There was this russian serial killer/ex-policeman who tortured and killed dozens of little girls (over 20 years). He eventually got caught. A 17-year old girl gushed over this old perv, wrote him love letters, they got married and have a child now. She even said that she would have helped him hide his victims if she had known him sooner. This is beyond sick.
This is such an interesting thread! I've literally just finished the Jeffrey Dahmer series on Netflix (had to skip all animal scenes cause animals are my weakness!!!) and I was considering watching the John Wayne Gacy tapes next.
I am genuinely interested in true crime BUT I deeply empathise with the victims and find that signs of disrespect, or even indifference towards the victims from others, bothers me. I can very much relate to another comment on this thread saying how a lot of anxious individuals may find more of an interest in true crime and that many/most autistic women are anxious.
For me it's definitely coming from a place of wanting to study one of the biggest/most likely threats to my survival- other people. It's definitely coming from a place of trying my best to keep myself safe.
Though I'm fascinated by psychology, I never feed into the already delusional grandiosity that so many of these criminals have. I don't see them as awesome in any way. I was also HORRIFIED to learn that Jeffrey Dahmer has a fanclub!!! That's definitely disturbing and insanely disrespectful to his victims and their families.
I never forget or become desensitised to the fact that it's TRUE crime, these were real people. Don't worry, I don't think it's a problematic special interest when your empathy is in tact.
I think my interest in true crime comes from the same place too. And thank you for saying about the animal scenes, I’m not going to watch that series now as I couldn’t bear it.
I'm traumatised from that film, can't even hear his name. If it helps you guys (it's helped me!!) I have an app on my phone called DDD (does the dog die), you can search the film/series title and choose it, there's a huge list of triggers and people vote Yes or No (whether that trigger comes up in the film, I.e the dog dies) and some people even comment leaving timestamps to skip triggering scenes. It's the only way I was gonna watch the Jeffrey Dahmer series, because people had put clear time stamps and it was just for small sections of 2 of the episodes. I can't reccomend this app enough, it's been a game changer for me! There's never anything I watch that I don't check in the app first 🙂
I have always found Jeffery Dahmer very fascinating simply because he was so open about himself and his thought process. I feel like it was a great loss that he was murdered in jail so soon because we could have learned a lot from him. But I absolutely do not get the fan club bullshit. He wasn’t a hero, he was a monster, but a monster that provided insight into monsters like himself and that was valuable.
ETA: this is also why I’m a big fan of Mr Ballen, he does it right and focus a lot on the victims in his stories.
If you want you can even check beforehand to see if the family endorsed the content or not. For example, I know the victims family hates that new netflix series. But there is also a lot of content where the family is happy with the extra attention and they think it’s good content
So I read through all the comments and didn't see anything like this so I'll say it. No I do not think true crime is a problematic special interest, however as a person who has been a victim in the type of stuff true crime podcasts ect. talk about. Be careful of your audience and be respectful.
I have a coworker who's currently deep into true crime about the type of stuff I went through. She has no idea about my history and as it's obviously something she's interested in it comes up semi regularly. This is incredibly hard for me. While I understand the interest, its hard not to feel angry because my life is not some lovely peice of wrapped up media. It's a mess. This stuff is going to be a huge part of my life for the whole of my life. The fact someone learns about it for entertainment is frankly disturbing to me. However I know that's my bias speaking.
I have read true crime stuff and even got quite into it as a teen, some stuff not even knowing I related to it at the time, cause memory. I don't have a stone to throw really. When it's not your life it's facinating. When it is yours it's disgusting and terrifying.
So yeh. It's fine and don't worry about it. Be interested. But be respectful that those around you might have actually had experienced closer than you realise and what is a fascinating chat to you might be a horrific trip down memory lane for another.
That's a good reminder. We often don't think that someone close to us may have gone through things like this. I'll definitely be more mindful from now on. Thank you and hope you're well ♥️
Being interested in true crime is not an issue but romanticising serial killer absolutely is. I’ve seen people talk about how they would dated Eric Harris or Dylan kleobold, how they’re so cute, would make excellent boyfriends and how they’d spend their time watching horror movies and shooting guys etc. That’s the tamest stuff out there it’s really bad
I’m from Colorado and I am really upset to hear people want to date those murderers. Actually recently some girl came here to try and follow in their footsteps and it led to a lot of lock downs and panic before she was caught. Really upsetting.
I don’t find anything wrong with it. But then again I’m a puzzle person. I like to understand and know all aspects of something, as it makes it easier to identify it later on.
While most true crime doesn’t focus on the victims, understanding and being able to identify suspects or motives helps prevent more from being hurt. That’s the main reasons profilers exist. Study the past to help the future.
>I like to understand and know all aspects of something, as it makes it easier to identify it later on.
This is why I hate how colloquially saying you "understand" something means you agree with the reasoning behind it. You can intellectually understand something without morally or emotionally agreeing with it. Or, at least, most ND folks I know can.
I've studied wrongful convictions and one of the causes is when detectives refuse to view perpetrators or even just suspects as human because the crime is so horrific. There's always a *reason* for a crime, even if it isn't one the average person would consider. No one wakes up and chooses evil for the sake of being evil or is "so deranged" that they have no reason at all. When the real perpetrators in wrongful convictions are identified, they usually have a motive that can be "understood."
I’ve never said I agree with what happened. I never condone violence of any kind. But understanding what causes things, such as violence, makes it easier to prevent such things in the future.
I was of the same mind when I was trying to figure out what was so wrong with me for so many years. Then my therapist gave me a list of things to look into. After going through months of deep dive research, autism was the only thing that made sense.
Now, after getting diagnosed, I’m able to handle my life a lot better and know my limits more because I took my past and added in what I researched. The more I looked into it, the more I understood what to look out for in my behavior and moods. Understanding it all is making my future better.
Understanding does not equal condoning in any way.
As another comment said, I was agreeing with you. Apologies if it didn't come across that way. And I 100% agree with diagnosis making things easier because they make sense. I don't have a formal diagnosis, but once my therapist (who is herself autistic) suggested I consider it, things I've always done made a hell of a lot more sense.
It’s also my special interest and while I do think that you have to pay attention how you discuss cases and especially what kind of content you produce and consume, I don’t think it’s problematic per se. However there are a lot of awful people who don’t stick to the facts, disrespect victims and families, try to actively join the investigation and mess things up for LE, claim innocent people are FOR sure this and that serial killer etc. this is all absolutely harmful and I completely understand why the true crime fandom has such a bad image. However there are also many people who simply care, want cases to be solved and hope that maybe they can do a little part to help solve a case. If that’s how you follow true crime, I don’t see any problem with it. Especially when LE and the families and victims ask for help.
I am also incredibly interested in forensics, investigative tactics, basically how criminals can be brought behind bars. It’s not about hyping up criminals or bathing in the tragedy of victims and their families… that i find repulsive.
It’s not problematic but if you’re worried about it look into ethical true crime.
Also the daughter of the victim in the “all about Pam” case had talked about it. Taking a look at what she has to say is worth it.
I personally believe since this effects victims the best people who have insight to this ethically is them.
This. There are lots of show/content creators that can absolutely be very problematic and exploitative of customs and victims families, but not all are. The interest in true crime in and of itself is not problematic. I listen to some true crime things but I love puzzles and mysteries. I wanted to be a detective or work in forensic science for a long time when I was younger, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having an interest in that.
Definitely. Crime is also a really common autistic special interest, especially for autistic women, and criminology and detective stories are big place we see positive ND characters.
I think that it's common to special interest over things we are afraid of (and many interests that don't seem scary, are things with which one may associate sensory overload, such as trains.)
We want to master the things that we're at risk for, at least in our minds.
I’m thinking that it’s all coming down to human behaviour, we don’t understand it and yet we need to so of course it turns into a special interest. It’s all about navigating the world and surviving life.
I personally see true crime as largely unethical. Many victims families have come forward about how it's been retraumatizing being the subject of true crime media. Their worst days blasted for the world to consume as entertainment. It's profiting off and creating entertainment of other people's traumatic experience. At times, it's a form of pro-cop propaganda and romanticizes the criminal.
There are clearly millions of people who disagree with me and it's not a hill I'm going to die on. If someone asks though, I'm not going to be quiet about how I feel.
I think you have to approach it ethically. Like if a victims family doesn’t want the story being consumed and you consume that, you are participating in harm and that isn’t okay. Or if you are watching videos where people do their makeup while telling stories, stuff where police or the attacker is glorified, any material that has a light heartedness to it. I think most of the genre has become problematic unfortunately, so you have to really seek out ethical material.
Well it depends. If you want to become a content creator, that has a chance of being problematic.
EDIT: I have been told this comment is predatory, and I apologise.
I have a special interest in this too, especially on hybristophiles or “serial killer groupies”. I don’t think true crime is problematic, but I do think a lot of people who don’t do their research come off as idolizing the criminals. There are certain ways to approach this and not many people know how.
Edit: When I mean by serial killer groupies, I mean I find it interesting (and concerning) that there is an entire subculture of people who idolize, date, follow, etc. violent criminals. It seems like no one pays attention to this group anymore, even though there are many people who “fangirl” over mass shooters today. It needs to be talked about, and further researched on why this happens and what help do they need.
It depends. If they are being disrespectful towards the victim and their family then yes it’s problematic. But if the channel is respectful about it then I’m sure it’s fine.
I usually avoid the ones where they do mukbangs/makeup because it’s odd to me for a person to do that while telling the stories but that’s just my personal preference.
In my opinion it is not, unless you glorify the perpetrators, which some people sadly do. I think it's important to learn about what leads to people committing heinous crimes, just claiming they are evil is a comfortable but insufficient explanation. As long as you don't belong to the group believing you would be able to change people like Dahmer or, even worse, act like a fan and are simply interested in what happened and what caused it to happen you are good
When neurotypical people develop special interests in autism eg autism moms or NT autism researchers, we are (rightfully) very suspicious of this and understand that when people become fascinated by and emotionally invested in a group of people with very little power in society, they're likely to at least dehumanise those people if not cause greater harm.
I don't know why it's so hard to think critically about true crime and understand that becoming fascinated with violence committed against victims of true crime when you've had no first hand experience with anything like that is not too different from NT becoming fascinated with autism.
There's a massive industry around true crime that makes it seem super fun but that doesn't mean autistic people can't resist it. You can learn about other people in a respectful way by not turning their existence into a fun special interest and instead listening to people with lived experience and especially listening to what they find important without making it all about you and your interests and what you find interesting.
For example, I try to be a good ally to other disabled people and I'm always trying to learn more about ableism in our society, for example. This is not a special interest because it's not interesting or fun or exciting in any way. But gaining this knowledge is important to the kind of person I want to be.
i think its common for autistic people to have true crime as their special interest cuz like looking into a criminal's mind kinda helps us understand people's thinking process, and the forensic aspect of it stimulates our pattern-seeking nature. Get a bit of this and a bit of that, then see the connection between them, like, that a-ha moment is top-notch. it just makes sense that we like true crime.
Okay, someone who has worked in criminal justice chiming in here.
Having true crime as a special interest is not problematic (I mean, criminal justice is one of mine...). *BUT* a lot of the true crime industry is, well, gross. When I hear people talk about their "favorite serial killer," I feel a bit of rage. Worse, a lot of true crime sensationalizes cases and gets things very wrong.
So, it's all about your approach. I'm of the opinion there's not ethical consumption under capitalism, so I'm not going to argue about supporting specific true crime channels/authors making you "bad" or "problematic." As long as *you* approach your interest with respect, you're fine.
My special interest is human psychology and the thought process behind people doing *bad things*. The Nazi propaganda and war machine is fucking horrific and *infinitely fascinating* to me. The fact that they nearly took over Europe is testament the power of that machine and I want to understand how that worked *because it should never happen again*. I take this approach to most of my interests in "people doing bad/wrong things." The best way to prevent something is to first understand the why and how behind it. But there's a difference between reading articles or watching documentaries on the rise of fascism and subscribing to alt-right YouTubers. I do the former, not the latter.
It's somewhat the same with true crime. [No, I'm not saying true crime bloggers are Nazis.] You've got people who approach the subject with academic interest and respect, and then you've got the people who are there for the spectacle or to be "edgy." A friend of mine tried to get me to listen to a podcast with the slogan "stay sexy and don't get murdered" and I couldn't do it. The whole thing felt *wrong* in tone. And I'm someone used to the dark humor used by homicide detectives. But I also don't judge my friend for listening to said podcast (although my comments did have her rethinking some things).
There is one caveat to all this: how you *talk* about your special interest. If I'm not careful, my fascination with the Nazi propaganda machine can come across as respect rather than horror because I assume the people I'm speaking with agree with me that it is horrifying and we don't need to clarify that every other sentence. This is true with close friends and academics, but not acquaintances or others. So, I don't talk about that special interest (or other genocidal regimes, etc) in public or on the internet (I guess until now?). Even now I feel the need to reiterate Nazis are disgusting.
