Hybristophilia is a type of paraphilia in which the subject is attracted to having sexual relations with dangerous people, whether they are murderers, thieves, rapists … although it does not have to become a crime of this nature. People who are sexually aroused or achieve orgasm through this pattern of sexual behavior (in which criminals take the cake) are also attracted to people who cheat, who are unfaithful or who are great liars.
This strong affinity for the more or less heinous acts of these people , leads them to admire them, to write to them and to be sentimentally united with them, sometimes, for life.
The motives or reasons for this phenomenon are unknown but psychology derives it as an extreme of fanaticism . The most striking case to hit the media was that of rapist and serial killer Ted Bundy. The number of victims could be around 100 women, and when his arrest became public he attracted dozens of women both to the trial sessions and transformed into love letters when he entered prison.
Other criminals subject to hybristophilia have been Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramírez or perhaps the best known, Charles Manson (all of them serial killers).
Although they are monsters to most of society, some women see violent criminals as men of great appeal, men they can transform and redeem through their love, or they may see them as helpless children to protect. (attracted perhaps by an almost maternal feeling, since they feel compassion, pain and even tenderness for said man).
Why do you approach these types of people?
Like all paraphilias, hybristophilia defines a way of obtaining sexual pleasure that deviates from what is considered standard. However, it is not a disease but a sexual preference that can manifest itself in varying degrees of intensity and, as we see, is more common among women. They tend to start writing them, perhaps calling them, visiting them in jail, even getting involved in their legal defense or financially taking care of their expenses. There can also be two aspects in this toxic relationship: that the relationship is active, physical and the victim ends up becoming an accomplice of the murderer, or the passive one, that the relationship is merely a romantic fantasy and both never get to know each other in person.
According to Mark Griffiths, professor of psychology at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, more empirical studies are needed to understand hybristophilia, as much of what is known about this behavior is based on “anecdotal evidence from interviews and books. “.
Why is it more common among women?
The reason is unknown . There are no scientific studies that explain why this paraphilia occurs more in women than in men. It could be that their media notoriety as violent criminals is lower or even that their number is also lower, but it is pure speculation.
