ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the construction of serial homicide as part of the larger sexual violence problem and considers how feminist theorists take account of apparently contradictory evidence, above all the existence of numerous female serial killers. In 1980s, there was growing interest in the theme of femicide, or women being killed as part of generalized misogynist terrorism, the misogynist killing of women by men. This ranged from analyses of witch persecutions in early modern Europe through modern occurrences of battering and murder in marriage, female infanticide, and, of course, serial murder, "serial femicide". Detective novelist Sara Paretsky writes, "With one or two exceptions, serial killers are always men". Diana Russell discusses the case of Gary Heidnik, who imprisoned several women in his Philadelphia cellar, as part of the general theme of slavery and femicide. The juxtaposition is intended to place the advertisement in the realm of propaganda for femicide and sexual mutilation.
