Doctors reveal how a lack of sex can turn men into killers
Psychiatrists say that sexual frustration can leave someone with feelings of anger and frustration, which can build up over time and prompt a major act - such as a shooting - as a 'release' for the emotions.
Doctors have raised the prospect that sexual frustration may have played a role in the healthcare CEO's assassination — as speculation swirls about the alleged killer's motive.
Luigi Mangione, 26, is said to have been unable to have sex because of a debilitating lower back injury that caused him constant pain, according to a friend and former roommate who he lived with while at a surf camp in Hawaii.
His friends say the lower back pain also caused Mangione to retreat away from his friends and family and quit sports, surfing and hiking.
Psychiatrists say that sexual frustration can leave someone with feelings of anger and frustration over being unable to find a partner, which they blame society for. Violent attacks may be carried out as an emotional 'release'.
Dr Raj Persaud, a psychiatrist in Britain, told DailyMail.com: 'It definitely is the case that there is a link between sexual frustration and attacks.
'We've seen some famous examples in history. Sex is really such a powerful drive that it is difficult to break out of the vision, unlike with others such as a desire for money.
Trump's first would-be assassin Matthew Cooks appeared to have been sexually frustrated, watching porn before trying to kill the then-presidential candidate.
And experts have also previously drawn a link between sexual frustration and mass shooters and murderers, adding that Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook elementary school shooter, had child abuse images on his phone.
Elliot Rodger — who killed six people and injured 14 in California in 2014 — is thought to have gone on his shooting spree out of hatred toward women who rejected him.
A 2023 study on 178 mass shootings in the US, from 1966 to 2021, found that about a third of the shooters had sexual frustrations.
They were also six times more likely to have a history of sexual offending, and were also more likely to have a strong desire for fame.
These individuals exhibited various indicators of sexual frustration, such as explicit complaints, stalking, harassment, engagement in illegal sexual behaviors, and interest in minors or violent fetishes.
Sexually frustrated mass shooters were more likely to be young, male, unmarried, childless, unemployed, and misogynistic compared to other mass shooters. They exhibited behaviors associated with relief-seeking, power-seeking, revenge-seeking, and displaced frustration.
Dr Adam Lankford, a criminology expert at the University of Alabama who led the research, said: 'We were surprised to discover that sexually frustrated perpetrators committed so many of the deadliest mass shootings in US history.'
He added: 'When profound sexual frustration is combined with access to firearms, psychological issues, lack of empathy for others, and toxic masculinity, the risks of mass violence may be particularly high.'
