'She acts out in inappropriate ways': Students' evaluations of violent women in film.

Abstract: 

This qualitative research project examines the ways in which a sample of film viewers used gender ideology to evaluate, interpret, and understand violent female characters. The film Girls Town (1996) was shown to 22 students. After viewing the film, participants completed a six-page questionnaire in which they were asked to identify their favorite and least favorite character and to describe their reasons for liking or disliking the character. Results indicate that respondents praised violent female characters for stereotypical feminine characteristics and condemned them for using violence. Although respondents generally reproduced traditional gender ideology, they did so without explicitly referring to the characters' gender - that is, they condemned violent women by critiquing their motivations for committing violence.