Security, Social, and Health Challenges Faced by Women Who Use Drugs: A Qualitative Study of Women Substance Users

Sarah El Guendi Conference
Monday, June 8, 2026, at 12:00 p.m.
Zoom only.

Registration for Zoom access.

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Abstract

There is a vast amount of literature on serial killing but most is written from the perspective of the nature of the crime and its detection. Rather little addresses the issue of developmental and motivational factors. Also, killers are lumped together with no regard to their underlying motivation. The lecture will argue that there are differences in motivation, some being moved not so much by pure sexual lust but by the need for companionship, e.g. Jeffrey Dahmer.

The lecture will argue that a way to gain insight into sexual killing is to consider normal sexual motivation and how it can become distorted in the case of pathological killing. Using principles of incentive motivation, it will address the role of fantasy, fetishes and transformation of arousal into sexual arousal.

Biography :

Sarah El Guendi is a criminology researcher at the University of Liège whose work focuses on intrafamilial and sexual violence, gender, criminalized trajectories, and qualitative research methods. She is currently undertaking a postdoctoral fellowship at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) as part of the RÉ(SO) 16-35 program.