Kosminski..why the big secret ?

[DVV]

Hi all,

well, if it comes to masturbation, let's say that almost ALL serial killers do masturbate... Lust murderers do masturbate...
Nothing new...
Was Kosminski the Ripper because he was a toss**?
That, of course, would be pure tautology.

Amitiés,
David

[robhouse]

Moreover:

"A high frequency of sexual dysfunction was reported by both schizophrenic groups of patients. Impairments in arousal items (erection) and orgasm during sex were reported mainly by the treated patients. Desire parameters were reduced in both schizophrenic groups, but reduction in the frequency of sexual thoughts was confined to the untreated one. The schizophrenic patients were more involved in masturbatory activity in comparison with the control subjects. Treated patients disclosed dissatisfaction with their sexual function."

Cited in Sexual dysfunction in male schizophrenic patients.
Aizenberg D, Zemishlany Z, Dorfman-Etrog P, Weizman A.

[robhouse]

The following is from The Psychology of Lust Murder: Paraphilia, Sexual Killing, and Serial Homicide, by Catherine Purcell and Bruce A. Arrigo.

"After Dahmer's military discharge, he was unemployed, depressed, and relying heavily on drugs and alcohol to escape the loneliness of each day and experience relief from his inner torment. A few weeks following his return, Dahmer had a brush with the law. Refusing to leave a local Ramada Inn, he was taken into custody and charged with disorderly conduct, having an open container of licquor, and resisting arrest. Subsequently, on August 8, 1982, while attending the Wisconsin State Fair, Dahmer was fined $50 for drunk and disorderly conduct. More than 20 people alleged that Dahmer had indecently exposed himself. On September 8, 1986, there was another incident of exhibitionism. Dahmer was arrested for masturbating in front of two 12-year-old boys... in court, Dahmer confessed to this incident as well as to five other similar episodes."

I would also add that (there incidents notwithstanding) Dahmer was generally, as far as I understand, soft spoken and, as you say "blended in with the crowd."

Rob H

[robhouse]

Natalie, As Chris points out, there is every likelihood that Aaron had little or no privacy... the idea that he had a room of his own is not only pure speculation, but in my opinion, unlikely. I doubt it would have been easy for him to disguise such behavior. Given that self abuse is mentioned in his certification, I think that he probably masturbated to an extent that his family was bothered by it.

And again, while I think it unlikely that he masturbated in public... my point was that such behavior (exhibitionism) is not uncommon among a particular sub-type of serial killers. Dahmer certainly did not choose to masturbate in public simply because he there was a shortage of places where he could do it in private. He obviously did it because he got off on it. Again, such behavior (paraphilia) is not uncommon among lust murderers, as Dahmer clearly was, and as the Ripper clearly was also.

Rob H

[jason_c]

I draw attention once again to the reports of Kosminski's 1889 court appearance. From the little we know he looked "normal" and acted ordinarily. What was going on in the inner depths of his mind is another matter.

[Chris]

Well my point is that had he any care or consideration at all for his family ,he COULD have been discreet about it ,and if it really was as obsessive a habit as Anderson and Macnaghten imply,he could have sought help for it.But he comes across as being totally indifferent to other people.

Well, all we really know is that Jacob Cohen told Houchin that Aaron "practise[d] self-abuse". The rest is speculation.

[Jeff Leahy]

The link between Schizophrenia and testosterone imbalance has been well established..just do a google search

Pirate

[Natalie Severn]

The point I'm making is that he wouldn't have had to masturbate in front of people for them to know about it!

Well my point is that had he any care or consideration at all for his family ,he COULD have been discreet about it ,and if it really was as obsessive a habit as Anderson and Macnaghten imply,he could have sought help for it.But he comes across as being totally indifferent to other people. Its a mistake too to think that a person with paranoid schizophrenia would behave like that.The first thing to go out the window is the libido with that illness.

[Chris]

Then quite frankly if Aaron WAS masturbating in front of people that is what I would call shameless behaviour.

