The Opinion Of Journalists, Politicians, By Aileen Wournos

In the opinion of journalists, politicians, a jury of her peers, and thousands of people who read the headlines, Aileen Wournos was a monster. Listen to the outcry of the friends and family of the seven victims of Aileen’s predatory hunt along the I-75 highway in Florida. As Nick Broomfield, a director who produced two documentaries about Aileen, said, â€Å"The idea of a woman killing men – a man-hating lesbian prostitute who tarnished the reputations of all her victims – brought Aileen Wuornos a special kind of hatred.† Aileen was a murderer, a monster. Monsters do not have rhyme or reason to their actions, pasts that could ground them in humanity, or a place in society. However, others feel differently. A strange blend of victim and serial killer, many scholars are looking at the case of Aileen Wuornos to see if more than just her crimes got her convicted. Aileen was a poor, lesbian prostitute who had been looked down on all her life, and many believe t hose are the attributes that got Aileen sentenced to death so quickly. Indeed, Aileen’s case was more than just a murder trial, but a statement on how society disapproves of women who do not conform to heteronormative femininity. Aileen Wuornos was thirty-three years old when she began her killings. The body of her first victim, Richard Malloy was found on December 13th, 1989 with three gunshot wounds to the chest. The next two men were found five days apart in early June, 1990. Daniel Spears was shot six times and Charles