True Crime Media Consumption in Women: Relating Perceptions of Safety and Victimization

Women make up a disproportionate portion of the audience for true crime media. This research investigates potential differences in perceptions between women who are high consumers of true crime media and those who are low consumers of true crime media as there is evidence to support that crime related media consumption can influence perceptions of safety and victimization (Morgan et al., 2015; Shah et al., 2020). A survey was conducted in order to identify low and high true crime consumers and examine their reported perceived likelihood of victimization, feelings of personal safety, and preparedness to avoid victimization. Findings of the following project support that women who do not consume true crime report greater feelings of preparedness to avoid victimization compared to those who are high consumers of true crime media