02/26/2010 10:30 am
Life
Amy Bishop Was a Scorned Woman
Erica Manfred
Below:Aileen Wuornos/CC/Florida Dept. of Corrections
Amy Bishop/University of Alabama
Like so many women, I find myself fascinated by the Amy Bishop case. When I first heard the news, I did a double take. A female neuroscientist shot up a bunch of her colleagues because she didn’t get tenure?? Huh?? It’s not that workplace rampages aren’t commonplace in the annals of multiple murder. There’s even an expression for them — "going postal." But they’re usually the province of disgruntled, male, loner types. I’d always assumed that kind of rage was driven by testosterone, that women simply didn’t get that angry – and when they did it was a result of abu
se. Women killed, yes; they killed their children when they became overwhelmed with the difficulties of parenting, or when they had a psychotic break; they killed those who had abused them, including parents, husbands and boyfriends. They even committed murder during robberies and other criminal acts – and became serial killers, like Aileen Wuoros – who supposedly killed in response to her history of rape and abuse. Women just don’t go postal. It’s not female behavior … or is it?Well, actually it IS female behavior, just not toward bosses or colleagues – at least not so far. The expression "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" is frighteningly accurate if you’ve been one. As a "woman scorned," I know exactly what it feels like to want to murder someone – in this case my ex who left me for another woman. As the author of a book about divorce, I heard many women express a variation of "if I’d had a gun when he told me he was leaving me for another woman, I would have used it." In fact, many women do use that gun, or other weapon. I wrote about the case of the Texas housewife who, it has been alleged, ran over her cheating orthodontist husband three times with her Mercedes when she caught him at a hotel with another woman. I was one of the many jilted wives all over the land secretly cheering, "You go girl." I wouldn’t run over my own ex, but I wasn’t above cheering on someone else who did. There are countless cases of women who kill their cheating men, and the women they cheat with.
Amy Bishop fits neatly into that category. She was "a woman scorned," just not by a male lover, but by a group of men who had "cheated" her out of what she thought she was entitled to – tenure and the security and prestige that comes with it. Unfortunately she was a woman scorned with a gun. Like so many women scorned, she used it. Women may start going postal more often now that they have gained power in the workplace, just proving that we women aren’t immune to the same hideously violent behavior as men once we are in the same position as they are to be "scorned" by our bosses. Looked at from this vantage point, what she did wasn’t such a mystery. Of course, it was still the act of a deranged person – killing out of rage is always, to some extent, inexplicable, no matter who does it or why. But as a "woman scorned," Amy Bishop’s act falls right on the spectrum of people who snap when their sense of entitlement is challenged by reality.
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That was really sad what she did to those people. And from what I’ve heard on the news, it wasn’t her first brush with alleged murder. You said "deranged", and I’m so glad. I was reading the article and you were saying how women kill when they’re left for another woman, etc. And I was really getting concerned. I’ve been on the jilted end, and I never thought about murder. Not that I wasn’t infuriated about the cheating and abuse. But being cheated on and then murdering over it has got to mean there’s some bad wiring somewhere. Either that or you’re just downright evil. But if that were the case (being evil), I don’t think you’d wait until you were cheated on. We hear about plenty of evil acts and it’s usually not provoked in any way. And the true evil people are not the ones that were raped repeatedly and abused in childhood. I’m talking Charlie Mansion and Hitler evil. Real evil!
Anyway, thanks for the article. I would be interested in reading more about this. I’ve never understood how people could actually kill over something like being cheated on. So obviously there’s a lot more involved than what I understand. It’s scarey to think you can just "snap" and kill your husband. But I’m not worried about ever snapping like that. Believe me, if I were going to, I think it would have happened when I was married to my lying, cheating ex. If it didn’t enter my mind then, I can safely say it won’t ever enter my mind. LOL
BTW, I’d be intested in hearing what you thought about the "Long Island Lolita" case years ago … Amy Fisher. As far as I can tell, she and Joey were both just dirty, rotten scumbags. But I don’t know much about their pasts. Such a young girl to try and kill for some married jerk.
