Why They Do it: Beliefs & Emotional Gratification Lead to Violent Acts

by Jane F. Gilgun

Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology

14 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 30, 2010

About the author

I'm a retired professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA, where I did research, taught, and did service for 37 years.
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My research on violence was born out of love, hope, and despair. Love for others, hope for a just and caring society, and despair for the hold that violence has on humanity.

I have many free articles on substack (https: janegilgun.substack.com), on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00458CS2G), and many other internet sites.

I write about many topics: lyric poetry, child development, resilience, trauma, child sexual abuse, rape, and spirituality. I have many academic articles and am in the top 80 social work scholars in the world.

I am writing a book called The Making of a Wife Rapist that I've serialized on substack https: janegilgun.substack.com. This book is based on life history interviews with a man named Mack who experienced profound meaningless.

Mack sought excitement and entertainment through viewing child, rape, and snuff porn. He drugged and raped his wife for these reasons and also to get back at women whom he dreamed of harming.

My poems are written in imagist, lyric, and narrative styles and convey the rhythms of a life fully lived--the sharp, often painful intrusions of beauty, the transcendence of erotic love, the fears and intrigue of bodily changes over time, the horror of violence, and the warmth and comfort of everyday life. My poetry is available on Amazon and Substack.

I have written other books.
--Good Girl: You're going to make it after all (https.janegilgun.substack.com)
--the NEATS: A child and family assessment (www.amazon.com/-/e/B00458CS2G)
--On Being a Shit: Unkind Deeds and Cover-Ups in Everyday Life (www.amazon.com/-/e/B00458CS2G) that foreshadowed politics in the USA today.


Telling the story of violence through the words of perpetrators took guts—especially because listening to their stories often horrified me and forced me to relive personal trauma.

I took on this task because I believe in gender-based fairness to both women and men. Violence hurts everyone, even those who appear to get what they want from violence.

Having spent almost 50 years listening to stories, I can now face the horror the stories evoke in me. I wonder if other people can bear them.

I am writing a book. In the book, I tell the stories first and invite readers to interpret them as they see fit. After telling the stories, I then comment on the stories. I interpret them based on the knowledge I gained over the decades through listening to the stories and also as a professor of social work who specialized in human development.

I want to make sense of the stories. It has taken me years to do so. People used to ask when am I going to write my book. I said, “I don’t know. I’m a slow learner.” After all of this time, I think I am ready.

Reviews

[Shay · Rating 1 out of 5]

This article at first seemed interesting but I did have a few issues with the way Jane delivered her article. Having a LICSW (Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker) as well as a Ph.D, I was confused in her almost narrow-mindedness approach in her article. Obviously choosing the worst of the worst in violent cases: Child Murders, Rapists and Woman Beaters, most readers will automatically be filled with hatred towards her subjects and understandably so.

However, as Gilgun was placed in the position (working/interviewing these men on a medical stance) she did not seem to keep a "Medical Sate Of Mind" where she is suppose to remove her personal feelings and her own moral codes for the benefit of the study to which she stated "central to understanding and preventing violence". One cannot understand anything if they place their own opinions and moral codes on the actions of the criminals she is studying. As hard as it would be for someone to not judge these men, to not label them as soulless monsters. This was her main job in order to provide an efficient article.

This came off as rant from someone who had no medical background. Just someone who seems to have a serve dislike for men and picked the worst of the worst to show proof. She left out Females, who are more than capable of this violence. Also refusing to state the mens' childhood and if there was any childhood trauma/abuse (a very important factor when dissecting a violent individual) which left too much room for a rebuttal.

I do agree with her main point of everything, just think she should have taken a more professional approach to it all.Beliefs and Emotional Gratification are two small pieces of a very large puzzle. In order to prevent something one must look at every piece to understand it as a whole. She just seemed too hard set on leaving two reason as the major problem with violent people.

It was an interesting "theory" but I will not recommend it as any sort of reading material, as a knowledgeable or properly informative article.

[Kevin Wight · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I agree with the author that people who commit violence do so for their own gratification, the assertion was not backed up with scientific research. I can believe butter is good for me because it tastes good, but that does not make it so.

[Karen West · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not anything I thought it would be, kinda s--ked

[Malia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good read

It was interesting. But it's kind of short and is sometimes vague. More detail in some sections would make a big difference.