[ SECRET POST #3543 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3543 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Criminal Minds]


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09. [nf]














Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 10 secrets from Secret Submission Post #506.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Idk, OP. I don't know the case super well, but my sense was that Aileen Wuornos was quite different from a lot of male serial killers in that there's a lot of ambiguity as to whether her killings were in semi self-defense (retaliation against abusive clients). Not that that justifies killing seven people! Far from it. But she really doesn't seem to fit the model of a male serial killer who kills for pleasure/thrills--rather, it seems obvious her killings were in some measure an act of desperation or retaliation against a lifetime of abuse and an incredibly perilous immediate situation.

I haven't seen the people you're talking about defending her, and there's a good chance they'd rub me the wrong way too. But pointing out the major differences between her case and our usual picture of what "serial killer" means is worthwhile, IMO.

[(Anonymous)]

To be honest, if you're going to get into motivations to try to water down the crimes serial killers commit, you'll find that many male serial killers have also been abuse victims. I mean, a serial killer is a serial killer, no matter if s/he is desperate or mentally ill, or been abused, or whatever. The moment you go after people not in self-defense, especially if it's planned before hand, you're Just A Serial Killer.

[kaijinscendre]

Some of the shared traits in serial killers are interesting. Like, 70% suffered from severe head trauma as children.

And abuse is quite common as well. "For serial killers, the prevalence of
physical abuse was 36%; sexual abuse was 26%; and psychological abuse was 50%."

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.568.1609&rep=rep1&type=pdf

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt - that is interesting, and very sad.

[(Anonymous)]

Are you a My Favorite Murder fan? That's the first place I heard about the head trauma thing.

[kaijinscendre]

I am not but I am definitely going to add it to my list! I heard it from Last Podcast on the Left.

[(Anonymous)]

The head trauma thing reminds me of a story I saw once about Charles Whitman, who went on a shooting spree at a university in Austin, Texas in the 1960s.

Before he committed his crimes, he wrote a LOT of letters, and he talked in some of them about wanting his brain to be examined after his death, because he was certain there was something mentally wrong with him.

After his death, it was revealed that there was a brain tumor on a certain part of his brain. Apparently, a study of serial killers' brains shows that many of them have some form of damage in the exact same part of the brain that Whitman's tumor was in.

[kaijinscendre]

Yes! That is such a crazy story.

[kaijinscendre]

She admitted that she did it for money and thrills. Except maybe the first one but even that is iffy.

[(Anonymous)]

She had several different explanations for her actions: self defense, money and thrills, and self defense but admitted to money and thrills because she wanted to be sentenced to death.