Female homicide in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

This study aimed to assess the female homicide rate due to aggression in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, using this as a "proxy" of femicide. This was an ecological study which correlated the female homicide rate due to aggression in Rio Grande do Sul, according to the 35 microregions defined by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), with socioeconomic and demographic variables access and health indicators. Pearson's correlation test was performed with the selected variables. After this, multiple linear regressions were performed with variables with p < 0.20. The standardized average of female homicide rate due to aggression in the period from 2003 to 2007 was 3.1 obits per 100 thousand. After multiple regression analysis, the final model included male mortality due to aggression (p = 0.016), the percentage of hospital admissions for alcohol (p = 0.005) and the proportion of ill-defined deaths (p = 0.015). The model have an explanatory power of 39% (adjusted r2 = 0.391). The results are consistent with other studies and indicate a strong relationship between structural violence in society and violence against women, in addition to a higher incidence of female deaths in places with high alcohol hospitalization

The social nature of serial murder: The intersection of gender and modernity

The literature on the aetiology of serial killing has benefited from analyses which offer an alternative perspective to individual/psychological approaches and consider serial murder as a sociological phenomenon. The main argument brought to bear within this body of work identifies the socio-economic and cultural conditions of modernity as enabling and legitimating the motivations and actions of the serial killer. This article interrogates this work from the standpoint of a gendered reading of modernity. Using the Yorkshire Ripper case, it emphasizes how in addition to the political economy, gender relations and masculinity shape the dynamics of serial murder and its representation