On 20 June 1893, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a packed courtroom waited with bated breath(屏息以待) for the jury to return its verdict(裁决，判决) following a gruelling(折磨人的，令人筋疲力尽的) double-murder trial. Against a backdrop of intense media interest, they had heard the prosecution argue that the accused had hacked to death their own parents with a hatchet, had burned their clothing to hide evidence of blood, and had done so out of hatred.(在媒体高度关注的背景下，他们已听取控方陈述：被告用短柄斧砍死了自己的父母，烧掉衣物以掩盖血迹，而这一切都出于仇恨。) The question the jury was asked to answer was simple – was Lizzie Andrew Borden guilty of murdering her father and stepmother? Jurors took just one hour to reach a decision: not guilty.
1893年6月20日，马萨诸塞州新贝德福德，一间挤满人的法庭屏息等待陪审团在一场漫长而折磨人的双重谋杀案审判后作出裁决。在媒体高度关注的背景下，他们已听取控方陈述：被告用短柄斧砍死了自己的父母，烧掉衣物以掩盖血迹，而这一切都出于仇恨。陪审团要回答的问题很简单——莉齐·安德鲁·博登是否谋杀了她的父亲和继母？陪审员仅用一小时便作出裁决：无罪。
Yet, almost as soon as the trial came to an end, the mythmaking(神话化，制造神话) around Borden began – from fevered speculation(狂热的猜测) about her motives and the infamous(臭名昭著的) nursery rhyme to the many film and TV retellings of the story. The latest incarnation(化身，版本), Netflix’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, opens with an axe-wielding(手持斧头的) Borden committing the murders, and frames the crimes around(将罪行置于……框架中) a fictionalised(虚构化的) queer romance between her and the family’s housemaid, Bridget Sullivan.
然而，审判刚一结束，围绕博登的神话化便开始了——从对她动机的狂热猜测、那首臭名昭著的童谣，到无数影视版本的翻拍。最新的化身是Netflix的《怪物：莉齐·博登的故事》，开场便是手持斧头的博登实施谋杀，并将罪行置于她与家中女佣布里奇特·沙利文之间一段虚构的同性恋情之中。
Why, after 130 years, are we still enthralled(着迷的，被迷住的) by the Borden murders? Part of the answer, I think, speaks to(说明，指向) a wider obsession with female killers (or alleged female killers in Borden’s case) and the way in which society ties itself in knots(把自己绕进死结，纠结不已) to try to explain, excuse or justify violent women. Statistically, globally and historically, homicide(凶杀，他杀) is a largely male crime – in terms of both perpetrator(施害者，行凶者)s and victims. Female killers are rare: they represented just 7% of convicted homicide suspects in England and Wales between 2019 and 2022. It is precisely this rarity that sees homicides with female perpetrators (or alleged perpetrators) disproportionately sensationalised, mythologised and forced into recognisable tropes – the femme fatale, the wrongfully accused, the passive victim or the monstrosity.(正是这种罕见，使得女性施害者（或被指控者）的凶杀案被不成比例地渲染、神话化，并被塞进人们熟知的套路——蛇蝎美人、被冤枉者、被动受害者或怪物。)
130年过去了，我们为何仍对博登谋杀案着迷？我认为，部分答案指向一种更广泛的执念——对女性杀手（在博登案中则是被指控的女性杀手）的执念，以及社会为了解释、开脱或合理化暴力女性而把自己绕进死结的方式。从统计、全球和历史角度看，凶杀在很大程度上是男性的犯罪——无论施害者还是受害者都是如此。女性杀手极为罕见：2019至2022年间，在英格兰和威尔士，她们仅占被定罪凶杀嫌疑人的7%。正是这种罕见，使得女性施害者（或被指控者）的凶杀案被不成比例地渲染、神话化，并被塞进人们熟知的套路——蛇蝎美人、被冤枉者、被动受害者或怪物。