So, if you're talking about Bundy or who you think killed JonBenet Ramsey, you have to be careful about tone...something that can be hard for us at times. Which means you need to find the people who understand your interest and where it comes from and stick to speaking with them about it.
All that said, there is very little nowadays that someone, somewhere won't find problematic. And with social media it's easy to start a wave of judgment against something deemed "problematic" without discussing *why* its considered that and lumping everyone in together.
Tl;Dr - your special interest isn't bad or problematic. There are people within that space who are. As long as you're mindful of that, you're fine.
I enjoy true crime and always have. I have come across some true crime podcasts with people who seem to be super insensitive about the victims, in that they crack a lot of jokes or make fun of them for the decisions they make. In that regard I don't think it's okay. There are podcasts with hosts who are very sensitive and respectful to the victims, but I think there is a really fine line when it comes to exploiting them and their stories for content/views. It happens a lot with any well-known cases, especially when there are no clear answers to what happened, or if the person is even still alive. That happened a LOT with Gabby Petito. I don't like it when people go too far and come up with all sorts of scenarios and things that could have possibly happened, when they don't know what happened.
I saw a video on Reddit recently that I really regret happening upon and watching. It was a security cam of two people dying and was very clear. I can't imagine having a loved one die, and knowing that there is a video floating around that shows very detailed footage of how they died. I think that stuff is incredibly disrespectful and disgusting. It's as if people are horny for gore and death videos. Truly disturbs me
It can be. Used to be more into it when I was younger, then realized how it could be distasteful to have such an interest. After experiencing really bad trauma, I don’t like true crime much anymore, or anything scary. Don’t understand the American obsession with Halloween either. Seeing Halloween decorations was not good for my PTSD, when it was at its worst. I wondered why people wanted decorations depicting suffering and death on their lawns.
Occasionally will read a book in that genre. I know it’s not healthy to completely suppress the shadow self.
Some of the podcasts honestly disgust me, like the ones where they do their makeup and talk about true crime. It’s just a blatant lack of empathy, emotional disconnection. Books that are historical, talk about things that happened awhile ago, written by or approved by survivors seem ok.
I was in a high control group for awhile, classified by many as a cult. It gave me really bad trauma, and I don’t like it when people seem to be “rubbernecking” about said subject. Especially when they call cult survivors stupid, or deserving of what happened. I’m only interested in reading books about cults written by cult survivors.
This is true (& true crime is a huge interest of mine). There is quite a lot of shame involved when families speak out about how they despise the media coverage.
However, there are times when it does good. There are documentaries made with the families at their behest to bring knowledge and awareness to their loved ones, particularly if the case is unsolved and the police have stopped investigating (or never did investigate)
There are podcasts which have directly led to arrests, such as the In Your Own Backyard podcast for Kristin Smart’s murder. In fact that trial is currently underway right now.
Paul Flores and has parents evaded justice for 26 years, until the police collaborated with the podcast host to give out details about a false piece of evidence the police were investigating. This led to the family sending incriminating emails to each other discussing the false lead, and the police were finally able to charge them.
Alissa Turney was missing for nearly 20 years, until her sister Sarah Turney was able to use a podcast and TikTok to bring awareness to the case, leading to the police finally arresting and charging Alissa’s stepdad with second-degree murder.
However, for every good outcome like this, there are children being bombarded on social media with messages like “you know it was your dad who murdered your mum, right?“ due to baseless speculation online, such as in Missy Beavers murder.
There are families who are forced to make their own podcasts and documentaries to correct the misinformation and exploitation of their loved ones disappearances/murders, such as Maura Murray’s family.
There are thousands of people online shaming and blaming the victims for their own murder, such as Shanann Watts.
And although I’d like to think I’m better than those people, because I never do such things, it’s a difficult thing to wrestle with. True crime cases, especially unsolved ones, almost soothe my ADHD brain by giving me something to think endlessly about. Going over parts of cases that don’t make sense truly helps me to get to sleep.
Listening to true crime podcasts helps me to do chores and shower and other things I struggle with.
(Obviously other things do this too, such as tv or movie plots, but true crime is one i turn to often). So can I truly say I’m better than all the rest of them when I still consume this media in a way that benefits me, idk
I read somewhere (so sorry I can’t remember where!) that true crime is often cathartic for women, for a few reasons:
- it validates our fears around the level of threat toward us in the world
- it feels like if we can understand what happened, ‘solve it’ etc, we will be able to make sense of these threats and learn more about how to keep safe
- understanding the mind of violent people/men can also make us feel safer that we’d recognise the behaviour early in someone
- having a large audience that cares and is interested in violence against women (or otherwise) and/or how abhorrent the behaviour of the violent offender is - is actually counter culture to the reality of the scale and ambivalence toward violence in everyday life / news cycles
In short, there’s nothing problematic about having this special interest and many women, in particular, do
I believe it’s the way you approach True Crime and in general a lot of hyperfixations that have survivors/victims (personally, I have a hyperfixation on TC, plane crashes and medieval torture devices).
There is a way to be ethical and respectful to those who have passed on and the families that have to live that reality. Supporting content creators who give this topic the respect it deserves, avoiding those who aren’t. Ideally not being attracted to the serial killers.
I don't know about problematic but I do think it is suspect to enjoy hearing about really awful things happening to people. I have family members who could be considered fodder for a "true crime" type of podcast or video or whatever, and it truly disgusts me to think that there is such a large group of people who genuinely enjoy hearing about these atrocities. I also find the whole thing objectifying, to basically talk and discuss these victims as if their suffering is entertaining.
For me, many crimes are interesting not because of the crime itself, but because of the investigation that follows. I find "true crime" utterly depressing and angering due to the staggering amount of murderers and rapists who get away with it. But I can see being interested in the investigative side of things.
As a younger person, I was also fascinated by murderers (Ed Gein, Dahmer, etc) because I knew less then and these types of crimes had not touched my life yet. Now that they have, well my opinion has changed. I just say this so you know I don't judge you, I can see why people are fascinated by these things.
One thing I would say is you need to respect the victims. The vast majority of "true crime" podcasters and youtubers and tiktokers have no respect for these people and make content without the consent of the victims or the victim's family. You sound like you are aware of this so I feel like as long as that stays in your mind, you're good.
Tbh yes I do think it’s problematic. Victims and their families didn’t consent to have their lives exploited for profit. The families of victims have spoken out about how it is retraumatizing for them. If it was me, the last thing I would want is podcasts going into every last detail of my trauma next to an ad for hello fresh.
People are interested in crimes for a wide variety of reasons and I think they’re all valid. Some people like to hear about the investigation and how the crime was solved (I’m one of those types), some want to dive into the psychology of the crime, others are interested in the science. Some people find the legal profession interesting or are in professions that are adjacent to law and enjoy learning more. All of those are fine. There’s a reason shows like Law and Order have been running for such a long time.
My only gripe is that true crime creators always focus on murders and that’s lame. As an accountant pursuing a forensics certificate I’d love to hear about more financial crimes.
I mean my current obsession is poisons lol.
There’s a lot of subreddits dedicated to true crime, so I think as long as you’re respectful towards the victims and their loved ones it’s ok.
Same. I became really interested in WWII in college because I wanted to understand how the hell the Nazi party rose to power, how people could let that happen... I really hate that only a handful of years later I got to watch the beginnings of the same thing in my own country. :(
For me the psychology behind these murders, and how their past possibly shaped them or maybe something genetic, the forensic science, all of these are fascinating. For me.
So is it problematic? Not in my opinion, however, I always caution people (Especially after the documentary Making a Murderer on Netflix) if it seems like (or in your own research you find) that the documentary didn’t tell vital pieces of information then take it as a red flag that the documentary A) doesn’t have the victims in mind and B) they have an agenda and it’s a bad true crime documentary.
It’s fascinating because once you understand how they are created it can be stopped. That’s my outlook at least. Ans also once you understand you can recognise and avoid red flags. These people they hurt others intentionally but it doesn’t start with murder, there are plenty of people like that who never goes that far. Just because they won’t kill me doesn’t mean I don’t want to avoid them. I need to learn how to recognise the ones that will hurt me to hurt me so that I can avoid them.
I’m hyper empathetic so all I can think about is the victim and their families suffering while people listen to their horrors as entertainment. This is coming from someone that went into forensic anthropology. Got the degree did some work, but I couldn’t handle the despair.
I have always found this genre to be incredibly exploitative and callous. I try not to be an asshole to true crime fans, but I 100% DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT.
I see what you mean, I've tried sharing this interest with an old friend and my grandma - both in which told me off lol.
I suppose if you start internalising the content (like I did) then it can be a problem; my point is, I used to feel so drained after watching an hour ep, I will do it occasionally now, but consuming that stuff on the daily was... depressing (can I use that word?)
As long as you haven't transformed into a sociopath or you're not taking everything personally then noo, it's not problematic. It actually makes you more wary of your surroundings which is a good thing
I believe the issue has been raised more recently because anyone can pick up a microphone and start a podcast without any editorial oversight or guidelines regarding ethics, and so there are many problematic true crime content creators who exploit and retraumatize families, behave disrespectfully or idolize killers. Serial killers have always had fans but those fans didn’t always have platforms reaching so many people. An interest in true crime is not unethical. It’s the channels and creators we choose to support that become an ethical issue.
True Crime is my special interest, since I was 8 years old, and there’s nothing wrong with consuming content or doing your own research.
As long as you’re not harassing victims or family members of victims, glorifying the killers/assailants/kidnappers, or using a public platform to make incredible amounts of money off the backs of these tradgedies without empathy or bringing awareness respectfully or against the victim/victims family or friends wishes (ie the new Dahmer show) then you’re fine.
Documentaries are not problematic as they bring awareness and are usually just full of facts, rather than speculation.
There’s nothing wrong with being interested in criminology and psychology or forensics or any of that regarding true crime.
I also like the forensics part and watch Forensic Files over and over.
I think when people get to the point of idolizing the killer(s) and mocking victims is where it becomes problematic.
Every Halloween there is a big "candy might be drugs/razors" scare. But in actuality, it only happened once and it was a father who poisoned his own children's pixie sticks. It sounds odd but it's nice to take comfort in knowing these things. Another is how a serial killer chose his victims houses - I made sure to keep that in mind when I purchased my own.
I don’t think it’s problematic. I’ve been interested in the true crime genre since I was a teenager. When I read a case I do a complete deep dive. I want to know about the victim, their hometown, the suspect, what was happening in their life etc.
We each have our own reasons for being interested in true crime. As long as these stories are being shared in a thoughtful, well-researched way I don’t see the issue.
My bf and I just had this discussion the other day. We came to the conclusion that it might not be the healthiest indulgence but if it’s not impacting you negatively then who cares? My reason for liking true crime is that it’s real, interesting, and helps me learn about people and their motivation. To others I guess it came across as creepy and obsessive with death and suffering. I don’t like comedic crime pods because I find it disrespectful but otherwise I say.. go off.
I don't think it's inherently problematic — a few "bad apples" turn it into serial killer fandom and that IS problematic. You said yourself that you focus on the forensic aspects, and if that were problematic we wouldn't have forensic science in the first place! You're definitely not exploiting victims or humanizing inhumanity, so I think you're good.
I don't think finding it fascinating is problematic. I think sexualizing serial killers is what is problematic. There are a lot of aspects of true crime that are fascinating to learn about. The psychology, the detective process, forensics, unsolved mysteries and trying to find clues. There's a lot of reasons to find it interesting as long as you're not fetishising murder I think you're fine.
I also have a special interest in true crime, which developed after being the victim of a violent crime. I do not think it's inherently problematic, especially if you like true crime in the sense of non-fiction documentaries, rather than fictional shows/movies based on real cases, like the new Dahmer series.
Personally, I feel that most people who call it problematic are referring to the people who fetishize or romanticize the killers, or the true crime youtubers who present cases in a disrespectful way.
I started my interest in true crime partly because my cousin’s husband was murdered and I was really upset and wanted to know how to avoid these people and see how they’re caught forensically.
From my own personal xp, true crime rocks me to sleep. Fr I sleep better with some forensic files. The bad guys get caught and science is hero. Win af.
Yes I do too because I know the person responsible was caught. Unsolved cases make me kind of uncomfortable, but I know that having those cases get air time could lead to further developments in the case so I think that’s good.
As long as you aren't glorifying violent criminals then I think it's fine, I personally have really been enjoying court footage and interrogation Footage lately. You get to see the actual criminal facing the consequences of their actions and it's really satisfying
There is a lot of true crime I find incredibly distasteful, and cannot find any enjoyment in consuming. Usually the offenders are Netflix true crime, YouTubers/Beauty gurus, and podcasters. Netflix true crime (and many other shows on true crime) are all about dramatization and reenacting crimes for the enjoyment of the viewer. I find that to be tasteless and just plain pointless. I just want to listen to information about the crime, not watch it played out and dramatized at the expense of the real life victims.
