverse: possibilities and problems in feminist research on sexual violence’ in Geisthorpe L and Morris A (eds) Feminist Perspectives in Criminology Open University Press Milton Keynes (1990) pp 107–114, and Kirkbv D (ed) Sex, Power and Justice: Historical Perspectives on Law in Australia Oxford University Press Melbourne 1995. Although Cook and Bessant do include an article by Lee Fitzroy on mother/daughter rape, the collection still fails to acknowledge crimes like those performed by Birnie and Beck which are not crimes of incest and which end with the torture and murder of the victims.
- The term ‘pornography’ is used here in its general sense as the explicit depiction of sexual activity, but also implies a more specific usage relating to ‘hard core’ pornography, or images of violent sexual intercourse. Most particularly, the emphasis in this usage lies in representation. ‘Pornography’ does not imply a specific form of sexuality, but relates to representations of sex and to common stock stories or scenarios used to narrate sexual encounters, and in this usage, especially violent sexual encounters. ‘Pornography’ functions as a discourse, then, or as several discourses, which provide particular representations or stock narratives of subjectivity and agency; see Kappeler S The Pornography of Representation Polity Press Cambridge UK 1986 and Lewallen A 'Lace: Pornography for Women?' in Gamman L and Marshment M (eds) The Female Gaze The Women's Press London 1988 pp 86–101.
- The roles of willing slave and dominatrix are common throughout the history of pornographic writing. Early examples, such as de Sade's Justine (de Sade D-A-F Justine; Philosophy in the Bedroom; Eugenie de Franval, and Other Writings (trans Seaver R and Wainhouse A) Grove Press New York 1966, written in the 18th century, include examples of both these roles. Sacher-Masoch L Venus in Furs in Deleuze G Masochism: An Interpretation of Coldness and Cruelty Zone Books New York 1989 pp 143–271 includes a female sadist, while the later classic Réage P The Story of O Corgi Books London 1972 concentrates primarily on the exploits of its passive female protagonist. Innumerable contemporary films and popular books also involve women performing both roles. Interestingly, these roles also appear in some lesbian pornography. See Califia P At Melting Point Alyson Publications Boston 1993; Califia P at Doing It For Daddy Alyson Publications Boston 1994; and some of the stories in Newman L The Femme Mystique Alyson Publications Boston 1995 for only a few examples.
- Although it can be argued that the mainstream discourses' depiction of them as having killed ‘for love’ bears a marked similarity with the pornographic portrayal of ‘willing slave’. Furthermore, as pornography is central to Western heteropatriarchal culture, Birnie and Beck's enactment of performatives from this discourse can be considered mainstream representations. Nevertheless, I wish to draw a distinction between mainstream legal and media discourses and pornography, even though in these cases they show their aptitude for symbiosis. For further discussion of the centrality of pornography to Western heteropatriarchy see Caputi J The Age of Sex Crime Women's Press London 1988 especially at 161–169.
- Butler above note 79 at 279.
- Butler above note 79 at 278.
- Jessica Benjamin, for instance, has criticised these arguments for their collapse of fantasy with reality. Benjamin contends that pornographic fantasy is very different from the violent, nonconsensual practice which Dworkin A et al insist is pornography's only definition. The fantasy of erotic domination, for instance, is common to both men and women which means, she avers, that not all pornography is rooted in patriarchal oppression of women. See Benjamin Jessica ‘Master and slave: the fantasy of erotic domination’ in Snitow A Stansell C and Thompson S (eds) Desire: The Politics of Sexuality Virago London 1984 pp 292–311; Dworkin Andrea Pornography Women's Press London 1981. Ann Barr Snitow has proposed an alternative understanding of pornography which broadens its parameters beyond the misogynist scenarios envisaged by Dworkin. She suggests that there are many types of pornography, ranging from the instructive to the pleasurable, from heterosexual to homosexual, and that context tends to dictate the meanings any pornographic representation acquires. See Snitow Ann Barr ‘Mass market romance: pornography for women is different’ in Snitow A, Stansell C and Thompson S (eds) Desire: The Politics of Sexuality Virago London 1984 pp 258–275.
- Witness, for example, the continuing debate over the consequences of children's viewing of sex and violence on television, culminating in the introduction of the ‘V’ chip to allow parents to screen out all sexually explicit and violent material from the programs received.
- See for instance several of her essays in Califia Pat Public Sex Pittsburgh Cleis Press 1994.
- See Califia Pat ‘Thinking sex’ in Vance C S (ed) Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality Routledge London 1984.
- Benjamin J ‘Master and slave: the fantasy of erotic domination’ in Snitow A, Stansell C and Thompson S (eds) Desire: The Politics of Sexuality Virago London 1984 pp 292–311.
Australian Feminist Law Journal
Volume 16, 2002 - Issue 1