Citation

Nikunen M. J. Scan. Stud. Criminology Crime Prev. 2006; 7(2): 164-184.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/14043850601029430

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this article I analyse how parents' lethal violence is presented in Finnish murder-suicide news reports. I explore how gendered ideas of parenthood and violence affect these constructions. The cases that I am interested in are those with child victims where the perpetrator is either the father or the mother. The theoretical frame of analysis is feminist ethnomethodology, and Membership Categorization Analysis is used as the method. One of the starting-points is that parenthood is gendered in a way that mothers and fathers have different rights, responsibilities and competences in our culture. In other words, moral orders of fathering and mothering exist. Because of this, women's and men's violent actions towards their own children are understood differently. When a man kills his children and himself he can be portrayed as a caring parent. Instead, in a certain context a woman can be 'a killer mum', her act 'a murder' and her personality described in the light of the deed. The focus of this article is on gender and family categorization used in murder-suicide news in Finnish newspapers and the moral orders created in them. I explore the differences by mainly using two case examples: 1) a man who killed his three children and himself, and 2) a woman who killed her husband, two children and herself. The consequences of these newspaper constructions are also considered. © Taylor & Francis.

Language: en

Keywords

Homicide; Suicide; Ethnomethodology; Motherhood; Categorization; Fatherhood; Feminist research; Gendered violence; Moral orders; Parenthood