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By Root 537 0

Like many organized serial homicide offenders, Dexter’s methods are planned in advance. He identifies a targeted victim, collects information about the victim, prepares or transports his victim to an isolated and controlled crime scene, subdues his victim, and takes pains to avoid detection. He dresses in black, wears gloves, uses a chemical injection, and brings his own prepared kit of tools. His use of shrink wrap is extensive (highlighting his thorough nature) but practical. Other than the cut on the cheek and the killing blow, the mutilation of the bodies of his victims is also more about the business of disposal than it is about pleasure. With meticulous attention to detail, Dexter carefully works to improve his methods for avoiding detection with each kill. Practice makes perfect.

Dex, Sex, and Sadism

Dexter has the callous remove of a psychopath and the clean efficiency of an organized homicide offender. But how does the satisfaction of the kill come into play? To match the profile of a lethal predator, an offender must commit multiple acts of sexual violence. Lethal predators are sexual sadists who achieve emotional and/or physical arousal and release through inflicting pain and degradation on others. Surely this can’t be Dexter, right? He doesn’t even like sex. Well, not conventionally, at least. Dexter’s sexual impulses are connected to violence and satisfied through the act of killing.

Dexter doesn’t seem to have much use for sex, but he’s not completely uninterested or impotent. His sexual arousal pops up at unusual times, however, and hints of sadism appear in those rare moments when sex does come into the picture. Dexter’s first sexual moment with Rita came when he was talking about his admiration for the Ice Truck Killer’s methods. As he demonstrated the killer’s characteristic cuts and dismemberments, he got swept up and caressed Rita’s leg. When she recoiled, he was left wondering about the advance. Their first time having sex happened when Dexter rushed to her following a therapy session during which he uncovered suppressed memories of his mother’s brutal murder. Doakes suspected Dexter of getting a hard-on when demonstrating at a crime scene how Jeremy Downs slashed a major artery on his victim with every cut. And later, Lila discovered some of Dexter’s taste for aggressive sex.

While only hints of violent tendencies come to the surface in Dexter’s sex life, his killing ritual has numerous similarities with homicides committed by sexually sadistic killers. As opposed to other homicide offenders, sexually sadistic killers incorporate rigidly scripted rituals in their crimes. The emotionally charged thrill of the kill comes from completing these rituals (also known as a “signature”), which they will work to recreate and perfect over time. Dexter tells us that his “ritual is intoxicating” (“Dexter,” 1-1), and his kills are thoroughly infused with sexual symbolism and physical excitement even without any obvious sexual enactment on his victims.

“In analyzing sexual motivation,” Ochberg et al. wrote, “it should be noted that predators may find sexual gratification in activities that most people would find nonsexual, such as the infliction of pain, mutilation, or postmortem display of the body and collection of trophies.” Sexual sadism is about gaining satisfaction through the exertion of power or control over another. Restraint, humiliation, dominance, and intimidation are the weapons of a sexual sadist. Killers seeking political or ideological justice tend to gravitate toward impersonal methods such as bombs (for example, the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, or George “the Mad Bomber” Metesky, who took to bombing Con Edison and New York City after he lost his job in an industrial accident) or execution-style shootings. Dexter’s methods, however, are more up close and personal. If he were simply trying to bring justice to wrongdoers or clean up the streets, he is very capable of both subduing his victims and quickly dispatching them. But he doesn’t. After capturing his victims, Dexter strips