Denfeld challenges the notion that women are defenseless and less likely than men to become violent. She destroys every societal image that makes women only the victims of tragedies and denies women's role in violent acts. She uses her background as an amateur boxer, who happens to be the 1995 Tacoma Golden Globes Champion, to understand male aggression and violence.

She points out that society believes women are less violent because women display anger in private while men are more likely to get angry in public. She believes this is the reason why the public believes women are less aggressive and violent than men.

Her theory becomes fact when she points out all the studies that have uncovered women can be just or even more violent than men. In 1963, a Yale study found women were more inclined to press a high-voltage button to administer shock while the victims screamed in pain than the men involved in the study. Also author Carol Tavris found women become physically aggressive at the same rate as men when they are angry. The study also showed that men try to talk out disagreements as much as women. Another study done in 1985 discovered severely violent behavior such as biting, kicking, hitting with an object, and threatening with guns and knives is slightly higher among women than men.

High rates of female violence against their own children are also common, Denfeld writes. A report that compiled child abuse cases from state agency showed women abuse children twice the rate of men. It is estimated that 2.3 million children were maltreated one or more times in 1993. Child-protection agencies found that female violence against children included incidents of burning children with cigarettes, pulling out hair, and hitting with a variety of objects. Even more astonishing, she writes, is that mothers are responsible for 55% for the murder of their offspring, according to a study done by the Bureau of Justice. Some of the methods used to kill children were boiling, freezing, thrown in trash cans, and running over with cars. These statistics are shocking to the average person because, "Women's responsibility in mothering is so crucial to our culture that it has taken on a romanticized life of its own, with a mythology built up around the belief that women are inherently protective and loving," she writes.

Denfeld blames the high rate of female violent on therapists and writers who tell women to stop holding back their anger and release it without being concerned how this anger will affect children, family members, and others. Also she is disturbed that people find it acceptable to tell women to release their anger while men are told to control their anger. She says this shows "how lightly female anger is taken." A good example of this problem is when Courtney Love is accused of attacking her fans and musicians and the media finds it humorous. Also the media made Lorena Bobbit's maiming of her husband a comical incident. On the other hand, men who become violent against women become outcasts.

Kill the Body, The Head Will Fall is an important book in understanding female violence and aggression. The denial of female aggression will only further the problem as Denfeld states and her book should be a warning to women and men that we must begin discussing female violence to decrease the problem.

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