To most people, murderers, rapists, and high profile criminals are far from appealing. This post isn’t about most people. It is about people who experience the phenomenon known as hybristophilia.

Perhaps the names Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and Jeffrey Dahmer ring a bell. Well among the many commonalities these three share, having countless admirers happens to be one of them. While facing trial for raping and murdering dozens of women, Ted Bundy received fan mail from all over the world. Despite being a homosexual cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer made a lasting impression among a young, teenage, female fanbase. The cult leader, Charles Manson, even had a fiancé in jail who somehow obtained a marriage license and delivered his child while he was facing time for his crimes. As alarming as it is, online communities and forums are dedicated to each individual and there are even fan clubs for these high profile criminals active as we speak. 

These admirers are far from your average fangirls, they are hybristophiles. A hybristophile is someone that is attracted to people who commit crimes. The unusual preference is far more common among women than it is among men. Even the very term has been romanticized in popular culture and has been deemed “Bonnie and Clyde syndrome”. Many questions arise from the very existence of hybristophilia; the main one simply being “why?”

 In an interview conducted by Vice, young teenage girls attempted to answer that very question. One in particular was from a small rural town and answered, “Violence is just exciting. If I was to have a killer as a boyfriend it would make me excited, you know? It’s a bit like Russian roulette—my turn could be soon and he could kill me. Spice things up a bit. Conventional stuff is boring.” This answer is bound to raise some eyebrows especially when the term “Russian roulette” is used in comparison to a so-called romantic relationship. Unsurprisingly, mental health concerns could also be taken into account.

According to an article by Psychology Today “From an evolutionary perspective, maybe such females have some kind of unconscious biological drive that would view any children of such men as having a better chance of survival.” This can then delve deeper into the societal expectation of men being alpha and having dominant traits delivered to their offspring but I digress. This theory is just one of many which psychologists and sexologists have brainstormed. Ideas have been tossed around left and right from women wanting to be “the chosen one” or “the one that could change him” to them simply having daddy issues.

Indeed hybristophilia is anything but a conventional attraction whether that be sexual or emotional. That then begs the question of what even is conventional attraction? As long as it is legal, should it be okay? Is there a bullet list of what society deems as acceptable to be attracted to or perhaps in this case, what not to be attracted to? (ex. high profile serial criminals). I, like you, have my own thoughts on the matter but our perception of these people will never deny their existence.