The Real Monster?

When someone commits an act of violence and the other person assists, who is the real monster? Going deeper on the issue of deviant women, what if the man is a rapist and the accomplice is his wife? In a recent article on the Jaycee Dugard case, I ran into an article in which an acquaintance of the kidnappers was interviewed, and a most interesting quote popped out:

“She [the wife] is the real monster. She is a woman and she should never have let this happen.”

Of course, the two clauses in one sentence suggests that the wife’s gender is somehow connected with her morality: that she should never allowed the kidnapping and sexual slavery of a young girl because she is a woman. How does this person come to such a conclusion? What kind of leap of logic is that? But of course, to this person who is no one but a neighbor, it is not a leap at all. People assume that of the two genders, women are morally superior. This was the argument many suffragists offered as a “pragmatic” argument. Because women are morally superior, their vote would improve the world. History in this and many other cases has proven otherwise. Apparently this acquaintance knew nothing of the female Nazi camp leaders who skinned prisoners and made lampshades out of them. He/She’d clearly never heard of Eileen Wuornos or any of the other rare but deadly female serial killers. History has proven over and over again that some women are just as capable of evil acts as some men are. Just because they are women does not mean they are either weaker or more sensitive to the suffering of others.

So why did this person make such an assumption? For me, the more accurate affirmation would have been, “She is a human being and should never have let this happen.” People like Jaycee’s kidnappers are the exception, not the rule. Most people, be they men or women, would find the idea of kidnapping a young girl and keeping her in a tent abhorrent. More to the point, this person states that not only is she at fault for not stopping it as a woman, but she is more evil than the actual perpetrator. I agree that there are two kinds of evil people: those who do evil things, and people who see evil things being done and do nothing about it. But saying she is the real monster for sitting back and watching as her husband raped and kept hostage a woman for 18 years? That is simply nonsensical.

Here is the link to the article:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/31/crimesider/entry5277289.shtml