Since the beginning of time, mothers have always been portrayed as wholesome and nurturing. They are splashed upon our television screens. We enjoy watching them in movies. Some of us grow up with a wholesome and nurturing mother, while other children aren't so lucky. What causes some mothers to toss aside their inborn nurturing qualities in favor of sadistic and evil behavior?

Anyone who deviates from the societal view of the self-sacrificing mother is thought to be self-centered, whorish, and lacking in femininity. Ironically, many of the mothers who are cast as 'evil' stepmothers in some of the Disney movies have evil and self-serving personality traits and motives. We love watching these 'evil' stepmothers in animation, but do these types of women truly exist in the real world?

The answer is a resounding yes. Many of us hear of mothers who have had their children taken away due to abuse and neglect. Some of us mothers cringe at the very thought of our own children being removed from our care by Child Protective Services. It is far easier for one to understand how a mother could get into trouble for spanking or disciplining a child. Most of us could never even imagine going far enough to kill them.

It seems that aggressive and cruel crimes are committed more often by men. However, there have been mothers who have 'snapped' or experienced psychotic breaks while caring for children. The story seems even more ghastly because we hear about mothers killing much less often than we hear about men committing gruesome crimes and murder. Despite there being more male serial killers, it always seems to amaze us when a woman is found guilty of murder.