Title: The differences between male and female serial killers — Quartz
Headings: If male serial killers “hunt” their victims, what do female serial killers do?
If male serial killers “hunt” their victims, what do female serial killers do?
Content: While men can procreate nearly endlessly, women have a limited supply of eggs. “ In the ancestral environment, to maximize genetic fitness, women would benefit from seeking long-term, stable partners with resources to invest in them and their offspring, and men would benefit more from seeking multiple mating opportunities,” they write. They say that the way serial killers act—men “hunting” for potential mates, and women “gathering” resources to provide for offspring—is in line with these tendencies, but it becomes an aberration, their pathological version. There are a number of alternative explanations for the gendered differences among serial killers. Historically, for one thing, it’s been harder for women to be stalkers. Women wouldn’t travel alone, because it wasn’t customary—or safe—to do so. They may have used poison because it required less physical strength, not because of an aversion to other tactics. They may have killed for money because it was harder for them to gain it on their own. ( Harrison noted that many of the women in the study had above-average education, and perhaps decent earning potential—although women have only started to catch up to men in recent decades, and the gender pay gap still persists .) Harrison acknowledges there are more factors to consider.