Why are so many women interested in true crime?

[KnopkaPixie]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5BQCFMQd3mPqj7YT4hlvdCL/true-crime-five-reasons-why-women-love-it

Here's an article from the BBC giving five reasons why true crime as a genre is so popular amongst women.

On the face of it, I wouldn't have thought of it as a particularly female interest and certainly not a genre dominated by women either as readers and listeners or authors and content creators.

I like a bit of true crime myself and it's the whodunnit element that draws me in but I could get that and probably played out with a better script from crime fiction.

So, have Woman's Hour explained it properly or have they missed something? Do you like true crime? Probably to do with my age but the first case that drew me in was the disappearance of Madeleine McCann but it certainly didn't do me much good anxiety wise.

I wonder what it says about us and our society that so many of us are so intrigued by this? Is it healthy? Is it fear porn?

Back to the original question, just why is it so much more popular amongst women than men?

Probably because most women are killed by someone they know than a complete stranger, so there is an interest to read the signs that may be there early on. Survival mode is best when we learn from history.

I love true crime - always have. I suppose it has made me a bit more anxious about safety, but also it's made me careful, which I think is good.

It skews slightly female - 58% female to 42% male, as of a 2022 YouGov study.

The most accepted explanation of why is that women can better empathise with the victims. 70% of murder victims who know their killer are women, for example. We relate a lot more to the victims in the stories because we're morel likely to be the victims. Some people believe their stories should be heard, some feel better prepared for their own lives by listening and reading... but it all comes back to relating to them.

Probably adds to it that women tend to be the victims in popular culture; too.

I think part of it is that women are often the victims of such crimes from men. So the more you know, learn, it all squirrels away somewhere. I think its also that women like to understand/rationalise how and why these things happen.

No I don’t and I’m a bit surprised with results.

I watch lots of true crime, My interest started in my late teens with books like A Child called It. I still watch a lot (just finished the Menendez show on Netflix) but I have found it seems to affect me, especially if it involves a child. Years ago I watched The trials of Gabriel Fernandez also Netflix and I really regret watching it, I still think about him now.

Oh, that's interesting. Not quite such female dominated interest after all then.
I wonder if men get so deeply interested in it though? In my experience, they seem to reach a quicker conclusion about events and have less interest in the motives. Most cases can be summed by them after a thirty second reflection, an exhale of breath and a shrug by:

"Evil bastard."
"She's as guilty as sin. Sad to say but that job attracts a few psychos."
"Parents did it. By accident probably but still did it."

Or,

"Sex, drugs and rock and roll, chicken."

There we go. Sorted. Let's move along.

I watch and listen to lots of true crime but not anything involving children. Hearing a detail from a podcast about the Moors murders upsets me to this day and I wish I hadn't heard it.

The ones I find most fascinating are those with catastrophic failure of justice, wrongful conviction or incredible life stories. Jailbreak: Love on the Run on Netflix just now is absolutely brilliant.

DP shares my interest and we're always swapping recommendations or discussing podcasts etc.

I can't watch or read anything involving children anymore either. It feels voyeuristic or like abuse by proxy.

Which I think is getting me closer to the source of my unease with the topic.

Maybe because it is just more ‘realistic’ than most cop/ murder fiction? Actual motivations and actions, less bravado, senior police nearly always men who can solve complex cases by their amazing perspicacity and intellect when all around are struggling to work out the coffee machine, much less gory depiction of violence….and no completely irrelevant shagging.

The time scales of the painstaking collection of evidence, the endless following up of what prove to be mistaken or dead ends ( sorry for the pun) are much more interesting that the ‘solved it all in a few days’ fiction. Fascinating to see how investigations actually proceed.

The Sadie Hartley documentary was mind boggling, if anyone remembers that one.

I love true crime, I have to be in the mood for it though and I will sometimes avoid certain stories. For example the documentary mentioned above about Gabriel Hernandez I have never watched. But I also really enjoyed the Jailbreak one.

I'm not sure why I like it so much. Maybe because it's easy to watch, usually has a conclusion and you can then go and look up more information about the case online, Reddit discussions etc. I'm also intrigued by the motivation and behaviour of the people involved. Such as the Jailbreak one, I wonder what was she thinking? And how could she have ever thought it would end well.

Also the stories and people involved are often far more interesting than fiction. Take for example the Dan Markel case, and the in laws from hell.

My favourite true crime show is one called A Crime to Remember. It focuses on famous cases from the recent past and is fascinating. The production is such good quality and I was hooked on it. Definitely recommend!

I follow quite a bit of true crime. I think it comes from a place of a real passion for justice and also an empathy with people who aren’t valued and loved by their families like they should be. I got into it following a few cases related to children who had dysfunctional families very similar to mine. I have a passion for seeing justice served for them. There is something really validating in it.

I sometimes find it interesting to ponder over the family or interpersonal dynamics. It’s like trying to figure out at what point did it all go wrong, at what point did the angry guy shift from being an arsehole to a perpetrator, at what point did the people around them start to raise the alarm, who suspected what etc.
Maybe these are aspects that women find more interesting

I listen to some true crime podcasts. I think for me it comes from a place of wanting to know/understand risks so I can avoid them. (and for this reason I don’t have much interest in family/domestic crime as I don’t think of it as a risk for me). Which is probably silly as the risk of a random crime is very low.

Similar to other posters, I can’t listen to content about children though.

When I was studying psychology the tutor said there is something about us which likes being scared but also knowing we are in a safe space.
Hence why so many love horror films.
I watch a lot of true crime as I'm fascinated by the human psyche. I can't watch horror though as I don't like thinks that make me jump 😅

I used to be into true crime, and it was genuinely because I have an interest in abnormal psychology and just the abnormal side of life generally. I like stuff like urban legends, forteana, and that kind of stuff too.

Don't really have the stomach for most true crime stuff these days, and there's less of the really "interesting' serial killers around now, which is obviously a good thing!

Do still like mysterious disappearances etc., that's for the mystery aspect really.

Hybristiphilia.

Killers are never short of love letters in prison

I love true crime as does my daughter. I’m fascinated by the psychology behind the people who commit these crimes, how people can act in such an alien manner to most. Morbid I know! I’m kind of interested in psychology as a layman in general really, how people often neatly fit into personality groups. In hindsight, it’s something I wish I had studied. Maybe women are more interested in what makes people tick? Also my dad was a lawyer who specialised in criminal law. Although it was his normal job, he also loved reading true crime and we’d often discuss it.

I'm a wannabe detective that's why. I love hearing how they catch the killer. Especially those which have gone unsold for a long time.

Always have to remind myself these were real people which of course is very sad but makes me appreciate life

Being interested in true crime and falling in love with a murderer are not the same thing at all.

I guess it explains why majority of probation officers are female

I spend my whole day as the only female in the team and my evenings fantasising about how I could murder them and get away with it. how hard is it to throw away the empty boxes and switch on the fucking dishwasher, for the fucking love of fucking Christ!

True crime is purely educational for me.

What are you getting at there?

For me, it's not the crime itself, it's learning about the meticulous processes Investigators go through, forensic examinations, crime scene investigations, methodology etc and particularly those investigators that show great empathy with the victim and family, regardless of back ground, even years later.