Relating rape and murder

About this book

This book is about relating rape and murder in both senses of the term; that is the way rape and murder are linked and related and also how stories of rape and murder are related or told. It is argued that a close relationship has evolved which allows them to share meaning and this dangerous linkage has serious repercussions. Drawing from narratives produced in police investigations, press reporting and entertainment media, and using both modern and historical case studies of sexualised murder, the author challenges us to contemplate the possible effects of a relationship which allows us to characterize murder of women as rape, and redefine the human fears of women as female sexual vulnerability. The implications of the argument of this book are enormous, not only for the way police investigate violence against women, but for the way we construct human fears.