The Glamorisation of Evil
When Netflix released ‘Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes’, followed by ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’ starring Zac Efron, a disturbing trend emerged. Social media flooded with comments about Bundy’s attractiveness and charm, overshadowing the brutal reality of his crimes against women. This romanticisation of perpetrators isn’t new, but modern media has amplified it to unprecedented levels. Look at the American Horror Story series ‘1984’, which featured ‘The Night Stalker’ Richard Ramirez played by Zach Villa. TikTok feeds were flooded with fan edits sexualising the actor playing Richard Ramirez, leading to people actually finding Richard Ramirez attractive, despite his interest in Satanism and indescribable crimes.
The Commodification of Female Trauma
The commercialisation of violence against women in the media didn’t start with Netflix or podcasts. Jack the Ripper’s murders in 1888 marked perhaps the first mass-media sensation around female victimisation, creating a template that is common today.
When five women, Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly, were brutally murdered in London’s Whitechapel area, the press transformed their deaths into a form of entertainment. Sensational newspaper coverage turned their gruesome murders into public spectacle. Presently, there are countless films and TV shows about Jack the Ripper, museum displays, board games, true-crime videos on social media, and even tours and merchandise.
The victims’ identities and humanity become secondary to the mystery of their killer. Real women with real lives are reduced to plot points in an endlessly retold narrative, centred around the perpetrator.
The Empathy Gap
Regular exposure to violent narratives can create emotional distance. When viewers binge multiple episodes of true-crime shows, real victims risk becoming characters in a stream of entertainment. Morbid curiosity is an interest in information that typically inspires avoidance by virtue of being a possible threat to human life. Some examples of ‘morbid curiosity’ include the motivations of dangerous people, as well as violence, both of which are a key element in true-crime. This morbid curiosity may desensitise people as they forget that what they are watching is a mediation of real-life tragedies. The human cost of violence gets lost in the pursuit of the next shocking revelation or dramatic twist in the narrative.
What are the numbers?
True crime disproportionately features female victims, despite men also being likely to be victims of violent crime. This skewed representation creates a narrative that normalises violence against women as it is what is repeated constantly in the media.
Women are the ‘perfect victim’ as stereotypically, they are weaker than the male perpetrators. Mainstream media also has a bias of the type of victim and crime, which is usually a white, middle-class woman who has a ‘sensational’ case. This underrepresentation of marginalised communities and cases does not raise awareness about the violence that happens against them. There is emphasis on ‘stranger danger’ rather than domestic violence, creating false perceptions and myths about violence against women.
As consumers of true crime media, we must question how the stories are told and who is profiting off them. The genre’s popularity shows no signs of decline, making it important to understand its impact on how society views and responds to violence against women.