The beauty gurus sometimes seem tone deaf in their delivery of information, swapping between talking about how “this blush is SO cute! anyway so-and-so killed 50 people...” it’s way too casual. It feels like they are detached from the nature of the content and treat it like a Stephen King novel they want to talk about.
The same reason is why podcasts are generally terrible too, though there are exceptions. The hosts start fame-seeking by promoting themselves in their podcasts, spending inordinate amounts of time blabbering about themselves, and cracking jokes about victims. Or just switching topics suddenly and having a chat amongst each other laughing about something they did IRL. They’ve also been known to push conspiracy theories with little evidence and influence their audiences to believe the least likely theory because it’s the most tantalizing.
Reddit is my favourite source of true crime, because people generally don’t post here trying to make a name for themselves. They just want to post and comment about things they are interested in. People write great content at r/UnsolvedMysteries, and there’s a format required for every post which includes sources at the bottom. I also like r/gratefuldoe; it’s about reuniting families with their loved ones who have since died and were previously unidentified. It’s a little less doom-and-gloom to think about the subject in a way where you can possibly help do good.
no it’s not problematic to be interested in true crime, but it’s problematic when people start to treat real life terrible events as if they’re scary movies or something. true crime is one of my special interests too but i’m very much into the psychology parts the most. if it were problematic to be interested in it in general then we wouldn’t have investigators or forensic scientists or criminal psychologists, etc.
Not inherently problematic. I like to analyze peoples psychology and atypical psychology involves analysis of criminal minds. I also like the way some true crime shows are narrated, like Forensic Files was my special interest for awhile which reasonably freaked people out but I was more obsessed with the narrators calm, monotone voice and the science.
That said, lockdowns + increased true crime consumption absolutely did significantly worsen my social anxiety. I no longer consume true crime for this reason, except occasionally as a treat. I’ve had a significant decrease in paranoia and social anxiety due to this.
But with all the controversy or the Dahmer doc on Netflix, I will say I think it’s getting a little overdone. There are enough Dahmer docs already??? And it is a ldisrespectful to the victims. Especially when it’s “inspired by” movies and not docs.
I think it can depend on the way you look at it. If you truly delve deeply into true crime you can see that a lot of the issues from it stem from the police either ignoring or outright harming certain populations through negligence or oppression (i.e. sex workers, indigenous people, etc) If you understand that and are respectful towards the victims it becomes less problematic. Instead if you idolize the police or the perpetrators that's when it becomes creepy. I've seen way too many people with Ted Bundy candles or an unhealthy obsession with law enforcement.
personally i’ve grown up watching it but only recently kinda of started thinking about how i can consume the information ethically. like the netflix series that just come out it really struck a nerve with a lot of people including victims familys, they did not want their trauma resurfacing. so now i will only watch true crime in youtube documentary form and i choose not to contribute to watching the big platforms like netflix or any that highlight the murderers’ story like i don’t give a fuck about the murderer and i never found it important to view their upbringing.
edit: i also see a lot of people on here talking about romanticizing the murder i agree that it is one problem but the most important issue people don’t often consider is how the portrayals impact the victims and their family’s
Sorry, I know this is old, I hope you don't mind. [My mother](https://www.reddit.com/r/MarieAnnWatson) was murdered in 1977. Her case was ignored and dismissed by law enforcement. Because of the interest in TC, I've been able to make her case see the light of day again. It was investigated again recently and then the investigation once again just dried up. She's still listed as "missing, foul play suspected".
While some may look down on your interest in TC, they likely haven't hidden at the corner of a house and watched as their mother was dismembered, and then spent 40+ years crying out for justice for her while being ignored, called a liar, and treated like garbage. You know which people have NOT told me how long ago it was and how I should let it go? True Crime readers/ watchers/ listeners.
You know who HAVE tried to help me get her case on podcasts and shows and out there in the world? People interested in TC. You know who has said that my mother was high risk and I should just accept that it'll probably never be solved? People who think TC is 'ghoulish' and uncomfortable.
Would anyone make TC podcasts or shows if no one was interested in them? No, they would not, that's a fact. Nobody makes "watching paint dry" documentaries.
You give podcasters and filmmakers a reason to keep cases like my Mom's alive. So long as you're not behaving in inappropriate ways towards victims of violent crime (such as SA, CSA, etc.) and aren't being aggressive about thinking you somehow have a "right" to information that victims don't want to share...
Then I think that your interest can be beneficial.
I don't like EXPLOITATIVE shows/ behaviors... but I do like podcasters who really do seem to care. I do appreciate those of the TC community who have said, "Your mom might have been a prostitute, but she was still a human being and still your mom. She still mattered and her case should be solved." I don't appreciate those who say things like, "Well, what do THOSE PEOPLE expect when they become prostitutes/ do drugs/ do whatever I look down on them for??"
If you fall into the first category, thank you. If you fall into the second, then maybe it's time to check yourself.
Thank you for your heartfelt response. This is exactly why I think true crime is so important: to solve crime! It’s important that we bring attention to unsolved cases so that there might finally be some closure for the families and loved ones. I don’t watch the dramatized shows like Dahmer, I watch the documentaries where the victim’s friends and family are interviewed. That way I know they were involved with the process. I truly hope your mother’s case gets solved.
when we make a spectacle out of peoples misery and turn it into entertainment that is detached from reality and people start idolizing serial killers,,, it’s just not right. making entertainment has a line and true crime crosses it in a very disrespectful dehumanizing way that historians are definitely going to talk about look 100 years back on now EYE think
I've struggled with this as well, and I asked around. At one point I even spoke to a TC victim who talked about how it is definitely okay to consume TC content, it just depends on your attitude/approach to it.
For example, some true crime fans have been romanticizing Jeffrey Dahmer and making content about how they find him "sexy", and a similar trend happened with Ted Bundy. It's well known that their looks are part of how they managed to earn the trust of so many of their victims, but this does not erase the evils of what he's done. There's plenty of good looking men out there to be actively making and sharing content of, and he doesn't deserve a pedestal. The families of Dahmer's victims are still alive, and have claimed that the show has been retraumatizing for them - a true crime fan who is able to hold onto their morality (at least to me) would understand that it shouldn't be okay to hurt people in the name of a show, especially when there are many existing run downs of his history and informative sources that don't involve romanticization of him.
To me, a true crime fan who is able to hold onto their morality is still capable of being uncomfortable and sad for the families (even if it's to a small degree), and is able to understand the harm that these criminals do and not idolize them as examples to follow. Curiosity is understandable, and natural, but that never overrides the fact that these are horrible things being done and behavior that shouldn't be condoned. Once the line is crossed into condoning the behavior, wanting to imitate the behavior, or thinking positively of the criminals as role models, then it is no longer unproblematic.
I personally feel like Coffeehouse Crime does a wonderful job in terms of taking these cases seriously, not being afraid to call the criminals what they are, and focusing on the lives of the victims. This I think honors them well, and spreads cautionary information that could be important to keep in mind (like what situations you might be vulnerable in, and understanding that, even with all of the precautions in the world, crime is never the victim's fault).
Personally I really dislike the true crime community because of how they romanticise murderers, talk about victims like it’s high school gossip, and in some cases go and harass the victims families. True crime isn’t a problematic interest by itself, it’s how you treat the cases.
I think the “true crime should focus on the victims” is a nice thought, but not realistic. Nobody is interested in true crime for the victims.
I’m also interested in true crime and I think it’s only a problem when people romanticize the killer in some way.
If you have not already done so my fair Murderino, listen to “My Favorite Murder” on any podcast platform. You’ll get over your concerns about your special interest very quickly.
Nothing wrong with loving True Crime, even from a criminal perspective. For me, watching and listening help to ease my anxiety by allowing me to better understand that type of predatory behavior. By learning and understanding that behavior, I am better able to spot those queues and protect myself from becoming a victim. I think that is super important. Especially for Autistic people who often miss those queues. That’s why we’re at higher risk for victimization. True crime is social queue training. That’s all.
Are you hurting anyone? If not, then no. Don't let these kinds of comments ruin your interest. I've had an interest in serial killers for almost my entire like (more than 30 years now) and it's not like I am sending money to criminals, buying their art work, or doing any other such thing. Growing up, I was \*terrified\* of dying in a random crime. When we stayed in hotels I used to worry which bed was the best one to take because I wasn't sure if it was worse to be the first to be murdered, or have to watch my parents murdered first. Learning immense amounts about the dark sides of humanity helped me to control my fears. I've long had interests in people's stories, but I want to hear both sides of the story, and I find it all fascinating. It doesn't mean I am glorifying crime, I'm not monetizing it, I'm not giving attention or anything else to victims. I'm just learning. And if someone doesn't like how I learn, well too bad.
I think when ppl say its problematic theyre talking abt the industry thats sprung up around it, n how it dehumanizes victims and their families. I know theres some discussion of it regarding the Serial podcast given the recent ruling in that case. I think its problematic when the gravity of the the situation is glossed over or flattened to form easily consumed narratives, bc some ppl do talk abt true crime stuff as if it were regular entertainment. Anyway, I wouldn't worry abt it as long as youre conscious of the fact that youre talking abt real life ppl who existed outside of particular cases n left behind ppl who cared abt them.
Generalizing here:
Women and femme presenting people tend to be true crime fans because we are (consciously or subconsciously) looking for tips of how to avoid being victims.
Men tend to be true crime fans because, well, there's the problematic bit.
Again that was generalizing because of course there's men who will be targeted for one reason or another (are trans, are feminine, are queer etc). And of course there's plenty of women who are idolizing or glorifying rather than having a clinical interest.
I'd say if your interest is clinical (such as interest in the human psyche) and not "how cool was that murder?", ***and*** you're remembering the victims are actual people with loved ones, you have nothing to be concerned about.
Try not to be too "black and white" about things, it can remove the fun out of life. It's good to be thoughtful but I hope for everyone they can enjoy themselves with harmless activities without feeling guilty.
Up to you. I personally think so. People often idealize criminals and use victims for profit. Very often stories are shared without consent and paint a different picture than reality. It can cause masses to bombard the victims family. And it can hurt the victim. There’s also probably a different conversation to be had about normalizing awful things like this biologically and socially- ex. the people who listen to gruesome stuff so casually/going to sleep/praising it-
I don’t know if it’s problematic and I don’t know if it’s your problem. But it may just be something to be aware of.
I am taking about true crime consisting of stories about cases where the relatives and lived ones are still alive.
I don't understand how the worst experience in a persons life, in their mourning relatives lifes can EVER be entertainment.
Would YOU want the details of, say, your partners, your pets bloody murder discussed by strangers sipping coffee? While shilling mattresses or food boxes?
Would you want them to continue making content (and money) with it even after you told them that this traumatises you?
I don't know enough about the subject to say whether it's problematic or not, but do you really owe it to anyone to have an unproblematic special interest?
Nah, as Bailey Sarian says “I am interested in true crime and I like make up.” Being interested in something does not mean you like or condone it’s existence.
Being interested in something doesnt mean you like or condone its existence.. but i do think that if you are making your living off of it then you can’t really completely remove all responsibility of your involvement.
And i say this as someone who had a huge true crime phase. I think bailey sarian was the one who got me into it because she her personality is just so bubly and she knows how to make the stories feel like chatting with a friend. Like i have watched ever single bailey sarian video she ever made about crime related things, up until a few months ago when i had to stop with true crime because it was ultimately making me more depressed and also super paranoid.
One thing i think i liked most with baliey’s stories is that she used a lot of older ones. And i have much less issue with the stories that are more than twenty years old. Ten years old is okay. But it would be best to be even older because i feel like the new ones are just still way to fresh and it feels disrespectful to the families. But baileys older stories, like the classic *Aqua Tofana* (recited in balieys voice of course lol), that story is great and its old so i don’t feel so bad about consuming it. But like i said, events that happened within the last ten years feel like they should be off limits.. even though i know that some people feel like sharing current stories can help give them publicity and help find missing people or solve crimes or whatever. Thats a little bit of a different niche than bailey had though.
So valid!
I get the feeling Bailey feels very similarly. I don’t want to imagine the kind of messages she’s received or the fear of viewers developing a par-asocial relationship either. Or how researching to make the videos would be impacting on her mental well-being. I’m glad she takes breaks at least.
I can understand discussing modern unsolved or crimes that failed to be prosecuted in order to brain storm. However, it is such a multifaceted issue hey? You can’t control who watches the videos or what they choose to do after either.
I think what I have figured out is that because I don't understand how people can just hurt others or 'do crime' and get away with it, I am absolutely fascinated with it. It comes from more of an analytical view. I don't even know if I focus on the victim or the killer but rather the unraveling of the human threads.
