Polarisation exists within homicides in the sex of the victim and the perpetrator. 79% of all homicide victims globally are male, with organised crime and gang violence accounting for a large proportion of this. Women, however, are more vulnerable and at-risk from interpersonal homicides relating to intimate family and partner relationships. Two-thirds of partner/family victims globally are female (43,600 in 2012) and one-third male (20,000). Almost half (47%) of all female victims were killed by an intimate partner, in comparison to the 6% of male victims in this typology (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2013).
Number of women killed by intimate partners and family:
Africa: 13,400
America: 6,900
Asia: 19,700
Europe: 3,300
Oceania: 200
Choosing, therefore, to portray a female victim with a male perpetrator not only fits the statistic stereotype but questions this gender bias toward female victims. A large majority of the serial killers I have studied, most of whom are highly well known, are all male, such as Ted Bundy, BTK (Dennis Rader), Luka Magnotta, and the Christchurch shooting perpetrator Brenton Tarrant. My artworks focus on this bias with the intention of questioning its impact within gender politics, effectively asking the audience whether this statistical stereotype affects their perception on which gender is more vulnerable and which is more aggressive. Which gender would you place more trust in based on these statistics and stereotypes, and why?
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2013.Global Study On Homicide. [online] Unodc.org. Available at: <https://www.unodc.org/documents/gsh/pdfs/2014_GLOBAL_HOMICIDE_BOOK_web.pdf>
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