Sexualizing Serial Killers? Why we probably find serial killers sexy (TRIGGER WARNING)

Serial killers: We love them and we love to hate them. They give us something to think about. We love to see what makes them tick. Why did they do it? How did they do it? People for centuries have romanticized serial killers, but more recently we have serial killers like Jeffery Dahmer, Richard Ramirez, and Ted Bundy, just to name a few handsome killers.

The sexualization of these infamous killers has been brought up in media multiple times, especially with the releases of Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, a Netflix docuseries about Ted Bundy, and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (which I will be calling Extremely Wicked for short), a 2019 Sundance Film Festival movie from Bundy's long-time girlfriend's perspective, starring teen heart-throb Zac Effron as Bundy.

Since the release of these films, people have been thirsty over Bundy! Netflix has noted this and has asked people to stop thinking that he's hot. Obviously, the reason for this is because Bundy was a serial rapist and killer who went on a cross-country killing spree, spanning from Washington and Oregon, being caught in Utah, escaping during his trial in Colorado, being caught because he was sleep deprived and driving and police noticed the car weaving, escaping again while in Colorado, and finally ending up in Florida State Prison where he was later executed via electric chair on January 24, 1989. Ironically and iconically, this was the date when Conversations with a Killer premiered on Netflix. 

During his trials, his charm and intelligence sparked inspiration for books and films about serial murder. Feminist criminologists loved Bundy, and turned him into a romantic figure. His wife, Carole Ann Boone, was convinced that he did not commit the murders until he confessed days before his execution. Boone and Bundy conceived a child, but the two have been out of the public eye for obvious reasons.

My question is, "what is the big deal in making him hot?"

The answer: It's not a big deal.

Lay down your pitchforks because we're going to look at something that Bundy's living victim, Kathy Kleiner Rubin, said about the movie Extremely Wicked (quotes from People:)

"[I don't have] a problem with people looking at it, as long as they understand that what they're watching wasn't a normal person."

 Kleiner Rubin also added:

“I believe that in order to show him exactly the way he was, it’s not really glorifying him, but it’s showing him, and when they do say positive and wonderful things about him … that’s what they saw, that’s what Bundy wanted you to see.”

Sorry Bundy, but I can't give you all of the attention. There are other killers that have peoples' loins frothing. In fact, this one wants to have a lucky man for dinner:

Jeffery Dahmer, The Milwaukee Cannibal, had multiple personality disorders. And when I say that, I'm not saying the old term for Dissociate Identity Disorder. I mean that Dahmer had been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Schizotypical Personality Disorder, and was psychotic. Dahmer trained himself to see people as objects of pleasure. He frequented gay bars, bathhouses, and when he was barred from them, he would use hotels for his...hobby.

So, obviously, Dahmer was charming enough to have multiple sexual partnets, and was sexually active enough to acknowledge that he would get frustrated whenever his partner would move.

I've seen my share of Dahmer interviews, and I can say that Dahmer was a handsome, charismatic man. I usually have an issue in general conversations figuring out if someone if genuine or is just messing with me, but with serial killers there's this tick about them that I can see that says "oh, yeah, they're insane." Jim Jones videos? Red flags. Ted Bundy? He looks crazy. Dahmer? I cannot tell if he truly feels remorse for what he did or if he's just playing the "sympathize with me" card. He knew he was sick, and he couldn't stop. But he didn't.

Dahmer was murdered by a fellow inmate at Columbia Correctional Institution in Wisconsin in 1994, and died of head trauma along with inmate Jesse Anderson.

Now, Dahmer was also noted to be an awkward person, and spoke monotonously, as many with Schizotypical Personality Disorder do. But...let's talk about this lover-boy:

Richard Ramirez, The Night Stalker, was a Satanic pretty boy (not gay pretty boy, but look at that jaw line) from Texas. His raping and killing sprees in California started with 79-year-old Jennie Vincow in 1984. His spree continued until August 1985 when he was captured in East L.A.. The fun stuff was during his trial.

During his trials, Ramirez attracted a cult-like following of black-clad Satan worshipers. Mostly women. After he was sentenced to death row, he eventually married 41-year-old Doreen Lioy.

Fun Fact: When someone on death row gets married, they leave out "til death do you part," because it is in poor taste.

Ramirez was sentenced to death by gas chamber in San Quentin Prison in California, but died in 2013 of B-cell lymphoma in Marin General Hospital.

All three of these men have charisma, are attractive, and are literally bad boys. So, we could find them "sexy" for multiple reasons.

1. We sympathize with them, and feel like we could change them (if they were alive)
2. We want a dangerous life, something other than the mundane life that we live
3. They're just interesting

It could be multiple things. The bottom line is, though, that Netflix is right. Richard Ramirez isn't your "daddy," Jeffery Dahmer isn't some sweet teddy bear, and Ted Bundy isn't a knight in shining armor. They are rapists. They are violent, homicidal maniacs. 

We can think they're gorgeous from afar, but at the end of the day, life's too short, and love's a killer.