I have been a long-time fan of horror movies, and once true crime content rose to fame, I found myself being a fan of it as well.
Throughout middle and high school, I enjoyed watching and rewatching horror movies and never thought about why. However, once I began watching multiple YouTubers who discussed true crime, I started to think deeply about why I enjoyed this type of content.
I realized, as someone with anxiety, that I enjoyed getting a thrill from these scary situations while being at a safe distance from anything harmful.
A survey on YouGov says that women (58%) are more likely than men (42%) to say they like true crime, and women are twice as likely to say true crime is their favorite genre.
An article in Psychology Today aims to explain why true crime is more prevalent among women and says it may be because women are more empathetic and are seeking to understand the monsters who commit heinous crimes.
The article also states that true crime entertainment offers escapism and thrills to its audience, which is why I believe this is a favorite genre of mine. While I see no issue with consuming true crime content, mainly because it raises awareness about the victims, many people take this enjoyment too far.
A trend I began to notice on TikTok involves true crime fans creating a “thirst trap” of a murderer. I have specifically seen these made about Richard Ramirez, Ted Bundy and Wade Wilson, though they have been made about many killers.
After seeing this content, I was disgusted that people would sexualize and romanticize people who have taken the lives of innocent individuals. I thought of how horrible it would feel to lose a loved one and then see people thirsting over their murderer.
While this isn’t the most damaging impact of consuming true crime, as some people become obsessed with knowing what it’s like and become killers themselves, this is a consequence that there isn’t a lot of focus on.
One study on the romanticizing of serial killers discusses these TikTok edits and says that “These idealizations enable behavior that minimizes victims as just an aspect of a tragic story, rather than actual people.”
A big reason people will “crush” on murderers is that they are consuming entertainment rather than fully processing the events that occurred to someone’s child, friend or loved one.
By being empathetic to the killer, one is failing to take in the aspects of the victims, including the person who died and all of the people their death impacted.
The same study describes an aspect of true crime media that damages viewers and victims.
“A recurring issue with the depiction of serial killers within the true crime genre is the casting of conventionally attractive actors or those with large fan bases,” it says.
Prime examples of this include Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer, Zac Efron as Ted Bundy and Ross Lynch as Jeffrey Dahmer.
The study says, “But casting these actors perpetuates the idea that serial killers deserve to be glorified on-screen, and puts more emphasis on their sex appeal over the threat they pose to society.”
I think it is disgusting to sexualize and romanticize the people we need to condemn most: murderers. People like Ted Bundy, who used their attractiveness and charisma to take the lives of numerous people, and Jeffrey Dahmer, who preyed on a marginalized group of people, gay minorities, and tortured them before ending their lives.
These are not the kind of people we should say anything positive about. Many of them suffered from horrible childhoods, and it’s okay to feel bad that they did; however, lots of people suffer from a terrible childhood without taking the lives of others. It’s one thing to find these people attractive, but that shouldn’t affect how you view them; even attractive people can be monsters.
We need to stop romanticizing killers and start advocating for victims, and not using their stories in dramatic tellings only to empathize more with the killer.
Kate Beske is a 21-year-old journalism major from Destrehan, LA.
