Murder is Girl Talk: Why the True Crime Audience Is Predominantly Female?

"Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime" 

- Aristotle

  

Many of us have childhood memories of sitting around in a circle, playing the charlie – charlie game, or daring someone to say “Blood Mary” thrice at midnight while looking at the mirror. These highly engaging mysteries were often discussed in groups for their shock value, and sometimes, even in exchange for popularity. The same games and stories may not necessarily seem impressive to us anymore, but the adrenaline rush and that hooking what-happens-next feeling they bring with them remains relevant. We may not be kids playing scary games today, but we surely are using technology to stream shows, movies, and podcasts based on true crime. Documentary series like Dahmer – Monster: Jeffrey Dahmer Story and The Tinder Swindler have gained immense popularity on OTT platforms, as have Spotify podcasts like The Desi Crime Podcast and Serial. But interestingly, it looks like it’s the women who can’t switch them off.

I must admit that I am a huge crime junkie myself, but the question is why? Why would a person watch something horrific happen to another person? Why are we obsessed with true crime, be it podcasts, books, or documentaries? In order to find the answer to these questions, I deep dove into multiple articles, and videos and scoured the internet and this is where those answers lie.

Morbid Curiosity and Mental Preparedness

More often than not, true crime stories spotlight details on the thought processes of criminals. Studies have found that even though women fear becoming victims of a crime, they’re interested in the genre because it helps them understand how a crime is perpetrated. How did the attacker lure in the victim? What triggered them? What techniques did the victim use to escape? While consuming this content, women subconsciously absorb information on coping with horrific situations, and tricks to recognize tell-tale signs which could cause lead to violence.

Research show that women fear crime more than men do despite women being less likely to become a victim of violent crime than men, often because of lower rates of participation in activities that would incite violence in the first place such as gang involvement.

Some researchers have called this the “fear of crime paradox” but female researchers point out that women’s fear of violent crime should be viewed from a gender-sensitive perspective that takes into account that women are generally more physically vulnerable than men.

 “In reality, women are often the victims or survivors of crime, rather than perpetrators. Perhaps we are drawn to this genre in search of a sense of justice.”

“As women living in a deeply patriarchal society, feeling unsafe and frightened is almost a constant state of mind, and perhaps, our deep desire to feel safe and protected by legal systems is sublimated when we watch stories where justice prevails. That sense of justice we feel at the end of a true crime film or series reflects our desire to be a part of social and legal systems that work tirelessly towards women’s safety and protection,” says Rhea Gandhi a Mumbai–based psychotherapist. 

 It can also directly impact women’s behaviors, and help them pick up survival techniques

Women have claimed that consuming true crime content led to a conscious change in behavior to ensure safety. For instance, double-checking door locks and carrying mace and pepper sprays is more common now than ever before. 

Women’s empathic nature

Based on research, women’s fascination with true crime is driven by their empathetic nature. In particular, women empathize with the victims in true crime stories who, more often than not, comprise other women. Female fans identify with and can easily imagine themselves in the role of the victim in frightening true crime tales.

On a more superficial level, true crime programming offers escapism and thrills to its female audience. In terms of pure entertainment value and its effect on the audience, how different is a Jeffrey Dahmer documentary from a fictional serial killer movie like “The Midnight Meat Train”? Probably not much and this is why they are called forms of “popcorn entertainment.” True crime content offers women, what violent video games and horror movies offer children—that is, adrenaline-pumping good fun!

Of course, Dahmer, unlike the serial killer in “The Midnight Meat Train,” murdered 17 real, innocent, young men in the most horrible fashion. The actions of Dahmer, including cannibalism, are almost incomprehensible to the average person and, therefore, cause confusion and tremendous fear.

Another aspect of the public’s fascination with true crime involves a burning desire and powerful need to understand why someone like Dahmer did such outrageous things to innocent people. Perhaps at a subconscious level, true crime fans believe that if they can somehow understand Dahmer’s motivations and desires, then he and people like him are not so terrifying after all.

The perpetrators in true crime stories, especially the most extreme examples like Dahmer, Bundy, and Gacy, also provide fans with an opportunity to look into a mirror and see their own sinister thoughts, fantasies, and desires.

True crime fans might say, “I hate my boss, I want to kill him,” but they don’t really do it. Bundy, Gacy, and company, on the other hand, actually do it! This begs true crime fans to consider what they might do themselves under extreme duress. True crime morality plays provide fans with this very compelling proposition and opportunity.

Conclusion

I hope you have found the answers to your questions in this blog. If you would also want to consume true crime content and join the crime junkies community these are my suggestions:

·       Podcasts – The Desi Crime Podcast & The Big Shots – Dosa King (Both of which are available on Spotify)

·       Cases – The Hello Kitty Murder Case, Junko Furuta Case, The Ken and Barbie Killers, The Toolbox Killers, Mr. Swirl Case, Kolkata House of Horrors & The Zodiac Killers (All of which are available on YouTube)

·       Documentaries – House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths & Ted Bundy: Falling of a Killer (Available on both Netflix and YouTube)

References

Vogue India, Psychology Today, Thought Catalog, A Little Bit Human, Goodreads, Spotify, YouTube & Netflix.