There is a name for sexual attraction to criminals: hybridophilia. Why does this happen?
Ted Bundy, one of America’s most famous serial killers, married Carol Ann Boone while her murder trial was underway and they had a son together. His case is no exception: the stories of people who fall in love with criminals, both low and high profile exist. There is even a name for sexual attraction to these criminals: hybristophilia.
The American Psychological Association (APA) defines hybristophilia as “sexual interest and attraction to those who commit crimes” which in some cases can lead to incarceration.
New details have emerged about the relationship between a prisoner accused of mysteriously missing in Alabama and a jailer.
Melissa Matuszak, a doctor at Riverside City University, explained that the term was first defined by Dr. John Money in 1986 to identify a paraphilia where a person is “sexually aroused only by a partner who has a history of being abused”. In this study.
The word comes from the Greek hubrizeinwhich means “to commit atrocities against others” and “Philiaevelyn B. Kelly says in her book “The 101 Most Unusual Diseases and Disorders”, which means to choose or make a strong choice for it.
Kelly has brought this habit under the umbrella of paraphilis, which, according to the APA definition, is a disorder involving the need for abnormal or bizarre imagination or behavior for sexual arousal. There are several types of paraphilia, which may include objectivism (fetishism), with animals, visualism, exhibitionism, etc.
Prevalence of women
“More women than men seem to have this attraction,” Kelly said in a statement shared by other articles on the subject.
And there is no defined social pattern: it is not necessarily about women of low socio-economic status, or without education, but it is a familiar phenomenon to professionals and people of all social groups.
Women who are attracted to murderers, especially serial killers, usually between the ages of 30 and 40, she explains in this article Psychology today Katherine Rumsland, Professor of Forensic Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Sandra Lastgarten, a psychologist who specializes in sexology, explained to US, for her part, that hybristophilia also occurs in adolescents who have an ideal attraction to “bad boys” who are always involved in complex situations.