Citation

Van Brunt B, Lewis WS. Violence Gend. 2014; 1(1): 25-35.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/vio.2014.0003

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This work hypothesizes that the costuming and objectification of targets provide insight into the motivation for a rampage violence attack. These risk factors are then useful for members of behavioral intervention and threat assessment teams to observe as potential leakage prior to an attack. The article presents dozens of incidents of mass casualty shootings and highlights the targeting of women and the process of objectification of the targets. The clothing and accessories used by the attackers are investigated not only for their tactical significance, but also in affiliation with societal archetypes of antiheroes. In addition, the authors present a review of mass shooters who focused on female targets in an attempt to find a catharsis from their past negative experiences, irrational thoughts, and misogynistic philosophies.

Language: en