I am in disagreeent with this whole article…who would cheer on another woman for running someone over??? Yes he cheated on her/you, whatever, but to run his over with a car not once but 3 times…I have been cheated on and never once did I want to kill or even think about running that man over…I picked myself up, had respect for myself, moved on to better things - those relationships never lasted for him and when he came running back to me, he was met w/ a door in his face…but never physical harm.
Amy Bishop had a history of violence and I agree with FP - she finally lost it and she is where she deserves and I hope she stays there for a really long time.
Now let me be clear on my remarks above - if you are in a physical abusive relationship and out of self defense you pick up a weapon (any weapon) use it and kill your attacker, YOU ARE NOT WRONG….That is self defense!!! There is a difference.
I have no empathy for those who take out their rage on others. What ever happened to self-control? It seems to me that Amy’s parents hid the circumstances of the earlier murder not to lose two children. When that enabling happened, Amy was done out of a chance to get mental help.
Erica, how interesting you chose to write about this case.
When I first heard about it I had the same reaction to it as you are indicating. However in watching and reading more in-depth coverage of her life, past relationships and behavior, this is not a woman that acted out of being scorned, this is a mentally deranged and habitually angry woman who as you said, snapped. However in my opinion "snapping" and acting out of scorn are two different animals.
According to the news reports from her past neighbors, family, friends and coworkers, she has a long history of odd and bizarre behavior in regard to venting her anger on others. She actually punched a woman in her face just because she took the last high chair in a restaurant (or something like that…) As you and I know, that is not the norm. She is a bully. No more, no less.We all know women and men like this that can’t control their tempers, and I personally find behavior like that unacceptable.
In conversations about this case, people have commented to me "how can someone so intelligent be so stupid?" I’m surprised that a woman would "go postal" because again as you pointed out, we don’t usually do that. But colleges and universities are filled to the brim with men and women who are book smart and life stupid. They have high intellects but lack social skills and the ability to connect with people. Maybe because they pour so much of their time in learning scholastically instead of fostering real interpersonal relationships. Who knows.
But I know in this instance I have no sympathy for this woman at all. If she was a normal person who did not have a track record of violence toward others, maybe I would say, wow she snapped big time. But that isn’t the case, she’s a thug and I hope the families left behind from (yet again) another act of her violence, they will take solace in her prison time.
I’m all for sister solidarity, but I caution my fellow ladies on this site (because I see it happen far to often), don’t allow her gender to sway your sympathies. She is a murderer. If she had been a man, would you feel differently?
My first husband was abusive, primarily psychologically, which is really the worst kind of abuse. Physical wounds heal but when the psyche is wounded it lasts forever. And he had a gun. He never used it to threaten me with until after we were divorced. The only reason he finally agreed to a divorce was because he was having an affair only I didn’t know it till a month before the divorce was final.
I came very close to dying at the age of twenty-seven, mainly because I would not let him have sex with me. He had me in a choke hold against my kitchen wall and the gun was by my head. If his friend had not been there pulling his arm away I would be dead. I managed to wiggle out and ran for my life to call the police from my neighbor’s phone.
And yet I never wished physical violence against him. I never wished him ill. He is my son’s father.
Sorry no. She was an undiagnosed schizophrenic. Anyone who bothered to read about the details of her life that came after this shooting would know that.
I realize it’s PC and lots of fun to blame it all on nasty male chauvinist piggies, but the whole notion that every woman’s every problem can be blamed on the patriarchy ran its course forty years ago.
Perhaps we would be better served with an in-depth look at why families will go to such lengths to hide mental illness that they’re willing to risk that their darling babies could be actively dangerous. THAT is what happened in this case.
What? A woman scorned? If my husband or lover cheated on me I would cry, yell and leave. Then carry on regardless.
If I didn’t get treated well at work I would cry (privately), yell (maybe privately) and leave. Then carry on regardless.
This is not a woman scorned. This is a murderer.
Murdering or injuring people is not something I would cheer for. Move on. It is not courageous or brave to kill or run over people. It’s courageous to have dignity. It’s courageous to feel fear and pain and then move on and do better next time.