[Just an important note: I am not trying to “kink shame” anyone.]
The other day while scrolling through my Twitter feed, I stumbled upon a picture that I truly found to be disrespectful. Someone had gotten a tattoo of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold on the left side of their upper body. The fact that someone thought it would be a good idea to tattoo the murderers of one of the worst school shootings is just…it’s sickening. It’s disrespectful to the families and to the victims. But the fetishization doesn’t stop there. There are numerous blogs on tumblr and profiles on Twitter that are dedicated to these cold blooded killers. Some even talk about how they wish they could have been alive during the time of the murders, simply so they could have been a “groupie.”
The real term is Hybristophilia, a type of sexual deviation in which sexual arousal or orgasm are responsive to being with a partner that has committed a crime, such as rape, murder, armed robbery, or cheating and lying. Back then, this term was known as “Serial Killer Groupie.” Famous examples are Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, and brothers, Lyle and Erik Menendez. While in prison, Ramirez often received fan mail, which included many nude photographs and love letters. While the Menendez case was being held, many women flocked to the courthouse to catch a glimpse of the brothers who were seen as an object of lust. Bundy even had jammed packed courtrooms that were filled with women who had their sights set on being in the same room as Bundy.
I will admit, I do find interest in high profile murder cases and the minds of these killers, but only because it’s basic psychology. There are people who legit write fanfictions about these killers. Today, my friend sent me a screenshot of a fanfiction written about white supremacist Dylann Roof, who has been given the death penalty for murdering nine black men and women in the Charleston Church shooting that occurred on June 17, 2015. The fact that someone writes a fanfiction about him is just sick. But to romanticize him? That’s disgusting.
It is disrespectful to the families of the victims to romanticize these people. These are not “regular people,” as most of their groupies describe them. These are killers. It is not cute in any way to think of them as heroes in the way their groupies think of them. There is no respect when people post videos of the shooting or photographs of the crime scenes. There is nothing cute about Dylann Roof with photoshopped hearts over his head. There is nothing aesthetic about having killers tattooed onto your bodies. There is disrespect and there is disgust and it is disgusting to downplay what these killers had done.
Please do not romanticize or fetishize these cold blood killers ever again. It is downright disrespectful to the families of the victims and it’s disgusting to even think of them as cute. I know someone whose family member was gunned down in the NIU school shooting, and I can only imagine the rage she feels when people like Klebold and Harris are romanticized on social media. These are people who have taken away lives of innocent people for the sake of it, because some of them found pleasure is killing. There is nothing romantic or hot about a murderer.
