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: They will often butcher their victims, much like hunted game, and keep trophies from their escapades. While men largely attack strangers, previous studies have shown that about 80% of women serial killers know their victims. They “gather” them around, Harrison and her colleagues argue—although while men’s “hunting” is essentially literal, the researcher told Quartz that women’s “gathering” is more figurative. They also take care of others: 72% killed at least one person in their care, and nearly half of them have killed their children. The 2015 paper showed that 39% of female serial killers worked in health care. They largely stayed in one place—like women in many prehistoric societies, according to the researchers—and used methods less outwardly violent, like poison. ( Again, these are generalizations. As Harrison pointed out, America’s most famous female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos, portrayed in the 2003 movie Monster, had a more of “male” way of killing). Characteristic
Male serial killer
Female serial killer
Targeted stranger
85.5%
14.5%
Related to victim
9.1%
58.2%
Stalked victim
65.4%
3.6%
Motive: