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‘Dogged, Insightful, and Humane’: Writing Women’s Lives in Twenty-First-Century True Crime

‘Dogged, Insightful, and Humane’: Writing Women’s Lives in Twenty-First-Century True Crime Although studies have identified women as the primary audience of true crime, women's engagement with the genre is far from a passive one. Women producers of true crime participate in discussions of female victimhood, poverty, and law. They also consider the significance – and complexity – of writing women's lives within a genre like true crime. Our chapter analyses true crime texts by women to interrogate the changing focus of true crime in the twenty-first century and the labour that these authors participate in as they question established narratives of female victimhood. In our case studies of Hallie Rubenhold's The Five (2019) and Michelle McNamara's I'll Be Gone in the Dark (2018) we suggest that these texts model a feminist version of true crime by creating more comprehensive narratives of female victimhood and survival via narrative structures that centralise women's lives. We contend that these texts are engaged in crucial work that alters the language we use to speak about victims and victimhood. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Crime Fiction Studies Edinburgh University Press

‘Dogged, Insightful, and Humane’: Writing Women’s Lives in Twenty-First-Century True Crime

Friars, Rachel M.; Traynor, Jesyka
Crime Fiction Studies , Volume 3 (1): 16 – Mar 1, 2022
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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
Copyright © Edinburgh University Press
ISSN
2517-7982
eISSN
2517-7990
DOI
10.3366/cfs.2022.0057
Publisher site
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Abstract

Although studies have identified women as the primary audience of true crime, women's engagement with the genre is far from a passive one. Women producers of true crime participate in discussions of female victimhood, poverty, and law. They also consider the significance – and complexity – of writing women's lives within a genre like true crime. Our chapter analyses true crime texts by women to interrogate the changing focus of true crime in the twenty-first century and the labour that these authors participate in as they question established narratives of female victimhood. In our case studies of Hallie Rubenhold's The Five (2019) and Michelle McNamara's I'll Be Gone in the Dark (2018) we suggest that these texts model a feminist version of true crime by creating more comprehensive narratives of female victimhood and survival via narrative structures that centralise women's lives. We contend that these texts are engaged in crucial work that alters the language we use to speak about victims and victimhood.

Journal

Crime Fiction Studies – Edinburgh University Press

Published: Mar 1, 2022

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