Aileen Wuornos, prostituted lesbian from Victoria Marinelli @ Anachroclysmic 29 Feb 2008 9:55 am
Aileen Wuornos, prostituted lesbian and child sexual abuse survivor, would have turned 52 today, had she not been executed for the murder of convicted sex offender Richard Mallory. (Few people can count February 29th as their birthday, so, inevitably, whenever that day rolls around, I think of her.)
Inaccurately* branded as a “The first female serial killer,” Wuornos ushered a total of seven (variously abusive) tricks into the next life. Meanwhile, the sexist and heterosexist press got tons of mileage out of comparisons between her and the actual serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer.
Because of course, a prostituted lesbian, who acknowledges having killed in self-defense (a claim from which she never wavered; whether or not you believe all seven of her killings were in self-defense, as I do), is obviously interchangeable with a cannibalistic killer who preyed on gay men and boys merely for the apparent “pleasure” of doing so. (And, seriously, fuck anybody with the nerve to characterize Dahmer as “gay.” That makes approximately as much sense as classifying an individual who eats hamburgers as a member of the bovine species.)
In the end, everybody got their own “pieces” of Aileen. Her lover (whom I’d prefer were classified as a pimp), Tyra Moore, sold her out to the cops, who in turn sold her out to Hollywood. There were at least three movies: Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story, starring Jean Smart (following which I took to calling the actress Jean Stupid), Nick Broomfield’s Aileen: The Selling of a Serial Killer, and the Oscar-award winning Monster (which, among other distortions, characterized Tyra Moore as a victim).
Ironically enough, a piece by Phyllis Chesler (mentioned here recently), Sexual Violence Against Women and a Woman’s Right to Self-Defense: The Case of Aileen Carol Wuornos is among the more profound and truthful examinations of the Wuornos case. (Which makes my heartbreak over Chesler’s apparent transformation, lately, from “kick-ass feminist” to “neo-conservative” all the more excruciating.)
Rest in peace, Aileen.
Burn in hell, Richard Mallory, et. al.
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* The designation is inaccurate whether or not one views Wuornos as a true serial killer (which I don’t), as there actually have been quite a few true female serial killers, both before Wuornos’ time and since.