Sexual attraction to criminals has a name: hybridophilia. Why it happens?

(CNN Spanish) -- 

Ted Bundy, one of the best-known serial killers in the United States, married Carole Ann Boone while a murder trial was being carried out against him and together they had a son.

His case is no exception: stories of people falling in love with criminals, both low and high profile, exist.

The sexual attraction to these criminals even has a name: hybristophilia.

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines hybristophilia as "sexual interest in and attraction to those who commit crimes" which, in certain cases, may be directed at people who are in prison.

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The term was first defined in 1986 by Dr. John Money to characterize a paraphilia in which a person is "sexually aroused only by a partner who has a predatory history of inflicting abuse on others," explains Dr. Melissa Matuszak of the Riverside City University in this research.

The word comes from the Greek

, which means "to commit an atrocity against another" and "

", which means to like or have a strong preference for", says Evelyn B. Kelly in her book "The 101 Most Unusual Diseases and Disorders".

Kelly also brings this practice under the umbrella of paraphilias, which are, by the APA definition, disorders involving the need for unusual or bizarre fantasies or behaviors for sexual arousal.

There are multiple types of paraphilia, which can include arousal from objects (fetishism), with animals, voyeurism, exhibitionism, etc.

Prevalence of women

"More women seem to have this attraction than men," says Kelly, a statement shared by other articles on the subject.

And there is no defined social pattern: it is not necessarily about women of low socioeconomic status, or without education, but there are known cases of professionals and people from all social groups.

Women who are attracted to killers, especially serial killers, are typically in their 30s and 40s,

Katherine Ramsland, a professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania , explained in this

Sandra Lustgarten, a psychologist specializing in sexology, explains for her part to CNN that hibristofilia is also what is seen in the case of adolescents who have an idyllic attraction to "bad boys" who are always involved in complicated situations.

Passive and aggressive hybristophilia

Those people who are known as " serial killer

" and send letters to men who are in prison but usually have no interest in taking part in the criminal activities they commit can be classified as passive hybristophilia, says Kelly.

Many of these women, they say, have fantasies of rescuing men, believing that they will never hurt them and that they can change them.

They are possible to be manipulated.

On the other side of hibristofilia is what can be characterized as aggressive: they want to be part of the "criminal agenda" and will help their partners, without accepting that they may be psychopaths.

In this case, says the author, they can manipulate them.

The key question: why does hybridophilia exist?

Why can a person be sexually attracted to and fall in love with someone who has committed a heinous crime and is incarcerated, for example, after committing crimes such as murder or rape?

Sheila Isenberg, author of "Women Who Love Men Who Kill," spoke to dozens of women who have had relationships with killers, CNN reports.

He discovered that there are two main groups of people who take down killers: those who fall in love with "regular killers", believing they see the "real" good side of the killer, and those who start relationships with notorious killers, the kind who hang out on the streets. news, because they are attracted by fame.

"They know that if they get involved with these men their name or maybe their picture will be in the newspaper," the author explained.

redemption fantasy

Lustgarten explains that, although there are not many studies in this regard, some specialists link this inclination to women who have had some experience of sexual abuse or childhood trauma, women with affective dependency, who feel attracted to criminals "with fantasy kind of loving that they are going to change them, that they are going to modify their behavior and that they are going to make them good".

It's a childish fantasy, he says, but it gives them the feeling that they have the power to change each other's behavior.

The notion of the "perfect boyfriend"

Ramsland, meanwhile, adds the notion of the "perfect boyfriend."

"She knows where he is at all times and she knows you're thinking about her. While she can say someone loves her, she doesn't have to deal with the day-to-day hassles that come with most relationships. She doesn't have to do laundry or cook for him or her. accountable to him. He can keep the fantasy charged for a long time," he explained.

Isenberg, meanwhile, also talks about courtship: "He paints you pictures, he writes you poems, he writes you long letters of 30, 40, 50 pages. It's a hugely romantic relationship (...) it's like living in your own romantic novel ".

From her research, Isenberg also concluded that for many of these women, such a relationship is a power move but in another sense than the one mentioned above.

"Many of these women come from abusive childhoods or were battered women. Some were physically, psychologically or verbally abused, but all were victims. I came up with a theory that if you're in a relationship with a man he's behind bars for life or on death row, it can't hurt you. You're in the driver's seat and in control for the first time in your life," he said.

Biological drive hypothesis

Some mental health experts have hypothesized a biological impetus, says Ramsland.

"Studies on primates reveal that females prefer larger, louder and more aggressive males who show clear signs of their masculinity. In humans, then, some women might perceive an aggressive male as a more interesting mate than most." that he can give more than a normal man could give. Through him, he unconsciously perceives, gains status and protection," he explains.

Lustgarten explains that, in addition, other women feel that this characteristic of the criminal, murderous male "is what surrounds them with a different, increased, exacerbated virility and sexual potency."

What they do, she says, is make the man more masculine.

Do you believe in his innocence?

Isenberg found in his research that many people who fall in love with murderers tend to believe that their partners are innocent.

One example is Carole Ann Boone, who began her relationship with Ted Bundy when she was on trial for two murders and three assaults at Florida State University, she married him and had a child.

Bundy later confessed to 30 murders.

Boone, who had worked with Bundy at the Washington State Department of Emergency Services, said he liked Ted "immediately" and testified on his behalf as a character witness because he felt he was being "pigeonholed."

Only after years of his sentence was he convinced that he was guilty and ended the relationship.

Doreen Lioy married Richard Ramirez, known as the "Night Stalker," who killed more than a dozen people.

In 1997 she told CNN that she doesn't care if people think she's crazy: "I just believe in him completely," she told Lioy.

"In my opinion, there was much more evidence to convict OJ Simpson."

In cases where people have been found guilty of only one murder, Isenberg said women often go to circumstances that may mitigate the facts, such as that it was an accident or they had used drugs.

The hibristofilia, danger of life

In addressing hybristophilia, it is key to recognize, as Lustgarten says, that women who fall in love and become involved with these men are at risk to their lives.

"They are somehow putting their lives in danger, always living on the edge and exposed to a situation where they can go absolutely wrong, they can die in the attempt to change men or in the belief that this man is virilized and that he has a greater sexual power", explains the psychologist, emphasizing that in the cases of psychopathic men, for example, they have the ability to charm people but deep down they are narcissistic, self-centered with no capacity for empathy.

With information from CNN's Ryan Bergeron.