There are many times I will pop in my earbuds and walk through the hallways on my way to the fifth period, my heart will be uncontrollably racing, and my palms sweating in disbelief. No, my perspiration is not from that incredible new album I have been anxiously awaiting the release of and finally hearing for the first time, it’s actually because Suzie’s murderer is about to enter her backyard, and she has absolutely no idea.

True Crime: Where women worldwide press the play button on a remote (or on their favorite podcast like myself) and tune into gruesome mysteries and intense investigations. 

The more I talked to other women, the more I realized: I. Am. Not. The. Only. One. From my own mother tuning into a random murder documentary on a Saturday night to the billions of listeners anxiously awaiting the new episode of Crime Junkie, this female crime-loving audience has been scientifically proven to favor, well, all things crime. 

Various girls in my own grade share this passion, tuning into episodes and often subscribing to multiple channels to never miss a story. But why certain girls found these gruesome events so captivating was for reasons beyond the simplicity of entertainment.  I knew there had to be a deeper meaning, a meaning to explain why 80% of My Favorite Murderer subscribers were women and why, at one point in Amazon history, 70% of true crime book reviews were written by women, too. 

Senior Tally Feingold, an avid fan of crime podcasts and shows, explained, “I guess it’s hard to pinpoint why exactly true crime is so captivating,” as she often listens to it for the straightforward reasons I mentioned before. But, she added, “If I had to try to explain it, there is something in me that wants to understand how people can do the horrible things they do.”

She then mentioned–on a much more serious note–another reason she loves passing time with crime, saying she “care(s) for the victims and think(s) that their stories deserve to be heard.”

This multifaceted reasoning behind loving true crime is actually much more common than you may think. Many women share these same ideas behind this fascination, and unfortunately, the reasons can be rather dark. As Feingold said, “protecting myself is really important, and true crime stories can help.” 

This idea of protection proves to be the main reason women tune into these documentaries and episodes, as almost every listener knows: female serial killers are far less common. 85% of serial killers are male, leaving 15% of serial killers to be female. In addition, female serial killers typically act in revenge towards a particular target, in comparison to males, who often are driven by “sexual lust,” targeting any female who captures their attention. (psychology today). 

English Instructional Director Kristen Carlson, an avid horror reader and watcher, enjoys spending her time indulging in scary stories as well, even though the horror genre is mostly dominated by fictional events. While true crime is not her cup of tea, she still enjoys the similar thrill of a Stephen King Novel or a scary horror podcast. She explained that while many of the horror shows she watches are disturbing, “a lot of them are strange comfort watches.” She appreciates horror, too, because she believes “Horror has a way of getting at serious issues in our society in a way that drama or comedy probably couldn’t.” “I just love it,” she says. 

While the odds of any female– or anyone in general– will encounter experiences like the ones I absorb walking through the halls (and the scary clowns Mrs. Carlson reads about), the reasons behind the highly-female audiences in this genre are not coincidental. The desire to feel protected often comes to extremes: listening to these terrible events opens up empathy, predictability, and protection, and women, whether consciously or not, benefit from this twisted sense of security.