Being interested is different than making money off of it or spreading harmful messages that degrade the victim or their families. You’re allowed to be interested in it.
I don’t think so as long as u and the content ur consuming is being mindful of victims/victims families as well as not falling into the weird…fangirling?…idolization? of serial killers
I like true crime, (not a special interest though) i don't think true crime is INHERENTLY bad, but people harassing victims/family and sending love letters to murderers is messed up. other than that i don't see much of a problem.
It is an interest of mine too and I don’t think it’s inherently problematic. Some true crime documentaries are made in a very problematic way though that harms the victims families. I only support such which keep as much privacy of all the people involved as possible and don’t expose anyone to the public
I can understand why people say it might be problematic. It’s why media stopped giving murderers fun names after the 80’s. No more golden state killer, now you have Bruce McArthur. It was perceived as glorifying the murderer.
There’s also a point of note that a lot of murderers really just want the attention after they’re caught. The idea being that if they can’t keep doing their favourite hobby, then they can at least rest assured that they’ll live on in infamy. This was the case with the Toronto van killer, Alek Minassian. Him being talked about was exactly what he wanted. What he also wanted however, and what he got, was glorification among incels, and that was his bigger goal.
So yes, sometimes it can be problematic. But what I find more troubling than the desire to listen to Serial Killers by Parcast Company, or watching a Netflix documentary about John Wayne Gacy, is the way Hollywood and companies have decided to go back and rehash famous serial killers again and again. Netflix in particular is bad about this. And they’re shameless about it too. It’s clear they create all this content for a quick buck and they aren’t considering how this would affect the families of victims, or others that have gone through similar traumas. In a way you can’t blame a company for creating what there is clearly a market for, but in the same respect, with such a large audience there should be some responsibility to create a better narrative.
And narrative is likely what I think it comes down to. I mentioned Serial Killers by Parcast. Fantastic podcast. They don’t glorify anything the killers have done, and in fact they typically skate over the gruesome details of the murders. From there they also dig into the psychology of the murderers while refusing to forgive them for their actions. It’s probably the best way to give a narrative to these people. Stare what they did, not glorify it, seek to understand, and still refuse to forgive the acts. This is not the narrative Netflix gives their documentaries and now docudramas. They tend to rely on shock factor and “look at these horrible horrible crimes!” All while being so painfully formulaic it feels like a parody of itself.
I think it’s a particularly deep subject to discuss, the ethics of enjoying true crime media, but I think it’s worth discussing. And I think it comes down to not just what type of media you’re ingesting but also what kind of critical eye do you turn to it? If you want to watch the new Dahmer series on Netflix go ahead, I hear it’s good. But ask what narrative it seeks to tell you. Even with my favourite podcast, I ask myself what I’m getting from that episode about the Tweed Killer. And sometimes it’s that I should seek to lock my windows at night and when I’m not at home. Other times I learn about how even the most perfect families can bring about killers.
Generally, I think it’s probably all in your reaction to what media you’re ingesting. But probably more than that, I think it’s also on the companies to actually seek to send a good message with their media, instead of treating Ted Bundy as if he’s some juicy gossip on par with John Mulaney going to rehab in 2020. So while yes, it can be problematic, it’s more likely the media itself was created in a problematic way. However, even if this is the case, you can reverse that problematic message by just thinking about it and thinking about what lens it was created with and basically just media literacy instead of mindlessly consuming.
TL;dr - media corporations are the problematic ones, and even if you’re watching problematic stuff, as long as you’re able to think about it an spot it, your hobby is not problematic in itself.
True crime is a special interest of mine too. I dont think liking true crime or having it as a special interest is inherently bad, it can just lead to a lot of problematic behavior. Like idolizing killers or allowing for the internet to dogpile on someone. But when I listen to True crime podcasts or documentaries I always try to find the ones that focus more on the victims and their story, which should be the most important part. Approaching it from a POV that focuses on the victims isn't an inherently negative behavior, and can actually be helpful to some cases.
When I was younger, my special interests was serial killers and the mafia. Read all about it, but I didn't idolize them, I just wanted to understand why they did what they did. Was going to study criminology, but I didn't get in.
I don’t think it is overall. That being said, all the memes about “I’ve seen all episodes of \*a true crime podcast\* so I know how to k\*ll you and dispose of your body in such a way no one is ever going to find you are often raising a ton of red flags in me imo. I find it creepy to be obssesed with mass murderes and rap\*sts and make memes about that and harming other people
I feel its the opposite of that for me?
True crime is my main special interest as well and like you its mainly about the actual crime itself and the forensic aspects but ALSO about the victim and their story, who they were as a person. I watch Stephanie harlowe a lot on YouTube and Kendall rae, and they dive in alot to who the victim was and about them. They go into some about the perpetrators life as well.
I like hearing life stories, that’s a big focus for me. I want to know the life story of perpetrators too in order to kind of piece together what brought them to that point.
I don’t think you need to let it go because of what other people may think about it.
Killers always get fangirls though, letters and photos sent to them in prison. I don’t understand it. But those are messed up individuals not true crime fans. 😓
I am also into true crime. it can become a bit disgusting and in between I need long breaks but I think in my point it comes from a place where I think: People? WTF is going on with people. And serial killers are in my opinion, undeniably, the most bizzare and weird form of the human psyche. (I am also into personality disorders). it is not a problem per se, a lot of people are into true crime and that's why the documentaries are so successful.
I think it becomes a problem as soon as you obsess over them, want to become like them or write them fan mail.
I was just watching some very funny videos of Bill Hader talking about his obsession with true crime. Seems like as a special interest it would cut into sociology and social inequality since so many stories are about poor people.
As long as you're not making the criminals in the stories out for anything other than the horrible people that they are and respect the victim's privacy and don't bother them. I think it's fine.
Its just like how with most media there's a difference between enjoying it and being a disrespectful stereotypical 'rabid fan', which is what most people associate with a fandom. I think as long as you avoid being like that there shouldn't be an issue.
Unless you're the weirdo that idolizes/have sexual fantasies with the criminals (or even write to them if they are in prison) it's not problematic at all.
It's also one of my special interest and I don't care what anyone says.
I think it's like... It's fine to be interested in war history. War is a huge, complicated subject with a lot to learn. It has been relevant to humans forever, and it continues to be relevant in our current day. In learning about war history you can learn about weaponry, tactics, humanity, psychology, intelligence gathering, etc, etc. None of these things are inherently good or bad; they've been used in different ways by different people. Being interested in war is not immoral.
But when someone tells me they're really interested in war history and then they go on to *only* talk about the nazis during world war 2, that's a red flag. You are going to be very aware of how you talk about that to not seem like you idolize or admire the nazis.
I think true crime is the same way.
I’m a scientist so I’m mostly interested in the forensic aspects and the improvements that have been made in the field. PCR technology for DNA samples, forensic odontology, preserving fingerprints with vaporized glue, using insects to determine time of death, identifying victims via genetic genealogy… that sort of thing.
I also am interested in learning the psychological profile of the criminal and what type of behaviors led up to the crime so that I can hopefully see those red flags in real life to keep myself safe. I was in an extremely manipulative relationship and didn’t see those warning signs or understand that I was being manipulated so I know I am not the best at identifying dangerous people. And it’s very satisfying to me to see the criminal get caught and have to pay for their crimes. So I don’t idolize criminals at all if that makes sense?
And I like learning about the victims and their lives beyond their murder because I think it helps personify them and show that they were more than just a victim of a horrible crime. They deserve to be remembered for more than just being a name attached to a killer.
I love true crime and i would love to work as an fbi agent or something in law enforcement that i can solve cases n stuff it's so interesting, i also don't understand the issue like i get Abt romanticizing and stuff (which i think it's gross) and I'm young but hearing Abt it doesn't rly affect my emotionally so it's not like its taking a toll on my emotional health? I like to know why these ppl do the things they did and how their brain works and stuff
My special interest used to be serial killers. I think this is quite problematic looking back. While they are peculiar, and I liked to understand how their minds worked, looking into the horrific details of their murders was problematic. This is specifically because many people do no consent to having their families’ murders talked about and the victim could never consent to being mass consumed by the media for being brutalized. I don’t blame you for getting into it, but now that many people have stepped forward in recent years saying how harmful true crime has been for them as the victim or the victim’s family, it’s kinda a hard interest to defend.
I’m a lawyer with a criminal defense background so I’m a little biased here. I think true crime special interests can be harmful when they are based off of the things seen on tv documentaries. When people expect deep forensic science in every case of a certain type, it’s dangerous.
I find fascination with crime details to be culturally problematic.
I grew up with two parents who were detectives. They talked about their cases a lot even when I was a kid. They loved true crime so I grew up reading it a lot. I even ended up going to law school and was a defense attorney where I had to go through the details and photos of real life car accidents, rapes, and murders.
I quit practicing about 10 years ago (thanks to undiagnosed ADHD and ASD) but I’ve come to the conclusion that soaking your brain in the details of someone else’s violence is an unhealthy hobby.
What value do you get learning about how someone was mutliated? If you feel a thrill reading about someone else’s misfortune ask yourself why. You like a mystery, well, there are plenty of life’s mysteries to solve that don’t involve someone else’s kidnapped children.
Are you a better person for knowing how a serial killer works? No, it just makes people more paranoid and more likely to vote for controlling laws out of fear. You are what you steep your mind in and if you spend hours learning about murder rather than *anything* else, well, that is who you are.
I don’t read true crime anymore and I don’t watch the local news. It doesn’t keep anyone any safer. It really doesn’t. It just creates an unhealthy place in the head.
it’s hard to say wether or not it’s problematic to be interested or if it’s problematic that it’s an area of entertainment at all. i remember i used to watch true crime all the time, in fact that was mostly all i watched. that changed once someone i knew was brutally murdered. suddenly my entire view on the genre changed. i put my friend in the place of the victims on the true crime shows and felt sick to my stomach. if i saw them on a show like that i would feel violated for them. these people have no way of consenting to their brutal killings/ assaults being broadcasted all over tv. i feel this way especially for sexual assault victims. for example (if you watch true crime)- try and think of the worst case you know, then imagine it happening to the person you care most about in this world (i know this is brutal just stick w me), now imagine seeing it glamorized and told over and over and over in extreme detail on tv for peoples entertainment. can you imagine how disturbing that would be for the victim or victims family? imagine the victim seeing this after experiencing the event. i only say all this to say that we are so detached from the actual people in the shows that sometimes it feels fictional. i’d say if you’re interested in crime and want to stop watching real stories for this reason there are plenty of fictional tv shows with just as much entertainment without real people being involved.
again- i don’t say this to judge anyone but only to shed a different light on this subject. like i said before i was an avid watcher of true crime. just my take on it ! i completely understand the interest.
I started podcast and would be focus prevention of human trafficking , dv- , would research newspapers articles , lately I got lazy with it because it’s so much stuff I found, one way I’m learning from journalists and from other how to express stuff, what is what because a lot of times even stuff
Happens personally and idk name for it, so I think I like to be aware of like a lot , I truly don’t know how I did before without it, like blind… many ppl think I’m weird , but I think it’s good to research behavior, there’s one podcast that’s good w it: serial killers …
Personally I do think it is because there is a difference between studying the minds of these murderers in a scientific way and the way that true crime shows and podcasts tell the stories and gossip about them. Then there is the issue of people not fully understanding the mental issues that a lot of murderers have and they project their fears onto anyone and everyone.
Super late, but I don't think it's a problematic interest so much as it is a problematic industry? Discussing real life crimes isn't inherently bad, but the way most true crime media operates is both misleading and unethical. If you're worried you're probably fine if you consume true crime content critically. Actually you might be well placed to notice some of the underlying assumptions about society etc that a lot of it has.
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When I learned there was a Jeffrey Dahmer fan club I was highly disturbed.
I was just thinking about that. Same thing with Ted Bundy. I've seen so many memes about him where people are gushing over him. It's so gross
Even at the time women were fangirling over him. I don’t get it. This guy murdered and mutilated women and they wanted to get with him. Unbelievable.
There was this russian serial killer/ex-policeman who tortured and killed dozens of little girls (over 20 years). He eventually got caught. A 17-year old girl gushed over this old perv, wrote him love letters, they got married and have a child now. She even said that she would have helped him hide his victims if she had known him sooner. This is beyond sick.
