cover image Men, Women, and Aggression: From Rage in Marriage to Violence in the Streets: How Gender Affects Way We ACT

Men, Women, and Aggression: From Rage in Marriage to Violence in the Streets: How Gender Affects Way We ACT

Anne Campbell. Basic Books, $22 (208pp) ISBN 978-0-465-09217-8

In her concise exploration of male and female attitudes toward anger and aggression, Campbell ( Girls in Gangs ), a British psychologist and criminologist, claims that women view aggression as a ``temporary loss of control caused by overwhelming pressure and resulting in guilt,'' while men regard it as a means of imposing control over others. Campbell argues that patriarchal society considers women's aggression ``evil or irrational,'' and that women are obliged to conceal, deny or redefine their anger. The notion of ``premenstrual syndrome,'' she suggests, is just such a redefinition. Discussing battered women, she states that those who strike back at their attackers are treated unjustly because they have supposedly violated natural as well as criminal law. With compelling, sometimes chilling examples, Campbell also explores the impact of male and female styles of aggression on the nuclear family as well as on criminal behavior. (Apr.)