Why Women Love True Crime

True crime shows and podcasts deal with gruesome and traumatic murders in which women are overwhelmingly the victims -- so why is the audience for these shows also overwhelmingly female? Shows like Making A Murderer and I'll Be Gone In The Dark, and podcasts like My Favorite Murder and Serial are all created by women, for women. This media provides women with a feeling that they’re being educated on how to escape a killer, while connecting with communities of like-minded women who can support and care for each other.

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[TotallySquirrel]

Part morbid curiosity, part wanting to educate myself, but also in the cases where justice is served, vicariously finding some satisfaction in it because I will never see justice served to my own abusers.

[KaylaNoelle]

When I was attacked at age 14 I remembered all the true-crime I had watched and I thought to myself "stay calm, don't let him feed off your fear because that's what he wants. He's grabbed you with your right hand pinned to his chest so use his awkward hold on you to your advantage. Wriggle so he thinks you are trying to free your left side and then inch your right hand up and injure the most vulnerable area you can reach." TW I got a finger hooked into his eye and pulled, he let go and I ran. I don't know if I'd be alive if I didn't have that "keep calm" mindset I learned from true crime. Thinking of a strategy even in a moment with so much fear and shock makes all the difference in giving you hope and possibly getting you out. I knew he was excited by my fear so I kept it from him

[kathleenfahey]

personally its part morbid curiosity, part wanting education to stay safe

[cravidana]

Women love true crime story because for them, it's teaching. They take notes, they imagine situations, they learn what to do, what not to do, how to act, how to be nice, how to try to placate them, how to not be 'a bitch', how to survive. For women, it's an instruction manual.

[Turbo_Waitress]

You all nailed it! For me, two other thoughts also come to mind:
1) in Stephen King’s Danse Macabre, he talked about why people liked horror, and he mentioned it was like being able to basically control the fear. Like turning on a faucet. You can turn it off if it gets too frightening, but you can still approach this thing that might scare you from a distance and safely get away from it as needed. And I think that factors in with true crime as well.
2) I once read an article about why some abuse victims chose to watch SVU and they said it was the catharsis of seeing the onscreen victims have someone actually listen to their stories and get justice. I know L&OSVU is fiction (and certainly has its own issues), but I suspect that feeling applies in true crime as well.

[shanansantiago]

Honestly, I started True Crime to make sure I don’t fall in the same traps. It’s so dangerous these days. It’s crazy to see how many of these red flags I’ve encountered in real life.

[iamV]

I watch true crime for the second one. It's both terrifying and comforting to consume it because you're afraid it could be you one day, but at the same time you feel you're training yourself on how to not become a victim.

[austinwilkerson]

As a man, I always wondered if women watch true-crime for the same reasons that men, by and large, watch war films-- to put themselves in the situations depicted and wonder how they would act, what decisions they would make, and, at the end of the day, silently hope they never have to find out. This video was very illuminating for me! Thanks.

[HexleysCauldron]

In a way, it confirms that the things women fear happening to them isn't baseless. Much like how crimes committed against women and femmes aren't taken seriously. A lot of times, women and femmes are told that our fears are just us being dramatic but then listening to true crime stories, we here reassured that our fear is not coming from nowhere and if the people around us aren't gonna teach us what to do just in case or how to prevent such a thing, then true crime is gonna tell us by telling us how while also telling the story of a victim and gaining empathy. A lot of true crime made by women tell the truth while the ones made by men tend to lie and dramatize it. Think of how Ted Bundy and other serial killers were always portrayed as being cold, calculating when in reality it was the negligence of the police that let these killers get away from justice. No matter the jurisdiction, they never took many of these cases seriously.

[bicho]

Not a fan of the genre, but I'm glad these changes are no longer depicting the killers as coldblooded masterminds but more as shitty people who have privileged from a corrupt and mysoginistic justice system and our society's warped values.

[samf.s.]

"The institutions that are supposed to protect women fail them", this right here, is THE MAIN REASON GP's case is so important. It's literally videotaped how the officers failed her. They didn't THINK that she is a victim of chronic emotional and perhaps physical abuse and that the broken mess that she was is what a victim looks like.
The more well-composed and "charming" Brian Laundrie IS the one with ASPD.
Why is the societal system so rigged to make it look like the perpetrator is the one to be trusted? And that women should "shut up" to be heard, can't they see the irony in what they're suggesting?

[aiardelean]

I would mention the second best selling author of all times (after Shakespeare ) and the best selling crime/mystery writer, Agatha Christie, because yes, we learn a lot about how to protect ourselves and is a big part of why we love true crime, but I also think many women enjoy a good mystery, and some can be very skilled at putting clues together.
Hope to see more women detectives after this new wave of true crime.

[wendymccoy]

For me it's the psychology of it. I think it's interesting to see what drives a person to do these things. I've always loved history and have learned how to protect myself on top of that.

[blythebluebird]

The heart wrenching movie Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey did an excellent job in portraying the victim’s perspective rather than focusing on the killer. It’s very underrated.

[cynthiaolson]

A woman from MN researched on her own and found the killer of Jacob Wetterling, solving a decades long open case of a missing boy and bringing justice and closure for his family. Her work was remarkable.

[MsGore]

I agree with most commenters: it’s party morbid curiosity, mystery, and self education. Also for me it’s like desensitization. Part of the training/learning is behavioral patterns and other signs we should detect, but also hoping that we could act in an effective way if we get in trouble.

[VioletPhoenix]

I think the education aspect is also partly because one of the most universal experiences for women is meeting a guy we think is nice/innocuous/harmless and having him turn out to be creepy/predatory/abusive/dangerous, whether over the course of a short encounter or a longer relationship. That experience inevitably leaves us wondering what subtle signs or cues we missed that could have helped us avoid that situation or relationship in the first place, and these kinds of shows or stories help us feel like we might do a better job of spotting that potentially dangerous guy earlier next time.

[louisadayton]

For me, another reason for watching true crime or reading stories from survivors of violence or sexual assault is the belief that all survivors deserve to have their stories heard. Even if it's hard to hear, I want to be one of the people listening.

[FlyToTheRain]

the point toward the end about men both being traumatized by military violence and actively consuming it in movies/video games was something i had never thought of before (probably because i'm not a man), so yes, why wouldn't women also actively consume and claim ownership of a potential trauma of their own?

[Jerseybornunicorn]

Imagine being 7 years old and telling your grandma that you just HAVE to be home by 9 to watch America’s Most Wanted 😂 That’s how it started