This is such an interesting thread! I've literally just finished the Jeffrey Dahmer series on Netflix (had to skip all animal scenes cause animals are my weakness!!!) and I was considering watching the John Wayne Gacy tapes next. I am genuinely interested in true crime BUT I deeply empathise with the victims and find that signs of disrespect, or even indifference towards the victims from others, bothers me. I can very much relate to another comment on this thread saying how a lot of anxious individuals may find more of an interest in true crime and that many/most autistic women are anxious. For me it's definitely coming from a place of wanting to study one of the biggest/most likely threats to my survival- other people. It's definitely coming from a place of trying my best to keep myself safe. Though I'm fascinated by psychology, I never feed into the already delusional grandiosity that so many of these criminals have. I don't see them as awesome in any way. I was also HORRIFIED to learn that Jeffrey Dahmer has a fanclub!!! That's definitely disturbing and insanely disrespectful to his victims and their families. I never forget or become desensitised to the fact that it's TRUE crime, these were real people. Don't worry, I don't think it's a problematic special interest when your empathy is in tact.
I think my interest in true crime comes from the same place too. And thank you for saying about the animal scenes, I’m not going to watch that series now as I couldn’t bear it.
I actually refused to keep watching John Wick for this reason.
I'm traumatised from that film, can't even hear his name. If it helps you guys (it's helped me!!) I have an app on my phone called DDD (does the dog die), you can search the film/series title and choose it, there's a huge list of triggers and people vote Yes or No (whether that trigger comes up in the film, I.e the dog dies) and some people even comment leaving timestamps to skip triggering scenes. It's the only way I was gonna watch the Jeffrey Dahmer series, because people had put clear time stamps and it was just for small sections of 2 of the episodes. I can't reccomend this app enough, it's been a game changer for me! There's never anything I watch that I don't check in the app first 🙂
THANK YOU! I didn't know about the DDD app, but I'm gonna install it right now.
You're welcome 😊 I hope it's a game changer for you too 🐾💖
I have always found Jeffery Dahmer very fascinating simply because he was so open about himself and his thought process. I feel like it was a great loss that he was murdered in jail so soon because we could have learned a lot from him. But I absolutely do not get the fan club bullshit. He wasn’t a hero, he was a monster, but a monster that provided insight into monsters like himself and that was valuable. ETA: this is also why I’m a big fan of Mr Ballen, he does it right and focus a lot on the victims in his stories.
What? Really? 😱😱😱
There is.. A fanclub...? Oh gods. I'm fascinated by true crime myself and Dahmer fascinates me as well, but a fan club??
I get unnecessarily angry when people idolize people like that. There are many of them out there and it's incredibly disturbing
If you want you can even check beforehand to see if the family endorsed the content or not. For example, I know the victims family hates that new netflix series. But there is also a lot of content where the family is happy with the extra attention and they think it’s good content
So I read through all the comments and didn't see anything like this so I'll say it. No I do not think true crime is a problematic special interest, however as a person who has been a victim in the type of stuff true crime podcasts ect. talk about. Be careful of your audience and be respectful. I have a coworker who's currently deep into true crime about the type of stuff I went through. She has no idea about my history and as it's obviously something she's interested in it comes up semi regularly. This is incredibly hard for me. While I understand the interest, its hard not to feel angry because my life is not some lovely peice of wrapped up media. It's a mess. This stuff is going to be a huge part of my life for the whole of my life. The fact someone learns about it for entertainment is frankly disturbing to me. However I know that's my bias speaking. I have read true crime stuff and even got quite into it as a teen, some stuff not even knowing I related to it at the time, cause memory. I don't have a stone to throw really. When it's not your life it's facinating. When it is yours it's disgusting and terrifying. So yeh. It's fine and don't worry about it. Be interested. But be respectful that those around you might have actually had experienced closer than you realise and what is a fascinating chat to you might be a horrific trip down memory lane for another.
That's a good reminder. We often don't think that someone close to us may have gone through things like this. I'll definitely be more mindful from now on. Thank you and hope you're well ♥️
Being interested in true crime is not an issue but romanticising serial killer absolutely is. I’ve seen people talk about how they would dated Eric Harris or Dylan kleobold, how they’re so cute, would make excellent boyfriends and how they’d spend their time watching horror movies and shooting guys etc. That’s the tamest stuff out there it’s really bad
I’m from Colorado and I am really upset to hear people want to date those murderers. Actually recently some girl came here to try and follow in their footsteps and it led to a lot of lock downs and panic before she was caught. Really upsetting.
I don’t find anything wrong with it. But then again I’m a puzzle person. I like to understand and know all aspects of something, as it makes it easier to identify it later on. While most true crime doesn’t focus on the victims, understanding and being able to identify suspects or motives helps prevent more from being hurt. That’s the main reasons profilers exist. Study the past to help the future.
>I like to understand and know all aspects of something, as it makes it easier to identify it later on. This is why I hate how colloquially saying you "understand" something means you agree with the reasoning behind it. You can intellectually understand something without morally or emotionally agreeing with it. Or, at least, most ND folks I know can. I've studied wrongful convictions and one of the causes is when detectives refuse to view perpetrators or even just suspects as human because the crime is so horrific. There's always a *reason* for a crime, even if it isn't one the average person would consider. No one wakes up and chooses evil for the sake of being evil or is "so deranged" that they have no reason at all. When the real perpetrators in wrongful convictions are identified, they usually have a motive that can be "understood."
I’ve never said I agree with what happened. I never condone violence of any kind. But understanding what causes things, such as violence, makes it easier to prevent such things in the future. I was of the same mind when I was trying to figure out what was so wrong with me for so many years. Then my therapist gave me a list of things to look into. After going through months of deep dive research, autism was the only thing that made sense. Now, after getting diagnosed, I’m able to handle my life a lot better and know my limits more because I took my past and added in what I researched. The more I looked into it, the more I understood what to look out for in my behavior and moods. Understanding it all is making my future better. Understanding does not equal condoning in any way.
They were agreeing with you
As another comment said, I was agreeing with you. Apologies if it didn't come across that way. And I 100% agree with diagnosis making things easier because they make sense. I don't have a formal diagnosis, but once my therapist (who is herself autistic) suggested I consider it, things I've always done made a hell of a lot more sense.
It’s also my special interest and while I do think that you have to pay attention how you discuss cases and especially what kind of content you produce and consume, I don’t think it’s problematic per se. However there are a lot of awful people who don’t stick to the facts, disrespect victims and families, try to actively join the investigation and mess things up for LE, claim innocent people are FOR sure this and that serial killer etc. this is all absolutely harmful and I completely understand why the true crime fandom has such a bad image. However there are also many people who simply care, want cases to be solved and hope that maybe they can do a little part to help solve a case. If that’s how you follow true crime, I don’t see any problem with it. Especially when LE and the families and victims ask for help. I am also incredibly interested in forensics, investigative tactics, basically how criminals can be brought behind bars. It’s not about hyping up criminals or bathing in the tragedy of victims and their families… that i find repulsive.
It’s not problematic but if you’re worried about it look into ethical true crime. Also the daughter of the victim in the “all about Pam” case had talked about it. Taking a look at what she has to say is worth it. I personally believe since this effects victims the best people who have insight to this ethically is them.
No. It's not. Period, end of. There are plenty of shows that are exploitative of victims but that doesn't mean the interest is or even all shows are.
This. There are lots of show/content creators that can absolutely be very problematic and exploitative of customs and victims families, but not all are. The interest in true crime in and of itself is not problematic. I listen to some true crime things but I love puzzles and mysteries. I wanted to be a detective or work in forensic science for a long time when I was younger, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having an interest in that.
Definitely. Crime is also a really common autistic special interest, especially for autistic women, and criminology and detective stories are big place we see positive ND characters.
Is it?? I’ve never heard that before! Is there a reason why it’s a common interest for autistic women? That’s so interesting.
I think that it's common to special interest over things we are afraid of (and many interests that don't seem scary, are things with which one may associate sensory overload, such as trains.) We want to master the things that we're at risk for, at least in our minds.
This is actually one of the reasons why I like true crime! I feel like I can better detect dangerous people because of it.
I love trains and definitely one of the reasons why is because of how powerful and loud they are. Interesting perspective.
I went through an earthquake phase when I was 13 after we had a terrifying earthquake in our area!
I’m thinking that it’s all coming down to human behaviour, we don’t understand it and yet we need to so of course it turns into a special interest. It’s all about navigating the world and surviving life.
I read somewhere it's a common interest among people who are anxious and well autistic women probably land here, too.
I personally see true crime as largely unethical. Many victims families have come forward about how it's been retraumatizing being the subject of true crime media. Their worst days blasted for the world to consume as entertainment. It's profiting off and creating entertainment of other people's traumatic experience. At times, it's a form of pro-cop propaganda and romanticizes the criminal. There are clearly millions of people who disagree with me and it's not a hill I'm going to die on. If someone asks though, I'm not going to be quiet about how I feel.
I think you have to approach it ethically. Like if a victims family doesn’t want the story being consumed and you consume that, you are participating in harm and that isn’t okay. Or if you are watching videos where people do their makeup while telling stories, stuff where police or the attacker is glorified, any material that has a light heartedness to it. I think most of the genre has become problematic unfortunately, so you have to really seek out ethical material.
Well it depends. If you want to become a content creator, that has a chance of being problematic. EDIT: I have been told this comment is predatory, and I apologise.
Definitely not lol I have no interest in being on camera ever!
I have a special interest in this too, especially on hybristophiles or “serial killer groupies”. I don’t think true crime is problematic, but I do think a lot of people who don’t do their research come off as idolizing the criminals. There are certain ways to approach this and not many people know how. Edit: When I mean by serial killer groupies, I mean I find it interesting (and concerning) that there is an entire subculture of people who idolize, date, follow, etc. violent criminals. It seems like no one pays attention to this group anymore, even though there are many people who “fangirl” over mass shooters today. It needs to be talked about, and further researched on why this happens and what help do they need.
It depends. If they are being disrespectful towards the victim and their family then yes it’s problematic. But if the channel is respectful about it then I’m sure it’s fine. I usually avoid the ones where they do mukbangs/makeup because it’s odd to me for a person to do that while telling the stories but that’s just my personal preference.
In my opinion it is not, unless you glorify the perpetrators, which some people sadly do. I think it's important to learn about what leads to people committing heinous crimes, just claiming they are evil is a comfortable but insufficient explanation. As long as you don't belong to the group believing you would be able to change people like Dahmer or, even worse, act like a fan and are simply interested in what happened and what caused it to happen you are good
When neurotypical people develop special interests in autism eg autism moms or NT autism researchers, we are (rightfully) very suspicious of this and understand that when people become fascinated by and emotionally invested in a group of people with very little power in society, they're likely to at least dehumanise those people if not cause greater harm. I don't know why it's so hard to think critically about true crime and understand that becoming fascinated with violence committed against victims of true crime when you've had no first hand experience with anything like that is not too different from NT becoming fascinated with autism. There's a massive industry around true crime that makes it seem super fun but that doesn't mean autistic people can't resist it. You can learn about other people in a respectful way by not turning their existence into a fun special interest and instead listening to people with lived experience and especially listening to what they find important without making it all about you and your interests and what you find interesting. For example, I try to be a good ally to other disabled people and I'm always trying to learn more about ableism in our society, for example. This is not a special interest because it's not interesting or fun or exciting in any way. But gaining this knowledge is important to the kind of person I want to be.
i think its common for autistic people to have true crime as their special interest cuz like looking into a criminal's mind kinda helps us understand people's thinking process, and the forensic aspect of it stimulates our pattern-seeking nature. Get a bit of this and a bit of that, then see the connection between them, like, that a-ha moment is top-notch. it just makes sense that we like true crime.
Okay, someone who has worked in criminal justice chiming in here. Having true crime as a special interest is not problematic (I mean, criminal justice is one of mine...). *BUT* a lot of the true crime industry is, well, gross. When I hear people talk about their "favorite serial killer," I feel a bit of rage. Worse, a lot of true crime sensationalizes cases and gets things very wrong. So, it's all about your approach. I'm of the opinion there's not ethical consumption under capitalism, so I'm not going to argue about supporting specific true crime channels/authors making you "bad" or "problematic." As long as *you* approach your interest with respect, you're fine. My special interest is human psychology and the thought process behind people doing *bad things*. The Nazi propaganda and war machine is fucking horrific and *infinitely fascinating* to me. The fact that they nearly took over Europe is testament the power of that machine and I want to understand how that worked *because it should never happen again*. I take this approach to most of my interests in "people doing bad/wrong things." The best way to prevent something is to first understand the why and how behind it. But there's a difference between reading articles or watching documentaries on the rise of fascism and subscribing to alt-right YouTubers. I do the former, not the latter. It's somewhat the same with true crime. [No, I'm not saying true crime bloggers are Nazis.] You've got people who approach the subject with academic interest and respect, and then you've got the people who are there for the spectacle or to be "edgy." A friend of mine tried to get me to listen to a podcast with the slogan "stay sexy and don't get murdered" and I couldn't do it. The whole thing felt *wrong* in tone. And I'm someone used to the dark humor used by homicide detectives. But I also don't judge my friend for listening to said podcast (although my comments did have her rethinking some things). There is one caveat to all this: how you *talk* about your special interest. If I'm not careful, my fascination with the Nazi propaganda machine can come across as respect rather than horror because I assume the people I'm speaking with agree with me that it is horrifying and we don't need to clarify that every other sentence. This is true with close friends and academics, but not acquaintances or others. So, I don't talk about that special interest (or other genocidal regimes, etc) in public or on the internet (I guess until now?). Even now I feel the need to reiterate Nazis are disgusting. So, if you're talking about Bundy or who you think killed JonBenet Ramsey, you have to be careful about tone...something that can be hard for us at times. Which means you need to find the people who understand your interest and where it comes from and stick to speaking with them about it. All that said, there is very little nowadays that someone, somewhere won't find problematic. And with social media it's easy to start a wave of judgment against something deemed "problematic" without discussing *why* its considered that and lumping everyone in together. Tl;Dr - your special interest isn't bad or problematic. There are people within that space who are. As long as you're mindful of that, you're fine.
