Fatal Women

Lesbian Sexuality and the Mark of Aggression

Lynda Hart

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780691000930, 9780691033792
• eBook ISBN: 9780691261188
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

A groundbreaking and provocative look at how violent women have been represented in literature, plays, film, and performance

Fatal Women builds a complex and original theory of how the shadow of the lesbian animates representations of violent women, from the Victorian novel to films depicting women who kill. Starting from the historical link between criminality and sexual deviancy, Lynda Hart critiques constructions of gender, race, class, sexualities, and the cultural politics of the 1990s. Her introductory chapter constructs a theory of female violence across the discourses of sexology, criminology, and psychoanalysis. Subsequent chapters detail this theory in the Victorian novel and stage sensation Lady Audley’s Secret; Frank Wedekind’s Lulu Plays, which introduced the “invert” to the European stage; the films Thelma and Louise, Mortal Thoughts, and Basic Instinct; the political intersection of race and gender in Single White Female; the performance art of Karen Finley in the context of the censorship debates; the fate of Aileen Wuornos, dubbed the first “female serial killer” by the FBI; and the Split Britches’ performance Lesbians Who Kill.

A major contribution to lesbian theory and cultural studies, Fatal Women is certain to be read widely by scholars, students, and anyone interested in the politics of representation.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: Introduction: The Paradox of Prohibition
• Chapter 2: The Victorian Villainess and the Patriarchal Unconscious
• Chapter 3: Enter the Invert: Frank Wedekind’s Lulu Plays
• Chapter 4: Chloe Liked Olivia: Death, Desire, and Detection in the Female Buddy Film
• Chapter 5: Reconsidering Homophobia: Karen Finley’s Indiscretions
• Chapter 6: Race and Reproduction: Single White Female
• Chapter 7: Why The Woman Did It: Basic Instinct and Its Vicissitudes
• Chapter 8: Surpassing the Word: Aileen Wuornos
• Chapter 9: Afterword: Zero Degree Deviancy—Lesbians Who Kill
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index