When a Woman Steals Your Wife
Not all Predators Are Men
Though predation is broadly ascribed to men, we need look no further than our public schools to know that women can be predators too. They seek out someone weaker than them, physically or emotionally, and exert their will to take what they want. Usually while thinking of themselves as “a good person.”
A woman who uses her sexuality to prey on a young man is often called a cougar or, more generally, a jezebel. But what of the female predator who targets other women—specifically to usurp the role of her husband? We don’t have a name for her.
Maybe because most people don’t think such women exist. Or, if they do, they’re rare.
But are they?
The Book That Warned You
What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller came out in 2003, followed swiftly by a movie version starring Cate Blanchett in 2006. The story follows Barbara Covett (Judi Dench), a lonely veteran teacher who becomes obsessed with Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), a new art teacher at their London school.…