The point I'm making is that he wouldn't have had to masturbate in front of people for them to know about it!

[Natalie Severn]

Then quite frankly if Aaron WAS masturbating in front of people that is what I would call shameless behaviour.There were actually lots of privies in Whitechapel where he could have been completely private.....and ,crucially, where nobody would have seen him.Moreover,I dont believe Jack the Ripper would have behaved like that.He was stealthy and clearly "blended in" with the crowd.

[Chris]

Despite the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever of Kozminski masturbating in public, or making such a public spectacle of himself by doing so ...

Indeed. We have to remember the conditions in which Aaron's family was living. Aaron was one of 11 people - 5 adults and 6 children - living in a four-roomed house. It would have been extremely difficult to have the slightest privacy.

[Natalie Severn]

The evidence Rob,appears to be that everyone knew about it.Now I doubt it was just by word of mouth.So how on earth was it known that this poor chap indulged for many years in this "abominable " business??? Was someone posted to watch him? Unless someone WAS posted outside his room- night and day-how on earth did they know what he was doing?

[robhouse]

Despite the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever of Kozminski masturbating in public, or making such a public spectacle of himself by doing so—such an argument probably works against your thesis. Dahmer for example (another so-called "lust killer" like the Ripper) was caught exhibiting himself and (I believe) masturbating in public. I am not at liberty to look up the details right now...

[Natalie Severn]

It still interests me that he was listed as a hairdresser in 1891, but hadn't worked for years and was dirty. (Thanks for the posting, Chris)

This means to me that he was a hairdresser at one time, and that would have been sometime before 1889 if I go by 'years'.

Someone who was identified as a hairdresser could not have been so unkempt and seemingly insane while plying his trade, else no trade would he have. This means, undoubtedly, that there was a time of reasonable enough coherence that Kosminski had a job. I do get rather sick of the inanity of people claiming he was a full-blown nutjob in 1888 when that clearly is unknown, but surely must lean towards him having had a hairdresser's job around that time.

Cheers,

Mike

Well how I read it,Mike, taking in all that I know to date, is that Kosminski had become insane,according to Macnaghten, "owing to many years indulgence in solitary vices"[masturbation].
Anderson in his Blackwoods magazine series,states that The Ripper was a "sexual maniac of a virulent type" and in his autobiographical book version published a few months later, in 1910 ,Anderson states that Jack the Ripper was a Polish Jew , who engaged in "utterly unmentionable vices".
So we are left to think that the type of masturbation this person indulged in was behaviour that was sufficiently horrific for Anderson to believe him to be none other than Jack the Ripper.That the Ripper"s behaviour when engaged in his "solitary vices " revealed a "sexual maniac" and a man " engaged in utterly unmentionable vices that had reduced him to a level lower than that of a brute".
I would suggest therefore, that Kosminski"s behaviour was so outrageous that it may even have been some sort of "public spectacle"-along with eating out of gutters etc.
If this is added to statements about how dirty and untidy he was a picture begins to emerge of a shameless and idle young man who ,from 1885 was making such an exhibition of himself both in and outside the home, that his family decided to try to get him sectioned as insane.
But there is no mention in any of the doctors records or of the family"s concerns of outbursts of violence,unless you fasten everything on the one occasion we are told he threatened his sister with a knife.
Well thats not Ripper like activity.The Ripper was careful to avoid being either seen or caught, still less I would have thought to have been caught red handed masturbating .
It also strikes me as inconsistent that such an idle and unkempt young man would have been bothered ,or even had the know how,to execute a series of extraordinary murders some of which were committed at breakneck speed in the dark and clearly showed some organisational skills of planning, methods of attack,escape and ,in the case of some of the murders,skill with the knife?

[DVV]

David,

Nope, his scissors slipped and he took out a kidney.

best wishes

Phil

Thanks Phil.

I stand corrected.

No Brit could do that.

Amitiés,
David