Why We Can’t Turn Away from True Crime
By Elisa Abraham, Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2021
From documentaries on Netflix to podcasts on Spotify, true crime is having its turn in the spotlight in our media consumption. This fascination leads to the question as to why we are unable to look away from gruesome murders, terrifying serial killers, and unusual disappearances.
True crime is a nonfiction genre in which the author examines an actual crime that involved real people. Like many other phenomena in the world, our obsession with true crime has been the subject of extensive research, and the findings are fascinating.
From documentaries on Netflix to podcasts on Spotify, true crime is having its turn in the spotlight in our media consumption.
Women are the more frequent producers and consumers of true crime media compared to men. One 2010 study by Amanda Vicary, a social psychologist and professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, found that around 70% of Amazon reviews of true crime novels are written by women. One popular true crime podcast, Wine and Crime, reported that of the half a million people each month download their podcast, 85% are female. This statistic has been the subject of further research for Vicary.
[Dr. John Mayer] says purposefully exposing oneself to violence can serve as a way to build up our tolerance to something scary and seemingly inevitable.
As part of the study, Vicary asked men and women to read synopses of fictionalized crime books. She found that more women than men enjoyed reading about the psychological content of true crime stories, and they were also more likely to read true crime books if the victim was female. She concluded that women generally enjoy reading about surviving and preventing crimes. Vicary’s conclusion is supported by many social sciences, such as Dr. John Mayer, a clinical psychologist who studies violence and media. He says purposefully exposing oneself to violence can serve as a way to build up our tolerance to something scary and seemingly inevitable. Others, on the other hand, say our obsession with true crime is due to women’s affinity for a thrill-seeking adrenaline rush, almost like riding a roller coaster.
Regardless of the reasoning behind our fascination with true crime, everyone — particularly women — can agree that it’s here to stay.
Sage (2010) DOI: 10.1177/1948550609355486
