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: So goes the narrative of the archetypal monster our society loves to dissect and analyze in TV shows, books, and podcasts. And, generally speaking, statistical evidence supports that stereotype—but only for men. Consider “Jolly” Jane Toppan, a young nurse who lived in the northeastern US in the second half of the 19th century. She killed at least 31 people, many of whom were in her care. She used poison, and relished watching them die, reportedly even lying down by their side as they were entering the netherworld. Toppan’s modus operandi fits the patterns identified by researchers in a 2015 paper as typical of female serial killers. Women tend to kill acquaintances, people who surround them. They are often caregivers, and are well-educated. A new paper from the same lead author, Marissa Harrison, associate psychology professor at Penn State Harrisburg, argues that these differences can be explained through evolutionary psychology—a controversial field that contends that human brains were hardwired by the way our ancestors lived in the prehistoric era, and still show signs of those deeply ingrained behaviors. Male serial killers, according to the researchers’ theory, are “hunters,” who follow their prey as they did in nomadic communities.