The author details her team’s research investigating sex differences in serial murder from an evolutionary perspective. Per Trivers’ (1972) Parental Investment Theory, evolved psychological mechanisms serve sex-specific interests to maximize reproductive fitness (genes represented in subsequent generations). As predicted, men – who produce millions of sperm daily and have an increased sex drive – commit serial murder primarily for sexual reasons. Women, who have limited reproductive opportunities compared to men, have evolved to place great importance on resources. As such, women commit serial murder primarily for monetary gain. Moreover, mirroring ancestral agrarian tendencies, male serial killers (MSKs) are hunters (stalkers) of victims, and female serial killers (FSKs) are gatherers of profit and “gather” victims in their immediate environment, including relatives. The author stresses that an evolutionary perspective (ultimate perspective) does not explain the entirety of serial murder. We must consider converging perspectives, including evolutionary, proximate biological, clinical, traumagenic, cultural, historical, social, and gender-role forces that contribute to the development and growth of the human psyche.

This vintage rape case concerns an Alabama court’s determination that the jury may consider “social conditions and customs founded upon racial differences, such that the prosecutrix was a white woman and the defendant was a Negro man” in assessing a Black defendant’s culpability for assault with intent to rape. This case represents how rape law was weaponized against Black men and is an ideal case for a feminist rewritten opinion to interrogate how race and rape are closely intertwined.

This chapter summarizes the explanations developed in preceding chapters, fits them into a more comprehensive theoretical framework, and tests them using path analysis, which helps researchers understand causal sequences. Democratization is characterized by punctuated equilibrium. Distant historical factors such as geography and demographic characteristics, together with incrementally changing aspects of social and economic development, affect a country’s level of democracy, but only roughly. Institutions and organizations such as a healthy civil society, the rule of law, and institutionalized political parties, tend to reinforce one another and keep each country’s level of electoral democracy close to an equilibrium or set point. However, short-term economic performance, anti-system movements, and opposition campaigns can sometimes disturb the equilibrium, making significant upturns and downturns possible.