Evil or Insane? The Female Serial Killer and Her Doubly Deviant Femininity(3) Helen Gavin

 

Evil or Insane? The Female Serial Killer and Her Doubly Deviant Femininity(3) 

Helen Gavin

 

 

2. Childhood (3)

    It is clear that abuse figures largely in the childhoods of male serial killers, and female serial killers may follow this pattern. Wuornos claimed that each of her seven male victims had raped, or attempted to rape her. As a plea of self-defence, this statement did not work, but examination of her upbringing goes some way to explaining her actions, and the view she may have had of men. Wuornos’ teenage mother abandoned her children when Aileen was nine months old. Aileen and her brother were adopted by her grandparents, and there has been speculation that her grandfather sexually abused her. Clearly, the household was not ideal for young children, with alcohol abuse and violence a daily occurrence.[i] Aileen had few friends due to the chaotic nature of the home, and her own unpredictable temper. She learnt very quickly that having sex with neighbourhood boys would bring her rewards; almost inevitably, she became pregnant at 14, her son taken away from her before she could see him. In retrospect we can see this was a tragic start to life, and a tragedy waiting to unfold.

    In Wuoronos’ case, it is difficult to determine whether her behaviour was due to any genetic predispositions to alcoholism and violence she inherited from her absent father, or the exposure to violence, cruelty and incestuous and promiscuous behaviour in her upbringing. What is clear is that she blamed the behaviour of the men she killed, claiming multiple violent rapes at the hands of those she offered sex for pay. Biopsychological theories would suggest that her upbringing meant any genetic predispositions to violence were inevitably expressed. She also showed below average IQ, high impulsivity, low attention span, and high psychopathy. Such anomalies taken together suggest a cortical dysfunction, possibly a result of drug and alcohol use by her mother whilst pregnant, and also Wuornos’ own drug use. This cannot be separated from Wuornos’ lack of engagement in school, and lack of any social support, together with her own tendency to fail to accept responsibility, and the distorted belief, reported by Myers et al that she was saving her victims’ families from violence at the hands of the men.[ii] It easy to see Wuornos as a victim, but the chaos of her childhood does not mitigate the fact that she was a serial killer.

    There is a set of psychological difficulties referred to as ‘Adopted Child Syndrome.’[iii] This is not endemic to adoptees of course, but examining the incidence of adoption amongst serial killers would seem to suggest that it is high.[iv] This is a non-causal relationship that has been observed, as some of the most notorious male serial killers have been adoptees, for example Kenneth Biachni, Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz. The list of women is a little shorter, but they number some of the more infamous cases, Wuornos being a prime example. She was adopted, and her adopted family brutalised her.

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[i] Wade C. Myers, Erik Gooch, and J. Reid Meloy, ‘The Role of Psychopathy and Sexuality in a Female Serial Killer,’ Forensic Science 50.3 (May 2005): 1-6. 4.

[ii] Ibid. 6

[iii] David Kirschner, ‘The Adopted Child Syndrome: Considerations for Psychotherapy,’ Psychotherapy in Private Practice 8.3 (1990): 93–100.

[iv] James Alan Fox and Jack Levin, Overkill: Mass Murder and Serial Killing Exposed (New York: Plenum Press, 1994), 24.