Revisiting the Yorkshire Ripper Murders: Histories of Gender, Violence and Victimhood

by Louise Wattis

Between 1975 and 1980, Peter Sutcliffe, who became known as the Yorkshire Ripper, murdered 13 women in the North of England. The murders provoked widespread fear amongst women and impacted the public consciousness at both the local and national level. This book revisits the case, applying a feminist and cultural criminological lens to explore a range of criminological concerns relating to gender, violence and victimhood. Combining research findings from oral history interviews, analysis of popular criminological texts and academic commentary, this volume explores what the case can tell us about feminism, fear of crime, gender and serial murder and the representation of victims and sex workers. The volume contributes to a creative cultural criminology, highlighting how excavating recent criminal history and reading across texts presents new ways for understanding violence, gender and representation in the contemporary context.

186 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 2018

Reviews

[Gull]

As Ripper Culture and a fascination with the murder, of predominantly women, by serial killers becomes a mainstay of pop culture once again - consider the number of Ted Bundy films and series on Netflix alone, and their recent Netflix Original feature about Sutcliffe - Louis Wattis is an essential voice with a message that should be listened to. The argumentation is spot on, although written in academic prose which may put off a non-academic audience.

[Brackman1066]

A useful early dip into academic cultural analyses of true crime, but Palgrave really let this author down. The editing is terrible--words missing, misspelled, etc. I'm not sure how much of her analysis was original--this is more a review of the literature on Sutcliffe and serial murders. Great bibliography.