Why Karla Homolka is so...intriguing:

To most of us, she is an enigma; her behaviour goes way beyond any feeble explanations of female victimization or psychiatric disturbance, and takes us far into the dark regions of evil. For some reason, evil of this magnitude stimulates our prurient curiosity like nothing else. Why else would Karla and Paul have become the Bonnie and Clyde, the folk heroes, of modern sexual sadism?

Recently, a psychologist confessed to me that his idea of a dream date would be to share an evening and a bottle of wine with her. At first I was shocked; then I began to wonder how many men might harbour fantasies of being seduced by her. Why not? Karla is a very attractive woman. Perhaps it is her movie star looks or the healthy girl-next-door image that rouses men’s fantasies. Maybe it is her magical ability to mix the roles of servant and partner as she did with Paul. For, as she testified, she would do anything for him, including calling him “King” and telling him he deserved to take the virginity of young girls. And, after seeking out their sexual prey, she would join with him, as queen and lover, in exacting their profane pleasure. To men, she may well be the epitome of a woman who will satisfy their every, unfettered fantasy.

But, I’ll admit that as a woman, Karla fascinates me too. I see her as a co-conspirator, if not the mastermind, of diabolical deeds. This intrigues me as, I suspect, it does many women. Karla is not a susceptible waif; she does not wear the drab mantle of a submissive victim. As journalist Margaret Wente noted at Bernardo’s 1995 trial, Karla is “poised, self-assured, stylish and attractive.” Not a pawn but rather a queen, she exerts her cool control, appearing to dominate not only Paul but potentially all men.

However repulsed by her that I and other women may be, I think there is a part of us that envies the remarkable erotic power that she exudes. Pictures of her evoke a perverse, unconscious and persistent admiration. In her virginal white wedding gown and in her slinky black dress, she stands as the perfect blend of good and evil, the archetypal Madonna and whore.

---from Homicide blond by Dr. Tana Dineen, emphasis mine