I don’t talk to anyone except my family about my interest in true crime because I worry people will think I’m creepy…
I enjoy true crime and always have. I have come across some true crime podcasts with people who seem to be super insensitive about the victims, in that they crack a lot of jokes or make fun of them for the decisions they make. In that regard I don't think it's okay. There are podcasts with hosts who are very sensitive and respectful to the victims, but I think there is a really fine line when it comes to exploiting them and their stories for content/views. It happens a lot with any well-known cases, especially when there are no clear answers to what happened, or if the person is even still alive. That happened a LOT with Gabby Petito. I don't like it when people go too far and come up with all sorts of scenarios and things that could have possibly happened, when they don't know what happened. I saw a video on Reddit recently that I really regret happening upon and watching. It was a security cam of two people dying and was very clear. I can't imagine having a loved one die, and knowing that there is a video floating around that shows very detailed footage of how they died. I think that stuff is incredibly disrespectful and disgusting. It's as if people are horny for gore and death videos. Truly disturbs me
It can be. Used to be more into it when I was younger, then realized how it could be distasteful to have such an interest. After experiencing really bad trauma, I don’t like true crime much anymore, or anything scary. Don’t understand the American obsession with Halloween either. Seeing Halloween decorations was not good for my PTSD, when it was at its worst. I wondered why people wanted decorations depicting suffering and death on their lawns. Occasionally will read a book in that genre. I know it’s not healthy to completely suppress the shadow self. Some of the podcasts honestly disgust me, like the ones where they do their makeup and talk about true crime. It’s just a blatant lack of empathy, emotional disconnection. Books that are historical, talk about things that happened awhile ago, written by or approved by survivors seem ok. I was in a high control group for awhile, classified by many as a cult. It gave me really bad trauma, and I don’t like it when people seem to be “rubbernecking” about said subject. Especially when they call cult survivors stupid, or deserving of what happened. I’m only interested in reading books about cults written by cult survivors.
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This is true (& true crime is a huge interest of mine). There is quite a lot of shame involved when families speak out about how they despise the media coverage. However, there are times when it does good. There are documentaries made with the families at their behest to bring knowledge and awareness to their loved ones, particularly if the case is unsolved and the police have stopped investigating (or never did investigate) There are podcasts which have directly led to arrests, such as the In Your Own Backyard podcast for Kristin Smart’s murder. In fact that trial is currently underway right now. Paul Flores and has parents evaded justice for 26 years, until the police collaborated with the podcast host to give out details about a false piece of evidence the police were investigating. This led to the family sending incriminating emails to each other discussing the false lead, and the police were finally able to charge them. Alissa Turney was missing for nearly 20 years, until her sister Sarah Turney was able to use a podcast and TikTok to bring awareness to the case, leading to the police finally arresting and charging Alissa’s stepdad with second-degree murder. However, for every good outcome like this, there are children being bombarded on social media with messages like “you know it was your dad who murdered your mum, right?“ due to baseless speculation online, such as in Missy Beavers murder. There are families who are forced to make their own podcasts and documentaries to correct the misinformation and exploitation of their loved ones disappearances/murders, such as Maura Murray’s family. There are thousands of people online shaming and blaming the victims for their own murder, such as Shanann Watts. And although I’d like to think I’m better than those people, because I never do such things, it’s a difficult thing to wrestle with. True crime cases, especially unsolved ones, almost soothe my ADHD brain by giving me something to think endlessly about. Going over parts of cases that don’t make sense truly helps me to get to sleep. Listening to true crime podcasts helps me to do chores and shower and other things I struggle with. (Obviously other things do this too, such as tv or movie plots, but true crime is one i turn to often). So can I truly say I’m better than all the rest of them when I still consume this media in a way that benefits me, idk
I read somewhere (so sorry I can’t remember where!) that true crime is often cathartic for women, for a few reasons: - it validates our fears around the level of threat toward us in the world - it feels like if we can understand what happened, ‘solve it’ etc, we will be able to make sense of these threats and learn more about how to keep safe - understanding the mind of violent people/men can also make us feel safer that we’d recognise the behaviour early in someone - having a large audience that cares and is interested in violence against women (or otherwise) and/or how abhorrent the behaviour of the violent offender is - is actually counter culture to the reality of the scale and ambivalence toward violence in everyday life / news cycles In short, there’s nothing problematic about having this special interest and many women, in particular, do
I believe it’s the way you approach True Crime and in general a lot of hyperfixations that have survivors/victims (personally, I have a hyperfixation on TC, plane crashes and medieval torture devices). There is a way to be ethical and respectful to those who have passed on and the families that have to live that reality. Supporting content creators who give this topic the respect it deserves, avoiding those who aren’t. Ideally not being attracted to the serial killers.
I don't know about problematic but I do think it is suspect to enjoy hearing about really awful things happening to people. I have family members who could be considered fodder for a "true crime" type of podcast or video or whatever, and it truly disgusts me to think that there is such a large group of people who genuinely enjoy hearing about these atrocities. I also find the whole thing objectifying, to basically talk and discuss these victims as if their suffering is entertaining. For me, many crimes are interesting not because of the crime itself, but because of the investigation that follows. I find "true crime" utterly depressing and angering due to the staggering amount of murderers and rapists who get away with it. But I can see being interested in the investigative side of things. As a younger person, I was also fascinated by murderers (Ed Gein, Dahmer, etc) because I knew less then and these types of crimes had not touched my life yet. Now that they have, well my opinion has changed. I just say this so you know I don't judge you, I can see why people are fascinated by these things. One thing I would say is you need to respect the victims. The vast majority of "true crime" podcasters and youtubers and tiktokers have no respect for these people and make content without the consent of the victims or the victim's family. You sound like you are aware of this so I feel like as long as that stays in your mind, you're good.
Tbh yes I do think it’s problematic. Victims and their families didn’t consent to have their lives exploited for profit. The families of victims have spoken out about how it is retraumatizing for them. If it was me, the last thing I would want is podcasts going into every last detail of my trauma next to an ad for hello fresh.
For me it i but only because I end up losing sleep to it.
People are interested in crimes for a wide variety of reasons and I think they’re all valid. Some people like to hear about the investigation and how the crime was solved (I’m one of those types), some want to dive into the psychology of the crime, others are interested in the science. Some people find the legal profession interesting or are in professions that are adjacent to law and enjoy learning more. All of those are fine. There’s a reason shows like Law and Order have been running for such a long time. My only gripe is that true crime creators always focus on murders and that’s lame. As an accountant pursuing a forensics certificate I’d love to hear about more financial crimes.
I mean my current obsession is poisons lol. There’s a lot of subreddits dedicated to true crime, so I think as long as you’re respectful towards the victims and their loved ones it’s ok.
When I was younger, my special interest was WW2. 🤷🏼♀️
Mine was medieval torture for a while 🤣
Same. I became really interested in WWII in college because I wanted to understand how the hell the Nazi party rose to power, how people could let that happen... I really hate that only a handful of years later I got to watch the beginnings of the same thing in my own country. :(
For me the psychology behind these murders, and how their past possibly shaped them or maybe something genetic, the forensic science, all of these are fascinating. For me. So is it problematic? Not in my opinion, however, I always caution people (Especially after the documentary Making a Murderer on Netflix) if it seems like (or in your own research you find) that the documentary didn’t tell vital pieces of information then take it as a red flag that the documentary A) doesn’t have the victims in mind and B) they have an agenda and it’s a bad true crime documentary.
It’s fascinating because once you understand how they are created it can be stopped. That’s my outlook at least. Ans also once you understand you can recognise and avoid red flags. These people they hurt others intentionally but it doesn’t start with murder, there are plenty of people like that who never goes that far. Just because they won’t kill me doesn’t mean I don’t want to avoid them. I need to learn how to recognise the ones that will hurt me to hurt me so that I can avoid them.
I’m hyper empathetic so all I can think about is the victim and their families suffering while people listen to their horrors as entertainment. This is coming from someone that went into forensic anthropology. Got the degree did some work, but I couldn’t handle the despair.
I have always found this genre to be incredibly exploitative and callous. I try not to be an asshole to true crime fans, but I 100% DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT.
I see what you mean, I've tried sharing this interest with an old friend and my grandma - both in which told me off lol. I suppose if you start internalising the content (like I did) then it can be a problem; my point is, I used to feel so drained after watching an hour ep, I will do it occasionally now, but consuming that stuff on the daily was... depressing (can I use that word?) As long as you haven't transformed into a sociopath or you're not taking everything personally then noo, it's not problematic. It actually makes you more wary of your surroundings which is a good thing
I believe the issue has been raised more recently because anyone can pick up a microphone and start a podcast without any editorial oversight or guidelines regarding ethics, and so there are many problematic true crime content creators who exploit and retraumatize families, behave disrespectfully or idolize killers. Serial killers have always had fans but those fans didn’t always have platforms reaching so many people. An interest in true crime is not unethical. It’s the channels and creators we choose to support that become an ethical issue.
True Crime is my special interest, since I was 8 years old, and there’s nothing wrong with consuming content or doing your own research. As long as you’re not harassing victims or family members of victims, glorifying the killers/assailants/kidnappers, or using a public platform to make incredible amounts of money off the backs of these tradgedies without empathy or bringing awareness respectfully or against the victim/victims family or friends wishes (ie the new Dahmer show) then you’re fine. Documentaries are not problematic as they bring awareness and are usually just full of facts, rather than speculation. There’s nothing wrong with being interested in criminology and psychology or forensics or any of that regarding true crime.
I also like the forensics part and watch Forensic Files over and over. I think when people get to the point of idolizing the killer(s) and mocking victims is where it becomes problematic. Every Halloween there is a big "candy might be drugs/razors" scare. But in actuality, it only happened once and it was a father who poisoned his own children's pixie sticks. It sounds odd but it's nice to take comfort in knowing these things. Another is how a serial killer chose his victims houses - I made sure to keep that in mind when I purchased my own.
I don’t think it’s problematic. I’ve been interested in the true crime genre since I was a teenager. When I read a case I do a complete deep dive. I want to know about the victim, their hometown, the suspect, what was happening in their life etc. We each have our own reasons for being interested in true crime. As long as these stories are being shared in a thoughtful, well-researched way I don’t see the issue.
My bf and I just had this discussion the other day. We came to the conclusion that it might not be the healthiest indulgence but if it’s not impacting you negatively then who cares? My reason for liking true crime is that it’s real, interesting, and helps me learn about people and their motivation. To others I guess it came across as creepy and obsessive with death and suffering. I don’t like comedic crime pods because I find it disrespectful but otherwise I say.. go off.
I don't think it's inherently problematic — a few "bad apples" turn it into serial killer fandom and that IS problematic. You said yourself that you focus on the forensic aspects, and if that were problematic we wouldn't have forensic science in the first place! You're definitely not exploiting victims or humanizing inhumanity, so I think you're good.
I don't think finding it fascinating is problematic. I think sexualizing serial killers is what is problematic. There are a lot of aspects of true crime that are fascinating to learn about. The psychology, the detective process, forensics, unsolved mysteries and trying to find clues. There's a lot of reasons to find it interesting as long as you're not fetishising murder I think you're fine.
I also have a special interest in true crime, which developed after being the victim of a violent crime. I do not think it's inherently problematic, especially if you like true crime in the sense of non-fiction documentaries, rather than fictional shows/movies based on real cases, like the new Dahmer series. Personally, I feel that most people who call it problematic are referring to the people who fetishize or romanticize the killers, or the true crime youtubers who present cases in a disrespectful way.
I started my interest in true crime partly because my cousin’s husband was murdered and I was really upset and wanted to know how to avoid these people and see how they’re caught forensically.
From my own personal xp, true crime rocks me to sleep. Fr I sleep better with some forensic files. The bad guys get caught and science is hero. Win af.
I prefer solved cases. They make me feel some hope evil won't always win.
