Misogyny Through The Years

The legacy of Jack the Ripper has gone through the dimension time. The story has been told numerous times and in various ways. There are bands that immortalise the ripper in song, there are several movies that reference him and many killers that worship at his alter. According to Judith Walkowitz "The fact that most of the murders were accompanied by acts of sexual mutilation also contributed to the grisly notoriety of the crimes..." The ripper is the poster boy for many serial killers or those who want to be.



J. R. Walkowitz, 'City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late Victorian London', Virago Press Ltd, London, 1992



The Zodiac killer is one of the great unsolved killer mysteries of all times, second to the ripper. He murdered atleast seven people from 1968 t0 1972. The zodiac killer was profiled as a sexual sadist, meaning he could not achieve sexual fulfilment in any other way than through torture and ultimately the killing of another person. Like the ripper, the zodiac killer was known for his gruesome attacks. His first victim was slashed across the chest area three times, once in the back, seven times across the throat and neck wounds so brutally administered that they nearly decapitated her. Her larynx and caroited artery were severed. She had also been choked, beaten and slashed across the face. How many ways can one person be killed? How much delight did the zodiac killer take in the act of this murder. He taunted the police and newspapers by sending them letters about his crimes and the victims. He even sent a letter to one of the victim's fathers. Since we do not know his identity he has been immortalised by Hollywood as well with his own movie, titled, Zodiac.


http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/zodiac/river_1.html


http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/fiction/article1770038.ece



The modern day ripper is Steve Wright who murdered five prostitutes in Ipswich, Suffolk between October and December in 2006. Two of the victims were asphyxiated and the cause of death for the other three could not be determined. All the victims had drug problems. Wright admitted to having sex with the victims but not the murders. There was speculation from the police that he may have had an accomplice. This leads to me wonder if the ripper was not caught for the same reason, did he have someone watching out for him or helping him with his crimes. Steve Wright terrorised Suffolk to such an extent that he was nicknamed the Ipswich Ripper and the Suffolk Strangler. He was also compared with Peter Sutcliffe, The Yorkshire Ripper.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3410456.ece

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1579409/Ipswich-killer-Steve-Wright-deserves-to-die.html

These are the faces of Wright's victims. Most of the times the serial killer is the one that is mentioned frequenlty, unless it is a child that has been killed; or like the ripper the murderer is never caught and the murders are horrendous. The killers should not be the ones who are immotalised, so why are they? Human nature will explain that, some will live vicariously through these murders, others will try and find out what has gone through the mind of the killer in an effort to make sense of the crime. For many it is sheer entertainment.

Judith Walkowitz states that "The social context of the ripper's exploits have not disappeared from the twentieth century representation, although they too have undergone a mythic revision." This is correct, the ripper has been cast as a mythical figure to explain the heinousness of his crimes, as no mere mortal could commit these crimes; the problem is a mere mortal did.



J.R. Walkowitz, 'City of Dreadful Delight: Narrative of Sexual Danger in Late Victorian London', Virago Press Ltd: London, 1992