It’s Halloween season, and we all know what people love the most about this time of year: candy, scary movies, and of course, serial killers. From serial killer documentaries to actual living, breathing (or not) serial killers, you know the ladies love it all.
Women study them to an intense degree; some women have fallen in love and dated some notorious killers. But why? These are violent and sick individuals, so why is there such an infatuation with these men? Out of all the killers and their numerous documentaries, there’s something that a lot of them have in common: their looks.
Women study them to an intense degree; some women have fallen in love and dated some notorious killers. But why? These are violent and sick individuals, so why is there such an infatuation with these men? Out of all the killers and their numerous documentaries, there’s something that a lot of them have in common: their looks.
Background
There are many theories on why these women fall for deviant men. Some theories say that it’s the low self-esteem that stems from the lack of a father figure. Some women have the idea that they can somehow change them. (I have no idea why they think that they can change them when life in prison and death sentences don’t, but whatever.) Whatever the reason, the attraction they have toward murderers does have a name. According to our favorite website to use for paraphrasing answers for homework, Wikipedia, hybristophilia is “the sexual interest and attraction to those who commit crimes”. Sounds about right, doesn’t it? The idea around hybristophilia is that women are attracted to these men in the evolutionary sense because they appear dominant and strong enough to protect them. Even though they know these men are cold-blooded killers, they believe in the fantasy that this so-called ‘dominance’ is conditional and these men would never hurt them…Funny.
Real-Life Examples and The Influence of Media
I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only person out there who thinks that the obsession over serial killers is getting out of control. It’s true that some killers could have features that make them attractive, but, like, they literally murdered people.
Let’s start with the more recent 2018 case of Cameron Herrin. At one point, a petition was going around for Cameron Herrin saying that he was too cute to go to prison. He wasn’t really a serial killer, but he did kill a mother and her baby while street racing illegally. In some people’s minds, he is a murderer. So yes, he is attractive but that is not a reason to keep someone from prison. While this is just one of many examples, we should probably dive deeper into why women think serial killers are hot.
It does not help that modern shows and movies about serial killers star attractive actors to play them. Two perfect examples are Zac Efron as Ted Bundy and Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer. At this point, the movie industry is just trying to keep people entertained with looks. We all know that Bundy is known to be an attractive man, but he is nowhere near Zac Efron. Because of my love for Zac, I couldn't help but think that maybe Bundy wasn’t that bad-looking. Looking back at it now, though, I honestly regret saying that because he is not cute at all. Seriously, these women truly have problems.
Everyone knows about the movie My Friend Dahmer and the Netflix series Dahmer. I honestly don’t have a problem with these because they were based on true events. My actual concern with these is the fact that they cast two insanely attractive actors, Ross Lynch and Evan Peters, to play Dahmer. As I stated before, I feel like they were being romanticized too much. It’s one thing to say that the actors are cute, but it’s another to say that they were so hot when playing that character. As much as I hate to say it, it feels like some people are crazy because they are obsessing over the looks of a killer.
Peters and Lynch did an amazing job with this role, but I continue to go back to the fact that people started to look at Dahmer in a different way. We all know that he is a serial killer who took the lives of many young men, but looking at him in a romantic way is too over the top. Something that really concerns me is that some women looked past the cannibalism, sex offending, and the dismembering instead of truly seeing the monster that he was.
The Menendez brothers’ case was pretty popular because they killed their parents, which made their sentencing so controversial. Even though they were killers, that didn’t stop people from making edits of them on TikTok. Again, they were cute and all, but they murdered people. Every other video on my For You page was an edit of them, and I just found it to be absurd because there were multiple people saying how they should be let out of prison because they were “too cute”. To be honest, I agree with the other opinion disagreeing with the amount of time that they are sentenced because they were abused by their parents, but at the same time, they still committed murder. At this point, it is getting way too out of hand with the petitions and edits of “hot” killers. Listen, people: they committed murder, and you’re over here defending them.
Let’s start with the more recent 2018 case of Cameron Herrin. At one point, a petition was going around for Cameron Herrin saying that he was too cute to go to prison. He wasn’t really a serial killer, but he did kill a mother and her baby while street racing illegally. In some people’s minds, he is a murderer. So yes, he is attractive but that is not a reason to keep someone from prison. While this is just one of many examples, we should probably dive deeper into why women think serial killers are hot.
It does not help that modern shows and movies about serial killers star attractive actors to play them. Two perfect examples are Zac Efron as Ted Bundy and Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer. At this point, the movie industry is just trying to keep people entertained with looks. We all know that Bundy is known to be an attractive man, but he is nowhere near Zac Efron. Because of my love for Zac, I couldn't help but think that maybe Bundy wasn’t that bad-looking. Looking back at it now, though, I honestly regret saying that because he is not cute at all. Seriously, these women truly have problems.
Everyone knows about the movie My Friend Dahmer and the Netflix series Dahmer. I honestly don’t have a problem with these because they were based on true events. My actual concern with these is the fact that they cast two insanely attractive actors, Ross Lynch and Evan Peters, to play Dahmer. As I stated before, I feel like they were being romanticized too much. It’s one thing to say that the actors are cute, but it’s another to say that they were so hot when playing that character. As much as I hate to say it, it feels like some people are crazy because they are obsessing over the looks of a killer.
Peters and Lynch did an amazing job with this role, but I continue to go back to the fact that people started to look at Dahmer in a different way. We all know that he is a serial killer who took the lives of many young men, but looking at him in a romantic way is too over the top. Something that really concerns me is that some women looked past the cannibalism, sex offending, and the dismembering instead of truly seeing the monster that he was.
The Menendez brothers’ case was pretty popular because they killed their parents, which made their sentencing so controversial. Even though they were killers, that didn’t stop people from making edits of them on TikTok. Again, they were cute and all, but they murdered people. Every other video on my For You page was an edit of them, and I just found it to be absurd because there were multiple people saying how they should be let out of prison because they were “too cute”. To be honest, I agree with the other opinion disagreeing with the amount of time that they are sentenced because they were abused by their parents, but at the same time, they still committed murder. At this point, it is getting way too out of hand with the petitions and edits of “hot” killers. Listen, people: they committed murder, and you’re over here defending them.
Signing off
Whether or not these women are conscious of who exactly these characters are that they’re falling in love with, I think we can all agree that there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed respect-wise when it comes to the victims, their families, and just on a self-preservation level. Why put yourself in social and/or physical danger with these men when they could switch their moods in a split second and do some lethal damage? But that’s their business, I guess.
I never want to be the one to victim-blame or be insensitive, but I won’t waste my breath trying to convince women online that they are literally dancing with devils and waltzing straight into their coffins. If they want those killers, let them have them. I say protect everyone, but these women- -and I’m talking about women, not girls--who are stuck in these fantasies should know the consequences.
I never want to be the one to victim-blame or be insensitive, but I won’t waste my breath trying to convince women online that they are literally dancing with devils and waltzing straight into their coffins. If they want those killers, let them have them. I say protect everyone, but these women- -and I’m talking about women, not girls--who are stuck in these fantasies should know the consequences.
Peyton Henderson-Howell
|
Karla Lopez
|