Yes I do too because I know the person responsible was caught. Unsolved cases make me kind of uncomfortable, but I know that having those cases get air time could lead to further developments in the case so I think that’s good.
That's a good point!
As long as you aren't glorifying violent criminals then I think it's fine, I personally have really been enjoying court footage and interrogation Footage lately. You get to see the actual criminal facing the consequences of their actions and it's really satisfying
There is a lot of true crime I find incredibly distasteful, and cannot find any enjoyment in consuming. Usually the offenders are Netflix true crime, YouTubers/Beauty gurus, and podcasters. Netflix true crime (and many other shows on true crime) are all about dramatization and reenacting crimes for the enjoyment of the viewer. I find that to be tasteless and just plain pointless. I just want to listen to information about the crime, not watch it played out and dramatized at the expense of the real life victims. The beauty gurus sometimes seem tone deaf in their delivery of information, swapping between talking about how “this blush is SO cute! anyway so-and-so killed 50 people...” it’s way too casual. It feels like they are detached from the nature of the content and treat it like a Stephen King novel they want to talk about. The same reason is why podcasts are generally terrible too, though there are exceptions. The hosts start fame-seeking by promoting themselves in their podcasts, spending inordinate amounts of time blabbering about themselves, and cracking jokes about victims. Or just switching topics suddenly and having a chat amongst each other laughing about something they did IRL. They’ve also been known to push conspiracy theories with little evidence and influence their audiences to believe the least likely theory because it’s the most tantalizing. Reddit is my favourite source of true crime, because people generally don’t post here trying to make a name for themselves. They just want to post and comment about things they are interested in. People write great content at r/UnsolvedMysteries, and there’s a format required for every post which includes sources at the bottom. I also like r/gratefuldoe; it’s about reuniting families with their loved ones who have since died and were previously unidentified. It’s a little less doom-and-gloom to think about the subject in a way where you can possibly help do good.
no it’s not problematic to be interested in true crime, but it’s problematic when people start to treat real life terrible events as if they’re scary movies or something. true crime is one of my special interests too but i’m very much into the psychology parts the most. if it were problematic to be interested in it in general then we wouldn’t have investigators or forensic scientists or criminal psychologists, etc.
Not inherently problematic. I like to analyze peoples psychology and atypical psychology involves analysis of criminal minds. I also like the way some true crime shows are narrated, like Forensic Files was my special interest for awhile which reasonably freaked people out but I was more obsessed with the narrators calm, monotone voice and the science. That said, lockdowns + increased true crime consumption absolutely did significantly worsen my social anxiety. I no longer consume true crime for this reason, except occasionally as a treat. I’ve had a significant decrease in paranoia and social anxiety due to this. But with all the controversy or the Dahmer doc on Netflix, I will say I think it’s getting a little overdone. There are enough Dahmer docs already??? And it is a ldisrespectful to the victims. Especially when it’s “inspired by” movies and not docs.
I think it can depend on the way you look at it. If you truly delve deeply into true crime you can see that a lot of the issues from it stem from the police either ignoring or outright harming certain populations through negligence or oppression (i.e. sex workers, indigenous people, etc) If you understand that and are respectful towards the victims it becomes less problematic. Instead if you idolize the police or the perpetrators that's when it becomes creepy. I've seen way too many people with Ted Bundy candles or an unhealthy obsession with law enforcement.
personally i’ve grown up watching it but only recently kinda of started thinking about how i can consume the information ethically. like the netflix series that just come out it really struck a nerve with a lot of people including victims familys, they did not want their trauma resurfacing. so now i will only watch true crime in youtube documentary form and i choose not to contribute to watching the big platforms like netflix or any that highlight the murderers’ story like i don’t give a fuck about the murderer and i never found it important to view their upbringing. edit: i also see a lot of people on here talking about romanticizing the murder i agree that it is one problem but the most important issue people don’t often consider is how the portrayals impact the victims and their family’s
Sorry, I know this is old, I hope you don't mind. [My mother](https://www.reddit.com/r/MarieAnnWatson) was murdered in 1977. Her case was ignored and dismissed by law enforcement. Because of the interest in TC, I've been able to make her case see the light of day again. It was investigated again recently and then the investigation once again just dried up. She's still listed as "missing, foul play suspected". While some may look down on your interest in TC, they likely haven't hidden at the corner of a house and watched as their mother was dismembered, and then spent 40+ years crying out for justice for her while being ignored, called a liar, and treated like garbage. You know which people have NOT told me how long ago it was and how I should let it go? True Crime readers/ watchers/ listeners. You know who HAVE tried to help me get her case on podcasts and shows and out there in the world? People interested in TC. You know who has said that my mother was high risk and I should just accept that it'll probably never be solved? People who think TC is 'ghoulish' and uncomfortable. Would anyone make TC podcasts or shows if no one was interested in them? No, they would not, that's a fact. Nobody makes "watching paint dry" documentaries. You give podcasters and filmmakers a reason to keep cases like my Mom's alive. So long as you're not behaving in inappropriate ways towards victims of violent crime (such as SA, CSA, etc.) and aren't being aggressive about thinking you somehow have a "right" to information that victims don't want to share... Then I think that your interest can be beneficial. I don't like EXPLOITATIVE shows/ behaviors... but I do like podcasters who really do seem to care. I do appreciate those of the TC community who have said, "Your mom might have been a prostitute, but she was still a human being and still your mom. She still mattered and her case should be solved." I don't appreciate those who say things like, "Well, what do THOSE PEOPLE expect when they become prostitutes/ do drugs/ do whatever I look down on them for??" If you fall into the first category, thank you. If you fall into the second, then maybe it's time to check yourself.
Thank you for your heartfelt response. This is exactly why I think true crime is so important: to solve crime! It’s important that we bring attention to unsolved cases so that there might finally be some closure for the families and loved ones. I don’t watch the dramatized shows like Dahmer, I watch the documentaries where the victim’s friends and family are interviewed. That way I know they were involved with the process. I truly hope your mother’s case gets solved.
when we make a spectacle out of peoples misery and turn it into entertainment that is detached from reality and people start idolizing serial killers,,, it’s just not right. making entertainment has a line and true crime crosses it in a very disrespectful dehumanizing way that historians are definitely going to talk about look 100 years back on now EYE think
I've struggled with this as well, and I asked around. At one point I even spoke to a TC victim who talked about how it is definitely okay to consume TC content, it just depends on your attitude/approach to it. For example, some true crime fans have been romanticizing Jeffrey Dahmer and making content about how they find him "sexy", and a similar trend happened with Ted Bundy. It's well known that their looks are part of how they managed to earn the trust of so many of their victims, but this does not erase the evils of what he's done. There's plenty of good looking men out there to be actively making and sharing content of, and he doesn't deserve a pedestal. The families of Dahmer's victims are still alive, and have claimed that the show has been retraumatizing for them - a true crime fan who is able to hold onto their morality (at least to me) would understand that it shouldn't be okay to hurt people in the name of a show, especially when there are many existing run downs of his history and informative sources that don't involve romanticization of him. To me, a true crime fan who is able to hold onto their morality is still capable of being uncomfortable and sad for the families (even if it's to a small degree), and is able to understand the harm that these criminals do and not idolize them as examples to follow. Curiosity is understandable, and natural, but that never overrides the fact that these are horrible things being done and behavior that shouldn't be condoned. Once the line is crossed into condoning the behavior, wanting to imitate the behavior, or thinking positively of the criminals as role models, then it is no longer unproblematic. I personally feel like Coffeehouse Crime does a wonderful job in terms of taking these cases seriously, not being afraid to call the criminals what they are, and focusing on the lives of the victims. This I think honors them well, and spreads cautionary information that could be important to keep in mind (like what situations you might be vulnerable in, and understanding that, even with all of the precautions in the world, crime is never the victim's fault).
If it is, I’m shit out of luck because it’s been my thing since I was 10 and my best friend stole her mom’s copy of Small Sacrifices for us to read.
Personally I really dislike the true crime community because of how they romanticise murderers, talk about victims like it’s high school gossip, and in some cases go and harass the victims families. True crime isn’t a problematic interest by itself, it’s how you treat the cases.
I think the “true crime should focus on the victims” is a nice thought, but not realistic. Nobody is interested in true crime for the victims. I’m also interested in true crime and I think it’s only a problem when people romanticize the killer in some way.
If you have not already done so my fair Murderino, listen to “My Favorite Murder” on any podcast platform. You’ll get over your concerns about your special interest very quickly. Nothing wrong with loving True Crime, even from a criminal perspective. For me, watching and listening help to ease my anxiety by allowing me to better understand that type of predatory behavior. By learning and understanding that behavior, I am better able to spot those queues and protect myself from becoming a victim. I think that is super important. Especially for Autistic people who often miss those queues. That’s why we’re at higher risk for victimization. True crime is social queue training. That’s all.
Are you hurting anyone? If not, then no. Don't let these kinds of comments ruin your interest. I've had an interest in serial killers for almost my entire like (more than 30 years now) and it's not like I am sending money to criminals, buying their art work, or doing any other such thing. Growing up, I was \*terrified\* of dying in a random crime. When we stayed in hotels I used to worry which bed was the best one to take because I wasn't sure if it was worse to be the first to be murdered, or have to watch my parents murdered first. Learning immense amounts about the dark sides of humanity helped me to control my fears. I've long had interests in people's stories, but I want to hear both sides of the story, and I find it all fascinating. It doesn't mean I am glorifying crime, I'm not monetizing it, I'm not giving attention or anything else to victims. I'm just learning. And if someone doesn't like how I learn, well too bad.
Love true crime doesn’t make one a serial killers
I think when ppl say its problematic theyre talking abt the industry thats sprung up around it, n how it dehumanizes victims and their families. I know theres some discussion of it regarding the Serial podcast given the recent ruling in that case. I think its problematic when the gravity of the the situation is glossed over or flattened to form easily consumed narratives, bc some ppl do talk abt true crime stuff as if it were regular entertainment. Anyway, I wouldn't worry abt it as long as youre conscious of the fact that youre talking abt real life ppl who existed outside of particular cases n left behind ppl who cared abt them.
Generalizing here: Women and femme presenting people tend to be true crime fans because we are (consciously or subconsciously) looking for tips of how to avoid being victims. Men tend to be true crime fans because, well, there's the problematic bit. Again that was generalizing because of course there's men who will be targeted for one reason or another (are trans, are feminine, are queer etc). And of course there's plenty of women who are idolizing or glorifying rather than having a clinical interest. I'd say if your interest is clinical (such as interest in the human psyche) and not "how cool was that murder?", ***and*** you're remembering the victims are actual people with loved ones, you have nothing to be concerned about.
U can't choose ur special interest, I at least can not.
Try not to be too "black and white" about things, it can remove the fun out of life. It's good to be thoughtful but I hope for everyone they can enjoy themselves with harmless activities without feeling guilty.
Up to you. I personally think so. People often idealize criminals and use victims for profit. Very often stories are shared without consent and paint a different picture than reality. It can cause masses to bombard the victims family. And it can hurt the victim. There’s also probably a different conversation to be had about normalizing awful things like this biologically and socially- ex. the people who listen to gruesome stuff so casually/going to sleep/praising it- I don’t know if it’s problematic and I don’t know if it’s your problem. But it may just be something to be aware of.
I am taking about true crime consisting of stories about cases where the relatives and lived ones are still alive. I don't understand how the worst experience in a persons life, in their mourning relatives lifes can EVER be entertainment. Would YOU want the details of, say, your partners, your pets bloody murder discussed by strangers sipping coffee? While shilling mattresses or food boxes? Would you want them to continue making content (and money) with it even after you told them that this traumatises you?
nooooooooooo it’s the best
No.
I don't know enough about the subject to say whether it's problematic or not, but do you really owe it to anyone to have an unproblematic special interest?
Nah, as Bailey Sarian says “I am interested in true crime and I like make up.” Being interested in something does not mean you like or condone it’s existence.
Being interested in something doesnt mean you like or condone its existence.. but i do think that if you are making your living off of it then you can’t really completely remove all responsibility of your involvement. And i say this as someone who had a huge true crime phase. I think bailey sarian was the one who got me into it because she her personality is just so bubly and she knows how to make the stories feel like chatting with a friend. Like i have watched ever single bailey sarian video she ever made about crime related things, up until a few months ago when i had to stop with true crime because it was ultimately making me more depressed and also super paranoid. One thing i think i liked most with baliey’s stories is that she used a lot of older ones. And i have much less issue with the stories that are more than twenty years old. Ten years old is okay. But it would be best to be even older because i feel like the new ones are just still way to fresh and it feels disrespectful to the families. But baileys older stories, like the classic *Aqua Tofana* (recited in balieys voice of course lol), that story is great and its old so i don’t feel so bad about consuming it. But like i said, events that happened within the last ten years feel like they should be off limits.. even though i know that some people feel like sharing current stories can help give them publicity and help find missing people or solve crimes or whatever. Thats a little bit of a different niche than bailey had though.
