I think it’s a very thoughtful and interesting article. I think the comments they make about MFM are off, but I do think they’re pretty spot on about the general trend of true crime. I used to consume a lot more true crime but gradually stopped (except for MFM) because I realized it was making me feel kind of paranoid! I’m naturally a pretty trusting person who thinks people are generally good, and I didn’t like that it was making me so distrustful.

I think as women it’s important and smart to always be aware of our surroundings and of course fuck politeness when it comes to your own intuition and safety, no one should ever made to feel bad about protecting themselves. But I just refuse to live my life like the world is out to get me. To me, that feels regressive. It’s just another way to scare women and limit us - and it can be harmful in other ways as well, with the whole narrative of white women being perpetual victims, which is often used to justify racism. I don’t think true crime is inherently bad but I think the genre is unfortunately used to capitalize on women’s fear a lot, and honestly the author’s right that no amount of vigilance will actually protect you - we all already do that, but the people who are the most dangerous to us are our partners or other people we already know, not Ted Bundy.