How rare are women serial murderers?

Answer 1

Although not as plentiful as male serial killers, history shows that women are not immune to killing in numbers. The biggest difference in men and women serial killers is the how and why of their crimes.

Male serial killers are a whole different animal and are driven by completely different forces. For men its about control, sex, control. They are usually driven by strong violent fantasies. And they are usually strangers or near strangers to the victims.

Women serial killers are most likely to kill someone they know. Nurses kill their patients for varying reasons. They kill relatives for monetary gain. This is not the complete list but it gives a good idea of how a woman kills. They are big on poison, too.

Then there are the women, rare though they are, that kill their children. Not Andrea Yates, the Texas housewife that drowned her 5 small children in their bathtub. The women that suffer from Muchausen's by Proxy. These women kill their own children for the attention it brings them. Although Aileen Wuornos has been touted as the first female serial killer, she was far from it. What made Wuornos non-typical was she killed men she did not know. But it was about monetary gain. So except for the stranger/victims she was more typical than people realize. They had what she wanted/needed so she took it. (money, car)

These are just examples, and of course there are always exceptions to the rules but this gives a good idea of women killers.