Female audiences for true crime television: Popular discourse, feminism and the politics of ‘ethical viewing’

This article draws on data from 18 semi-structured interviews with women which explore their relations with true crime television. Complicating popular and academic arguments that such relations operate pedagogically (that true crime offers a form of ‘safety advice’ for women), the data attests to the participants’ reflexive negotiation of ethics as a frame through which viewing investments are presented, regulated and articulated. Both contributing to and questioning feminist work which has explored the potential ‘reimagining’ of true crime within a post #MeToo context, the data offers insight into how these female viewers negotiate what they see as ‘ethical viewing’ of the genre and its relationship with questions of ‘witnessing’ and responsibility.