8 Psychological Reasons Women Love Disturbing Crime Stories So Much

It teaches women survivor skills.

Amanda Vicary, a social psychologist, said the obsession with true crime might be evolutionary. “We’ve adapted to pay attention to anything that can help us increase our survival. So it could be the fact that we’re just in tune and interested in these things that are dangerous to us because understanding and knowing about them can increase our chances that it’s not going to happen to us.”

It gives women a chance to tap into their revenge fantasies.

As you know, society often socializes women to bottle their anger, smile, and be nice to the creepy dude at the bar (lest he gets mad and stalks her home). Because of this, women have a lot of untapped anger, and true crime allows women to channel that rage by living vicariously through female killers. "Crime fiction and drama lets us feel the outrage we aren’t encouraged to express in real life," crime author Mel McGrath explained, "about the violence meted out to us by men, and the sense of satisfaction and relief when the (mostly) male perpetrators get their comeuppance."

Women are less squeamish about blood.

We ladies deal with blood all the time, you know with periods and all. A little blood from getting sliced and diced to death is nothing compared to childbirth.

"In fact, we’re often encouraged to think of ourselves as a collection of body parts ('Is my bum too big? Are my breasts OK? Is my stomach flat?')," Mel added. "So forensics, where bodies are broken down into limbs and feet and necks, makes perfect sense to us too."

They're attracted to the "dark" side of the human psyche that they don't understand.

“It’s the old adage that truth is stranger than fiction,” Pamela Deutsch, a Senior Executive Producer at ID, said. “The idea of relatable characters is something that’s really important to us, because I think that really speaks to why people really enjoy true crime: a lot of the people that we feature really look like your friends and neighbors. People just want to understand the whys. You hear all these stories in the news, and it just gives us kind of a desire to understand, like, ‘How did this person make that wrong turn? They look just like me!’”

Because they know what it's like to live in fear.

It's not like men don't have fears, but women are afraid literally all the time. For some women, watching true crime shows helps ease the anxiety of feeling like they're going to get murdered.

“I sort of exorcise that anxiety through obsessively reading about true crime and learning about it,” Anna Breslaw told The Atlantic. “You’re like, 'I’m not afraid of this. I’m going to face this,' and I think it’s like exposure therapy.”

However, some experts think this might not be such a good idea.

"All this focus on crime may be resulting in a vicious cycle for women," Amanda Vicary, assistant professor of psychology, said. "They fear being a victim of a crime, so they may subconsciously turn to crime books or television shows to learn ways to prevent being a victim. This in turn exposes them to even more crime, perhaps increasing their worry even more."

They're f–king addicts.

No, really. According to Psychology Today, there's a neurological reason for why women can't help but consume true crime stories almost obsessively. "People also receive a jolt of adrenaline as a reward for witnessing the terrible deeds of a serial killer," Scott Bonn, Ph.D. wrote. "Adrenaline is a hormone that produces a powerful, stimulating, and even addictive effect on the human brain. If you doubt the addictive power of adrenaline, think of the thrill-seeking child who will ride a roller coaster over and over until he or she becomes physically ill. The euphoric effect of serial killers on human emotions is similar to that of roller coasters or natural disasters."

Women are more empathetic to victims.

"By the time you get to adulthood, women are able to empathize to a greater degree than men, on average," Dr. Howard Forman, forensic psychiatrist, said. "That may lead to true crime being more interesting to women than men, simply because if you empathize more with the victim, it may be more relevant to you and more gripping."

Because they like feeling scared — duh.

Just like our deep fascination with horror movies, true crime books, shows, and podcasts have the same effect. "The public is drawn to true crime because it triggers the most basic and powerful emotion in all of us—fear," criminology professor Scott Bonn said. "As a source of popular culture entertainment, it allows us to experience fear and horror in a controlled environment where the threat is exciting but not real.