How will these resources help you?

Typically, the Whitechapel murders are presented as a series of infamously lurid, unsolved crimes committed against women by a man (or men). The resources given here offer the basis of an alternative line of enquiry – whether, in fact, ‘the Ripper’ could have been a woman – and, in the process, pose the question of whether gender bias played a role in the Metropolitan Police’s failure to apprehend the culprit. For example, was vital evidence overlooked at the time just because the investigators didn’t think a woman was capable of such a crime? (You may also want to explore the more recent focus of interest on the victims and their circumstances, rather than giving the perpetrator centre stage.)