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Featured on Jeremy Vine: Episode #5195 (2022)
Narrative
An anthology series about high-profile crimes or killers that captured the public’s attention and notoriety. Evan Peters [Jeffrey Dahmer] says they had one rule, from Ryan Murphy [Creator] to follow when starting the series: that it would never be told from Dahmer’s point of view. “As an audience, you don’t really sympathize with him. You don’t really get into his plight. You’re kind of watching it from the outside.” In many episodes there is a 3M Command(TM) strip shown in the kitchen of Jeffery Dahmer’s apartment, this takes place in 1991 for the last one. 3M debuted their first wave of Command(TM) products in 1996.
A chronic alcoholic from a very young age
For those interested in the psychology of a serial killer, there is no more fascinating character study than Jeffrey Dahmer. He was a psychiatric enigma and a deeply ill individual. A sexual deviant with all sorts of unusual fetishes. A necrophile. A cannibal. A pure psychopath and the product of a perfect storm of schizotypal/borderline personality disorder, developmental toxicity (exposure to psychoactive drugs in utero), negative parental influence, childhood neglect and trauma, a morbid curiosity about the macabre, social exclusion at school, and deep feelings of loneliness, sexual confusion, and insecurity.
He longed to be accepted by his peers
He longed to be cared for and loved by his family. But at the same time, he knew deep down that he would inevitably disappoint his parents because of his inability to live a normal life and that he would not be accepted by his friends because of his strange personality. We all tend to seek out like-minded people and make connections with those with whom we have something in common. The problem was, Jeffrey knew there was no one out there with the same interests or outlook as him. Left to his own devices by the absence of his parents and socially isolated, he became increasingly withdrawn and followed a path of introversion and loneliness. He must have felt as though he did not belong in this world and that there was no place for him within society, so he abandoned all attempts to participate and pursued a voyeuristic lifestyle.
His interest was solely focused on their aesthetic or physical appearance
He lacked a clear or positive self-image, meaning that his perspective of other people was skewed, resulting in him fully embracing his distorted perception of pleasure and satisfaction. The men he was attracted to were purely sexual objects to him; walking, talking sex dolls. He seemed to have been a deeply troubled soul from the start and his behaviours were predominantly a consequence of his genetic makeup, exacerbated by negative life experiences. Had his childhood been more positive, he might have been able to adapt better to his personal limitations and dysfunctions, but there is no way of knowing the extent of the damage his upbringing caused him. It was evident from his own admissions that he felt predestined to live a peculiar and unorthodox lifestyle due to his innately odd personality. The conventional joys of life simply did not appeal to Jeffrey.
But I have to admit that I found his story tragically sad
I rarely, if ever, feel sorry for serial killers, especially those who commit crimes as heinous and disgusting as Dahmer. What I usually take away from accounts of serial killers is to wonder how and why someone could do that to another human being over and over again. In Dahmer’s case, I feel conflicted with a strange understanding and empathy for his actions. Of course, I am not condoning what he did, but I can appreciate how and why the sequence of events unfolded. In his televised interviews he was so open, frank and forthcoming, which is exceptionally rare for someone in his situation.