Across the Divide

In women’s memoirs of the Gulag and Soviet prison system, walls are not represented in the entirely negative way one might expect. Rather, the walls hold a paradoxical position in the texts. For, while they physically separate the women from their loved ones and their old lives, the walls become a platform for building friendships and starting up romantic liaisons by providing a means of communication between prisoners in different cells. The walls also offer the women some real protection from the sexual aggressors shown to dominate mixed spaces—and indeed, the walls of these cells are the known in a system where the unknown poses real danger.

Sexual Aggressors Against Women’s Sexual Lives: A Latent Class Analysis

This study investigated the day-to-day deviant and nondeviant sexuality of a sample of Canadian sexual aggressors against women ( N = 160). Using latent class analysis, three latent classes were identified: internalized deviant (ID), low sexual problem (LSP), and hypersexual deviant (HD). Following the latent class analysis, the developmental, physiological, cognitive, and criminological correlates of these lifestyles were analyzed. ID ( n = 31) aggressors were characterized by sexual dissatisfaction, sexual deviance, and a bland sexual life. LSP ( n = 116) aggressors were characterized by the absence of sexual deviance or hypersexuality. HD ( n = 13) aggressors were characterized by hypersexuality and sexual deviance. Our exploratory study suggests that the day-to-day nondeviant and deviant sexual life of sexual aggressors against women appear to affect their modus operandi. Furthermore, the adult sexual lifestyles of sexual aggressors against women appear to be extensions of their adolescent sexual lifestyles. The results of this study thus suggest avenues for research—notably, the specific influence of sexual behaviours and internalized psychosexual problems on modus operandi—that could improve the clinical management of sexual aggressors against women.

Toward Identification of the Sexual Killer: A Comparison of Sexual Killers Engaging in Post-Mortem Sexual Interference and Non-Homicide Sexual Aggressors

Establishing a model of sexual assault reflecting psychosocial and behavioral characteristics of perpetrators of sexual killing and rape is necessary for development in risk assessment and intervention. Methodological variations in defining sexual killing have amalgamated serial and non-serial offenders and perpetrators with direct and indirect associations between killing and sexual arousal. This study defined sexual killing specifying that killing should be directly linked to sexual arousal, and sampled 48 sexual killers, operationalized to include only those engaging in post-mortem sexual interference, with one or two known female victims (non-serial), from prison service national (England and Wales) databases. These sexual killers were compared with 48 non-homicide, life or indeterminately sentenced sexual aggressors on psychological and crime scene characteristics. Contrary to previous research, fatal outcomes were associated with neither stranger victims nor weapon presence; sexual killing was characterized by severity of violence less so than non-fatal assault. Sexual killers more often reported problems with emotional loneliness, empathic concern, and sexual entitlement than the sexual aggressors. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.