Value of Life: Female Killers and the Feminine Mystique

This work presents a case study of two drastically different female murderers: Aileen Wuornos and Andrea Yates. It explores the compelling ideas presented in Berrington and Honkatukia's (2002) comparison of the trials of notorious female offenders. Drawing on their "mad" versus "bad" media portrayal framework, this manuscript examines how this dichotomy is reflected in the American context. Focusing on Labeling, Anomie, and Chivalry theories, the study offers social critiques of why the media depicted Wuornos and Yates in starkly different ways. The analysis challenges the perception of an impartial U.S. criminal justice system by highlighting the noticeably disparate sentences handed down for similarly heinous crimes.