In the Glow of a UFO

mulder, in his mid-20s, started at the FBI working in the violent crimes division

where his profiling abilities, his way of being able to get into the mind of a killer, were revered

it's also where, in his words, he first saw monsters.

this show always deeply understood that the scariest monsters were not the vile creatures, they were violent men, and some of the most memorable villains on the show (john lee roche, luther boggs, john barnett) are resurfaced serial killers that mulder previously caught in his violent crimes days.

but mulder's background is in behavioral science, and he always wants to understand what makes someone how they are

and his positive worldview requires him to view every act of evil as the consequence of a larger cause, as not being senseless

which is why he wants to believe that men who are killing women are only doing so out of a biological imperative to survive

or out of a misguided attempt to SAVE them

meanwhile, scully is affected by the brutalization of women on an emotional level.

she hangs back at the crime scene and the police station to compose herself, while the men she's working with march up to a woman's desecrated corpse

she knows that even when mulder is right, even when the killer is acting out of a biological need for survival

that doesn't make it any better

because the impact on the women that he brutalized is more than physical, it's more than biological, it's more than any rational reasoning that he might have behind why he did it

she knows that it doesn't matter

and she doesn't need to try to understand. she doesn't need to know what the killer's reasoning is.

she already knows why men brutalize women