Podcast producer Bailey Sarian talked about a story starring the “Ken and Barbie” couple. Karla Homolka and her husband Paul Bernardo were involved in kidnapping, murdering, and committing sexual activities with different underaged girls. This couple video taped their actions and were later charged and served time in jail for these crimes . Serian now has a podcast educating people on true crimes that have happened over the years. Podcasts such as hers have become more and more popular recently, but why are people so interested in true crime?
Sarian’s podcast goes over and educates her viewers on true crimes that have happened over the years. The podcast is interesting to many people, but women find the podcast comforting, being able to learn about these crimes and think about ways to get out of a situation like this. For a woman, safety is always first and foremost on the brain. An Adidas study published in March 2023 showed that 92% of women are concerned for their safety when they go for a run,¨ stated the article “Why are women devoutly obsessed with true crime?¨ in The Voyager by Ashylyn Welch.
Michelle Arias, a freshman at Triton who enjoys podcasts, struggled to explain why she likes them. “Their kind of like..look, you have to be careful about things. I don’t trust people too easily even if they are close as they could actually not be nice and turn against you. They are also fun.”
Obviously, if something is entertaining it will catch our attention, said Arias. It could be for a short minute or hours at a time, especially if it’s something we like. These podcasts help give out tips, explain behaviors, and can show women how you can prevent dangerous situations from happening. All of these can create many emotions of anger, sadness or even comfort.
The interest in podcasts matches up with why men listen to true crime as entertainment and women feel differently about the podcasts.
Sarian has become a popular true crime enthusiast, with a popular podcast and Youtube channel called Murder, Mystery, and Makeup. According to Rephonic, a website on podcasts statistics, Sarian founded the podcast three years ago in 2021, producing 147 episodes featuring episodes about cannibalism to straight up gore. The triton voice has said that some listen to her podcast and are among her 87,490,000 listeners. Serian tells her stories with empathy for these victims but also an open mind.
True crime podcasts tend to be built up on suspense to end up resolved, giving a satisfactory feeling of a clear narrative from beginning, to middle, to end. These stories contain multiple genres together: thriller, mystery, and horror. Due to the way podcasts are formatted, it also gives it more appeal, allowing listeners to just play it as background while doing other activities. Aside from the entertainment, there’s this internal intrigue to learn.
From these podcasts, many times too, a lot of us will watch something or listen to something if we feel subconsciously we could learn from them. An example is a video on youtube such as the Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshel videos explaining what certain actions and things may mean or what could happen in scenarios, we watch them as not only entertainment but to learn. They are teaching us.
Aimee Mansfield, a support teacher agreed in an interview that women will listen and watch true crime to learn, “Yes, scope out and warn people.” It makes us be more wary of our surroundings.
Differently, Josh Penny, a senior in Triton’s true crime class, was interviewed as well, answering ¨No, I never thought of it like that,¨ when asked if he listened to true crime to learn about some safety tips. ¨Stays the same,¨ also said Penny when asked if it makes him more weary. It was a stark difference, quickly answering the questions with no´s unlike Mansfield, explaining and going into depth as to why women do this.
Usually, the victims of these true crimes are women. So for some women listeners, listening to the podcast is a way to emphasize with the victims.. Mansfield said ¨Yes, it’s interesting but may be hard to watch, putting yourself in their position.” when asked ¨Could you, and would you imagine yourself in the victim’s position?¨
Listening makes it easier for women to also put themselves in that same scenario, creating a feeling of a connection to the victim. This allows women to understand why the victims may have acted in such ways or what even they could have thought.
Tyler Jacobs, an IA at Triton responded to the same question with “I’m (listening to podcasts) for its entertainment value, so part of that for me is how someone else handled the situation.” Even Penny said a quick no when asked.
True crime murder podcasts aren’t just attractive for the entertainment they provide, instead there are many contributing factors. A stark contrast between the men and women was the subconscious sense of safety gained.
