“In all fauna, in every form of living being, the male is more aggressive because in nature it is he who hunts the food and undertakes the aggressive claim. The female has other roles. To make it tick. Either it is done in the herd or in the binary form that we have in Homo sapiens. It is the nature of the male to be aggressive; therefore, the concept of femicide has a biological basis,” Vartzopoulos stated, eliciting sharp criticism from various quarters.
His comments have been met with particular disapproval from the Initiative for a Diverse Movement for Mental Health, which highlighted the antiquated and potentially harmful implications of such a perspective. Drawing parallels to the outdated theories of Cesare Lombroso, the Initiative criticised the notion that criminal behaviours, including femicide, can be biologically predetermined and thus somewhat excusable on that basis.
Additionally, Vartzopoulos also touched upon youth violence, suggesting that early aggression should be redirected towards socially acceptable channels rather than suppressed entirely. “When we find such aggression in an early phase, we should put this aggression into social channels […] that is, don’t kill or attack to steal, to attack the enemy of the country, or attack the enemy of society,” he explained, proposing that early detection and intervention are key to managing antisocial behaviours effectively.
These remarks have reopened debates on biological determinism and the treatment of criminality, evoking the historical context of Lombroso’s criminology, which linked physical characteristics to criminal propensity—a theory long discredited for its lack of scientific basis and ethical implications.
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