Karla Homolka helps her future husband Paul Bernardo rape her own sister. Myra Hindley gleefully assists her lover, Ian Brady, murder and rape adolescents before picnicking on the graves. Young Caril Ann Fugate goes on a killing spree with Charles Starkweather, ultimately betraying him and lying in an attempt to escape punishment.
These women may all have something in common: the little-known paraphilia, hybristophilia, which is sometimes known as “Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome.” It is so obscure that the American Psychiatric Association has yet to give hybristophilia its own category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health (DSM-IV).
The overarching category of paraphilia, which is covered by the DSM-IV, is marked by sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviors involving nonhuman objects, suffering in oneself or partner, or non-consenting persons. These urges must last for at least six months.
As explained in Campbell’s Psychiatric Dictionary, 8th Edition, hybristophilia involves being aroused by and attracted to criminals who have committed heinous acts.
According to Anil Aggrawal, author of Forensic and Medico-Legal Aspects of Sexual Crime and Unusual Sexual Practices, it is one of very few paraphilia occurring more often in women than in men. And yet, despite its exclusivity, there has been surprisingly little research performed in the area. As it is not yet in the DSM-IV, there is no exact diagnostic criteria, and the spectrum of those diagnosed is quite wide, typically falling into two categories.
Category One - “Passive” Hybristophilia
Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, experiences similar attention to that of Ted Bundy in that he receives letters from more women every day. He basks in the attention and chance to manipulate them.
Diane Simpson, a handwriting expert brought in on his case, states in the January 25th, 2005 Independent UK article ‘Women who have killer instincts’ that “…each of [the women] believes she has reached him, that she is something special…What is scary is when you hear women say, 'Well, he wouldn't have hurt me.' He would.”
These letter-writing groupies fall under the first category of hybristophilia — passive hybristophilia — because they have no interest in taking part in crimes. Rather, they want to try and rehabilitate the object of their affection, and may find some way to try and excuse whatever reprehensible behavior he has carried out.
While not inherently dangerous, passive hybristophiliacs tend to put themselves in positions to be seduced, manipulated, and lied to by the people they fall for.
Category Two - “Aggressive” Hybristophilia
One the other end of the spectrum, far from their passive, rehabilitation-bent counterparts, lie women with much darker manifestations of the paraphilia. These include the women listed above — Homolka, Hindley, and Fugate — as well as countless others.
Aggressive hybristophiliacs are attracted to active criminals and may take part in their plans, by luring victims, hiding bodies, or committing crimes. They do not hope to change their lover; rather, they tend to hope that he will reciprocate love.
“Sometimes,” Myra Hindley wrote in a letter released June of 2008, “I would write that I hated [Brady] because he was cold and cruel; other times I would beg God to let him love me in the same way that I loved him.”
It is important to note that most of the men these women engage themselves with display the traits of a sociopath, meaning they feel no empathy, remorse, or real love according to the DSM-IV. Whether passive or aggressive, hybristophiliacs tend to end up in toxic or abusive relationships.
Having long been in the background of psychology, hybristophilia is slowly creeping towards greater interest; the channel I.D. Discovery hosts an hour-long series entitled Wicked Attraction, with each episode highlighting a different killer couple. Typically, one of the parties displays the traits of aggressive hybristophilia, working to help perform or cover up crimes.
Although it is slowly gaining attention and gradually entering the public's collective consciousness, hybristophilia is a topic still in need of serious study; study to distinguish the aggressive from the passive, study to determine potential causes. But with more attention being drawn in the direction of hybristophilia, it will continue to become a subject of great research and interest — for the safety of not just the afflicted with this paraphilia, but of everyone in the hybristophiliac's life.
Magdalene Sullivan - Magda Ess has been writing since she could pick up a pencil, and writing seriously for the past three or so years. Her favorite syle is ...
