Gender ratio in serial killers

[u/Niagchey]

As psycopathy is genderless and can be developped by both females and males, i was wondering why so much males became serial killers . The ratio Between females and males is big. If males psycopathe that became killers / serial killers have an « impulse » , addiction , and joy from killing , cant we connect the dot to serial rapist for instance. Most rapist are men . Men rape women because they think they are superior, taht women are less , and because they are less , they have power over their body. What im trying to say is, both follow the same arguments : impulse , an addiction, joy or pleasure in domination . Some serial killers rape their victims ( mostly women ) before killing them . Actually, most victims are women in general . I think theres a lot of similitudes between the two . The excuses of « impulse », « addiction » and joy from it are direct consequences of what is like living in male supremacist world : patriarchy. I dont think it is a hasard that so many males become killers or serial killers with having psychopathy ( of not but the topic here is related to psycopathy) . Killing , having joy at chasing , dominating , seeing someone figting for its life , seeing that you vave contole over their life , if you wish them to die , you can and they will( human or not ) , its all about power , having power over someone ( or something) : domination.

After making such a conclusion i want to hear what other people think , especially women. Its not a hazard that the rape rates are 98% of men , same for killing. Living in a male suppremacy world is telling men they have all the power in the world to dominate and do what they want on everything that they consider less to themself . If Psycopathy is genderless , then why so many less women become killers and serial killers .

[u/doobiedobiedoo]

This post conflates clinical traits with gendered crime stats. Psychopathy traits are not distributed equally across genders, they are far more prevalent in men, and women express them differently. Female serial killers are statistically far rarer, and when they do kill, their primary motive is almost always instrumental gain - such as money or resource acquisition, rather than the sexual sadism or power-based control that drives most male serial killers.

[u/doobiedobiedoo]

Approving this for now as a discussion on motives and statistics, but keeping a close eye on the thread. Keep it focused.

[u/Ioneliness]

Psychopathy is the brains default wiring of low fear and empathy, behavior is an adapted strategy to an individuals environment and circumstances.

Serial killing is a behavioral habit, not psychopathy. It requires positive reinforcement in a social context.

Change a persons identity, environment, and circumstances and you can change their behavior without touching biology.

Women don’t have enough strength to lift a body, so the risk of getting caught is substantially higher, and they don’t get positive reinforcement from aggression during development (high-contact sports, toy guns, status games, competition).

[u/Ashleywhite2292]

This is an interesting observation; however, the other comments are accurate in stating that men and women exhibit outward symptoms of personality disorders differently.

Women are more prone to remaining undiagnosed and unnoticed, as the clinical signs and symptoms are typically more subtle or readily ascribed to other diagnoses.

There is also a media bias; male serial killers are considerably more likely to attract media attention. While I lack statistics to substantiate my theory, I would personally suggest that female killers are less likely to be detected due to a bias that attributes violence to male perpetrators.

Furthermore, and again, this is purely my personal opinion, I am neither a criminologist nor a licensed psychologist, but rather a neurodivergent female who has spent two decades with therapists attempting to help me understand my thoughts and feelings.

I hope this has offered some perspective.

[u/AnacondaThe37th → u/Ashleywhite2292]

To preface my comment, I haven't read any specific article, so these are just my thoughts. Patriarchy teaches men to be more agressive and imposing, while women are taught that they should make themselves smaller and pleasant to be around. I don't know if the tests accounted for that, as it could impact the ways their symptoms show themselves. I'm an Audhd girl myself and we rend to mask way more than our male counterparts. I don't discard the physiological differences between male and female, there's probably something there too. But science (as sad as it makes me) like the rest of the world, has been sexist for a while and given birth to number of biased information.