Aileen Wuornos Attachment Theory

Most sexual offenders are male, and nearly all known serial killers are also male. Aileen Wuornos is one of history’s highest-profile female serial murderers. She was imprisoned and sentenced to death for the murder of six men. During her childhood, Wuornos was exposed to abandonment by her biological parents, seclusion and physical and emotional abuse from her grandparents. The conspicuous lack of attention and communication from her caregivers along with the violent and toxic environment she endured forged a pattern for Aileen’s early-on criminal nature and violent behavior. This would be the path that would ultimately drive her towards the murder of at least six truck drivers along Florida's highway. Wuornos confessed to having committed

The Attachment Theory, for example, claims, "humans have the propensity to establish strong emotional bonds with others, and when individuals have some loss or emotional distress, they act out as a result of their loneliness and isolation". The emotional bond that connects the children and their caregiver are critical to the advancement of an internal working model. In Wuornos' case, granted her parents' abandonment and her grandparent’s sexual and physical abuse, she was incapable of forming a solid foundation of trust. It becomes more apparent following her disclosure of developing a sexual relationship with her older brother at a young

Psychosocial theories "work from the viewpoint that deviant sexual behavior is a response to external factors and that there is an interconnection between psychological and sociological variables that influence sexual behavior. Sexual behavior is a learned response to particular conditions, and deviant sexual behavior is the outcome of inappropriate socialization. This may result from personal experiences, such as childhood sexual abuse, or be influenced by general factors, such as pornography." Alcoholic and explosive caregivers raised Aileen, that behavior was later reflected in Aileen herself. At a very young age, she became pregnant after being raped by one of her grandfather's friend. During her adult life, she would turn to prostitution as a means of survival. Aileen pattern when conducting a murder involved attracting her victims by offering sex in exchange for money. Her history of sexual, physical and emotional abuse directly correlates with her difficult upbringing. Sexual behavior was the only response that Aileen distinguished, so it was the behavior she continuously