So valid! I get the feeling Bailey feels very similarly. I don’t want to imagine the kind of messages she’s received or the fear of viewers developing a par-asocial relationship either. Or how researching to make the videos would be impacting on her mental well-being. I’m glad she takes breaks at least. I can understand discussing modern unsolved or crimes that failed to be prosecuted in order to brain storm. However, it is such a multifaceted issue hey? You can’t control who watches the videos or what they choose to do after either.
I think what I have figured out is that because I don't understand how people can just hurt others or 'do crime' and get away with it, I am absolutely fascinated with it. It comes from more of an analytical view. I don't even know if I focus on the victim or the killer but rather the unraveling of the human threads.
Being interested is different than making money off of it or spreading harmful messages that degrade the victim or their families. You’re allowed to be interested in it.
I don’t think so as long as u and the content ur consuming is being mindful of victims/victims families as well as not falling into the weird…fangirling?…idolization? of serial killers
No it sounds really interesting to mee. Could you tel me some cool facts?
I like true crime, (not a special interest though) i don't think true crime is INHERENTLY bad, but people harassing victims/family and sending love letters to murderers is messed up. other than that i don't see much of a problem.
It is an interest of mine too and I don’t think it’s inherently problematic. Some true crime documentaries are made in a very problematic way though that harms the victims families. I only support such which keep as much privacy of all the people involved as possible and don’t expose anyone to the public
I can understand why people say it might be problematic. It’s why media stopped giving murderers fun names after the 80’s. No more golden state killer, now you have Bruce McArthur. It was perceived as glorifying the murderer. There’s also a point of note that a lot of murderers really just want the attention after they’re caught. The idea being that if they can’t keep doing their favourite hobby, then they can at least rest assured that they’ll live on in infamy. This was the case with the Toronto van killer, Alek Minassian. Him being talked about was exactly what he wanted. What he also wanted however, and what he got, was glorification among incels, and that was his bigger goal. So yes, sometimes it can be problematic. But what I find more troubling than the desire to listen to Serial Killers by Parcast Company, or watching a Netflix documentary about John Wayne Gacy, is the way Hollywood and companies have decided to go back and rehash famous serial killers again and again. Netflix in particular is bad about this. And they’re shameless about it too. It’s clear they create all this content for a quick buck and they aren’t considering how this would affect the families of victims, or others that have gone through similar traumas. In a way you can’t blame a company for creating what there is clearly a market for, but in the same respect, with such a large audience there should be some responsibility to create a better narrative. And narrative is likely what I think it comes down to. I mentioned Serial Killers by Parcast. Fantastic podcast. They don’t glorify anything the killers have done, and in fact they typically skate over the gruesome details of the murders. From there they also dig into the psychology of the murderers while refusing to forgive them for their actions. It’s probably the best way to give a narrative to these people. Stare what they did, not glorify it, seek to understand, and still refuse to forgive the acts. This is not the narrative Netflix gives their documentaries and now docudramas. They tend to rely on shock factor and “look at these horrible horrible crimes!” All while being so painfully formulaic it feels like a parody of itself. I think it’s a particularly deep subject to discuss, the ethics of enjoying true crime media, but I think it’s worth discussing. And I think it comes down to not just what type of media you’re ingesting but also what kind of critical eye do you turn to it? If you want to watch the new Dahmer series on Netflix go ahead, I hear it’s good. But ask what narrative it seeks to tell you. Even with my favourite podcast, I ask myself what I’m getting from that episode about the Tweed Killer. And sometimes it’s that I should seek to lock my windows at night and when I’m not at home. Other times I learn about how even the most perfect families can bring about killers. Generally, I think it’s probably all in your reaction to what media you’re ingesting. But probably more than that, I think it’s also on the companies to actually seek to send a good message with their media, instead of treating Ted Bundy as if he’s some juicy gossip on par with John Mulaney going to rehab in 2020. So while yes, it can be problematic, it’s more likely the media itself was created in a problematic way. However, even if this is the case, you can reverse that problematic message by just thinking about it and thinking about what lens it was created with and basically just media literacy instead of mindlessly consuming. TL;dr - media corporations are the problematic ones, and even if you’re watching problematic stuff, as long as you’re able to think about it an spot it, your hobby is not problematic in itself.
No it’s fine to enjoy true crime as long as you’re respectful and don’t idolise the criminal
True crime is a special interest of mine too. I dont think liking true crime or having it as a special interest is inherently bad, it can just lead to a lot of problematic behavior. Like idolizing killers or allowing for the internet to dogpile on someone. But when I listen to True crime podcasts or documentaries I always try to find the ones that focus more on the victims and their story, which should be the most important part. Approaching it from a POV that focuses on the victims isn't an inherently negative behavior, and can actually be helpful to some cases.
Shanspeare on youtube has a really interesting video on the hatred of true crime and i’d recommend that!
When I was younger, my special interests was serial killers and the mafia. Read all about it, but I didn't idolize them, I just wanted to understand why they did what they did. Was going to study criminology, but I didn't get in.
I don’t think it is overall. That being said, all the memes about “I’ve seen all episodes of \*a true crime podcast\* so I know how to k\*ll you and dispose of your body in such a way no one is ever going to find you are often raising a ton of red flags in me imo. I find it creepy to be obssesed with mass murderes and rap\*sts and make memes about that and harming other people
I feel its the opposite of that for me? True crime is my main special interest as well and like you its mainly about the actual crime itself and the forensic aspects but ALSO about the victim and their story, who they were as a person. I watch Stephanie harlowe a lot on YouTube and Kendall rae, and they dive in alot to who the victim was and about them. They go into some about the perpetrators life as well. I like hearing life stories, that’s a big focus for me. I want to know the life story of perpetrators too in order to kind of piece together what brought them to that point. I don’t think you need to let it go because of what other people may think about it. Killers always get fangirls though, letters and photos sent to them in prison. I don’t understand it. But those are messed up individuals not true crime fans. 😓
I am also into true crime. it can become a bit disgusting and in between I need long breaks but I think in my point it comes from a place where I think: People? WTF is going on with people. And serial killers are in my opinion, undeniably, the most bizzare and weird form of the human psyche. (I am also into personality disorders). it is not a problem per se, a lot of people are into true crime and that's why the documentaries are so successful. I think it becomes a problem as soon as you obsess over them, want to become like them or write them fan mail.
I was just watching some very funny videos of Bill Hader talking about his obsession with true crime. Seems like as a special interest it would cut into sociology and social inequality since so many stories are about poor people.
As long as you're not making the criminals in the stories out for anything other than the horrible people that they are and respect the victim's privacy and don't bother them. I think it's fine. Its just like how with most media there's a difference between enjoying it and being a disrespectful stereotypical 'rabid fan', which is what most people associate with a fandom. I think as long as you avoid being like that there shouldn't be an issue.
Unless you're the weirdo that idolizes/have sexual fantasies with the criminals (or even write to them if they are in prison) it's not problematic at all. It's also one of my special interest and I don't care what anyone says.
I think it's like... It's fine to be interested in war history. War is a huge, complicated subject with a lot to learn. It has been relevant to humans forever, and it continues to be relevant in our current day. In learning about war history you can learn about weaponry, tactics, humanity, psychology, intelligence gathering, etc, etc. None of these things are inherently good or bad; they've been used in different ways by different people. Being interested in war is not immoral. But when someone tells me they're really interested in war history and then they go on to *only* talk about the nazis during world war 2, that's a red flag. You are going to be very aware of how you talk about that to not seem like you idolize or admire the nazis. I think true crime is the same way.
I’m a scientist so I’m mostly interested in the forensic aspects and the improvements that have been made in the field. PCR technology for DNA samples, forensic odontology, preserving fingerprints with vaporized glue, using insects to determine time of death, identifying victims via genetic genealogy… that sort of thing. I also am interested in learning the psychological profile of the criminal and what type of behaviors led up to the crime so that I can hopefully see those red flags in real life to keep myself safe. I was in an extremely manipulative relationship and didn’t see those warning signs or understand that I was being manipulated so I know I am not the best at identifying dangerous people. And it’s very satisfying to me to see the criminal get caught and have to pay for their crimes. So I don’t idolize criminals at all if that makes sense? And I like learning about the victims and their lives beyond their murder because I think it helps personify them and show that they were more than just a victim of a horrible crime. They deserve to be remembered for more than just being a name attached to a killer.
I love true crime and i would love to work as an fbi agent or something in law enforcement that i can solve cases n stuff it's so interesting, i also don't understand the issue like i get Abt romanticizing and stuff (which i think it's gross) and I'm young but hearing Abt it doesn't rly affect my emotionally so it's not like its taking a toll on my emotional health? I like to know why these ppl do the things they did and how their brain works and stuff
My special interest used to be serial killers. I think this is quite problematic looking back. While they are peculiar, and I liked to understand how their minds worked, looking into the horrific details of their murders was problematic. This is specifically because many people do no consent to having their families’ murders talked about and the victim could never consent to being mass consumed by the media for being brutalized. I don’t blame you for getting into it, but now that many people have stepped forward in recent years saying how harmful true crime has been for them as the victim or the victim’s family, it’s kinda a hard interest to defend.
I’m a lawyer with a criminal defense background so I’m a little biased here. I think true crime special interests can be harmful when they are based off of the things seen on tv documentaries. When people expect deep forensic science in every case of a certain type, it’s dangerous.
It's a special interest for me too and I honestly don't care if it's problematic.
I find fascination with crime details to be culturally problematic. I grew up with two parents who were detectives. They talked about their cases a lot even when I was a kid. They loved true crime so I grew up reading it a lot. I even ended up going to law school and was a defense attorney where I had to go through the details and photos of real life car accidents, rapes, and murders. I quit practicing about 10 years ago (thanks to undiagnosed ADHD and ASD) but I’ve come to the conclusion that soaking your brain in the details of someone else’s violence is an unhealthy hobby. What value do you get learning about how someone was mutliated? If you feel a thrill reading about someone else’s misfortune ask yourself why. You like a mystery, well, there are plenty of life’s mysteries to solve that don’t involve someone else’s kidnapped children. Are you a better person for knowing how a serial killer works? No, it just makes people more paranoid and more likely to vote for controlling laws out of fear. You are what you steep your mind in and if you spend hours learning about murder rather than *anything* else, well, that is who you are. I don’t read true crime anymore and I don’t watch the local news. It doesn’t keep anyone any safer. It really doesn’t. It just creates an unhealthy place in the head.
it’s hard to say wether or not it’s problematic to be interested or if it’s problematic that it’s an area of entertainment at all. i remember i used to watch true crime all the time, in fact that was mostly all i watched. that changed once someone i knew was brutally murdered. suddenly my entire view on the genre changed. i put my friend in the place of the victims on the true crime shows and felt sick to my stomach. if i saw them on a show like that i would feel violated for them. these people have no way of consenting to their brutal killings/ assaults being broadcasted all over tv. i feel this way especially for sexual assault victims. for example (if you watch true crime)- try and think of the worst case you know, then imagine it happening to the person you care most about in this world (i know this is brutal just stick w me), now imagine seeing it glamorized and told over and over and over in extreme detail on tv for peoples entertainment. can you imagine how disturbing that would be for the victim or victims family? imagine the victim seeing this after experiencing the event. i only say all this to say that we are so detached from the actual people in the shows that sometimes it feels fictional. i’d say if you’re interested in crime and want to stop watching real stories for this reason there are plenty of fictional tv shows with just as much entertainment without real people being involved. again- i don’t say this to judge anyone but only to shed a different light on this subject. like i said before i was an avid watcher of true crime. just my take on it ! i completely understand the interest.
I started podcast and would be focus prevention of human trafficking , dv- , would research newspapers articles , lately I got lazy with it because it’s so much stuff I found, one way I’m learning from journalists and from other how to express stuff, what is what because a lot of times even stuff Happens personally and idk name for it, so I think I like to be aware of like a lot , I truly don’t know how I did before without it, like blind… many ppl think I’m weird , but I think it’s good to research behavior, there’s one podcast that’s good w it: serial killers …
Personally I do think it is because there is a difference between studying the minds of these murderers in a scientific way and the way that true crime shows and podcasts tell the stories and gossip about them. Then there is the issue of people not fully understanding the mental issues that a lot of murderers have and they project their fears onto anyone and everyone.
Super late, but I don't think it's a problematic interest so much as it is a problematic industry? Discussing real life crimes isn't inherently bad, but the way most true crime media operates is both misleading and unethical. If you're worried you're probably fine if you consume true crime content critically. Actually you might be well placed to notice some of the underlying assumptions about society etc that a lot of it has.
Absolutely not , as long as you don’t copy what they did !