Aileen Wuornos Essay

Heather Hogue

CRMJ348-001

11/17/2015

Response Paper #2: Aileen Wuornos

What happened to Aileen Wuornos? Was she insane or was she severely damaged from her past? In this paper, I will argue how Aileen Wuornos became a killer based on her life and upbringing. She had experienced long-term abuse as a child, had been abandoned/having no emotional bond by her primary caregivers, and began “hooking” because she was desperate to survive. Was the first man she killed in self-defense or was she going through post-traumatic stress disorder based on the abuse of her childhood? I will explain the abuse she endured, attachment theory, and her PTSD with killing/claiming self-defense. First, I will explain the severe abuse she received. According to the

Attachment theory is an emotional bond formed between children and their primary caregivers through close interpersonal contact. Some patterns of children formed with the mother are pivotal to the social, emotional, and personality development of an individual. There are 3 distinct responses when a child is separated from their primary caregiver. One is protest, crying, active searching, and resistance to the comforting of others. Two is despair and blatant sadness. Three is detachment. In Aileen’s case, she has experienced all three. In one, Aileen recalled in her own

I argued it could be both. In this paper, I explained how Aileen Wuornos became a killer based on her life and upbringing. She had experienced long-term abuse as a child, had been abandoned/having no emotional bond by her primary caregivers, and began “hooking” because she was desperate to survive. Was the first man she killed in self-defense or was she going through post-traumatic stress disorder based on the abuse of her childhood? I argued that whether it was self-defense or not, I believe she went through post-traumatic stress disorder. I have explained the abuse she endured, attachment theory, and her PTSD with killing/claiming