Women and the True Crime Phenomenon
By Kailee Parsons
For as long as I can remember, my mom has proclaimed her dislike of horror movies, but has routinely planned evenings around true crime specials of 20/20 and new episodes of 48 Hours. After more than forty years, she claims The Shining still gives her nightmares, but she seems perfectly comfortable curling up on the couch, dressing gown on, warm drink in hand, and listening as one host or another delivers the disturbing details of a murder that really happened.
For the past year or so, women on TikTok and Instagram have been poking fun at themselves for this reason. They’re unable to sit through a horror movie, yet reveal they find true crime podcasts and documentaries enjoyable and even relaxing, consuming them as they snack, apply nail polish and sheet masks, or settle into bed. The apparent discrepancy confused me - until the spring of 2020, when I was repeatedly asked whether I listened to My Favorite Murder. I had not, but with lockdown in full swing and nothing to do, I figured it was as good a time as any.
Perhaps it was the relaxed, conversational tone of the hosts or the delivery of much needed comic relief, but something clicked, and I finally understood the popularity of true crime. Listening felt like trading urban myths and ghost stories with childhood friends, playing armchair detective, and acknowledging fears I didn’t know I had all at once. I spent the rest of the year working my way through older episodes before moving on to similar podcasts. I was careful to filter out those that were less respectful or failed to use their platform for good. Today, true crime makes up about half of my podcast library.
I recognized a distinct pattern here, and data reflects it. For example, data collected by Brandwatch reveals the Twitter accounts of several popular true crime podcasts are followed by more women than men, and in for certain podcasts, the difference is extreme (Joyce, 2018). As of 2018, the Twitter followers of My Favorite Murder were 80% female.
While Twitter followers do not directly reflect a podcast’s listenership, another study conducted in the same year found the listener demographics were similar: 75% of true crime podcast listeners are women (Fouriezos and Colin, 2019).
Women’s interest in true crime extends beyond podcasts. A 2010 study reported women were more likely than men to choose true crime books over other books featuring violence and murder, such as those about war or gang violence, even when told all three books featured two female main characters who were killed (Vicary and Fraley, 2010).
While the true crime genre has experienced a recent surge in popularity, with interest in true crime podcasts increasing by 16% in female listeners in 2019 alone, according to data collected by Spotfiy, this isn’t a new phenomenon (Vicary and Spotify, 2020). Cultural interest in true crime dates back at least to the Victorian era. Increases in literacy, the abolition of so-called ‘taxes on knowledge’ (which included taxes on newspaper advertising, paper, and stamps), and the expansion of the railway meant more people were reading newspapers than ever before. Sensational stories of violence and murder sold papers, as well as more affordable murder broadsides, which offered brief descriptions of recent crimes, accompanied by a woodcut illustration of the murder or execution of the killer.
Interest in true crime was taken much further than it is today. More extreme activities included traveling to Newgate prison to witness public executions, touring crime scenes, attending victims’ funerals, and collecting morbid mementos, such as artistic renderings of well-known cases.
And while these activities were often undertaken by the whole family, satire magazines such as Punch and Funny Folks singled out female fans. Below, an illustration from an 1877 edition of Funny Folks depicts a group of ‘fashionable’ women, dressed as though for the opera, attending a trial at the Old Bailey Dock in Newgate. The caption states more accommodation is needed to account for the growing craze.
An illustration from Funny Folks, (1877)
So why are women so interested in true crime?
There are several possible explanations. The first is that women feel they might learn from the experiences of other victims. In order to understand if there is an educational factor to women’s love of true crime, the aforementioned 2010 study asked participants to choose between two books, including one containing details of how a female victim escaped and one that did not (Vicary and Fraley, 2010). The study found female participants were more likely to choose the book containing details of the escape, while male participants were more evenly split between the two. Thus, women may draw comfort from true crime because it makes them feel more prepared.
Of course, not all true crime narratives are survivor stories. An additional theory is women may be drawn to true crime to feel their fears are justified and, in the case of programmes hosted by women, to know they are not alone in experiencing these fears. By confronting crime-related fears head on, as well as understanding their realities, female true crime fans may feel as though they gain control over their anxieties. Another popular theory is because women display higher levels of empathy than men overall, they are more likely to become emotionally invested in what happens to the victim, as well as interested in the criminal mind.
A desire for justice, particularly for female victims, may explain women’s ‘obsession’ with true crime. Some speculate true crime provides an outlet for female rage–a safe space to express anger toward the fear and injustices, large and small, women face every day.
Whatever the reason, it is clear women’s interest in true crime is not a coincidence–and it’s nothing new, either.
Sources:
A.M. Vicary and R.C. Fraley, ‘Captured by True Crime: Why Are Women Drawn to Tales of Rape, Murder, and Serial Killers?’, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1 (2010): 81–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550609355486
Gemma Joyce, ‘Podcast Audiences: Why Are Women Such Big Fans of True Crime Podcasts?’, Brandwatch, June 28, 2018. https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/react-podcast-audiences/
Nick Fouriezos and Ned Colin, ‘Why True Crime is Podcast Crack - For Women’, Ozy, June 3, 2019. https://www.ozy.com/good-sht/why-true-crime-is-podcast-crack-for-women/94331/
‘Social Psychologist Amanda Vicary and Spotify Reveal Why Women Are So Obsessed with True Crime—And Share 4 New Podcasts Coming in 2020’, Spotify, January 29, 2020. https://www.newsroom.spotify.com/2020-01-29/social-psychologist-amanda-vicary-and-spotify-reveal-why-women-are-so-obsessed-with-true-crime-and-share-4-new-podcasts-coming-in-2020/
‘The Old Bailey – The Ladies Box’, Funny Folks, 150 (October 13, 1877): 116.
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