Evil or Insane? The Female Serial Killer and Her Doubly Deviant Femininity(6) Helen Gavin

 

Evil or Insane? The Female Serial Killer and Her Doubly Deviant Femininity(6)

Helen Gavin

 

 

5. Biology (6)

There must then be some explanation for why we cannot find women providing the sexual reasons for serial killing. Are men and women just so biologically different that they cannot kill in the same way and for the same reasons? Is evolutionary dimorphic presentation of aggression a possible explanation? If violence is a complex behavioural adaptation, can it explain serial murder? There is no evolutionary advantage to be gained from killing the types of victim seen here, the death of a prostitute provides no territorial or genetic gain. It also does not explain any female serial murderer, as, according to evolutionary theories, it is male humans who have evolved the physiological and psychological means to effect personal violence of this nature. It is also difficult to draw any comparative biological evaluation of murderous violence in a modern society when distinctions in sex roles are becoming blurred.

However, there are other biological hypotheses to consider in serial murder. A considerable minority of male serial killers have shown a history of head trauma and abnormality. For example, abnormality in brain areas associated with emotion and impulsiveness and inhibitory control are well documented. Money suggests that there may be a pathological confusion or conflation of sexual arousal and attack messages along certain neurological pathways.[i] In addition, the thalamus and hypothalamus may have a direct role in aggression as well as the ability to distinguish negative and positive stimuli. Abnormality here may explain the inability to form close personal relationships, a definite warning sign for serial killers surely.[ii] This is the ‘he kept to himself and never bothered anyone’ syndrome, presumably right up to the point at which the drains start to smell. The hypothalamus also interacts with the reticular activating system (RAS), and abnormality may mean that otherwise stimulating activity does not reach the cortex, explaining chronic under arousal in the psychopath. Anti-social behaviour then follows in order to increase cortical levels of arousal; does this mean that thrill-oriented serial murder, and escalation of intensity and frequency of murders is a manipulation of the environment in order to seek arousal? It might be as Sears, points out many serial murderers become compliant and biddable in captivity, contrasting with the arousal seeking hypotheses.[iii]

Perhaps a clear picture can be drawn from the neurochemical level of examination? Endogenous hormones and neurotransmitters are implicated in aggression, and show clear sex differences in both production and action. This position can be extended to include serial murder, but any hypotheses of similarity in biochemistry of male and female serial murderers have never been tested.

We are not getting very far in either an explanation for serial murder, or an examination of female serial killers. Perhaps the typology of female killers is something which should be examined rather than why they are different to men. With a few exceptions, our lady killers are more likely to fall into categories that fit gender stereotypes of comfort, subservience or caring.

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[i] John Money, ‘Forensic sexology: Paraphilic serial rape (biastophilia) and lust murder (erotophonophilia),’ American Journal of Psychotherapy 64 (1990): 26-36.

[ii] Donald Sears, To Kill Again: The Motivation and Development of Serial Murder (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1991) 20

[iii] Ibid. 29