Why Do So Many Women Love True Crime?

House of Gucci, a film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver, has made all sorts of headlines since its theatrical release on November 24. Some have been negative, including the Gucci family’s disapproval of the film and critics’ commentary on the cast’s questionable Italian accents, and some have been positive. But very few, if any, have focused on why people are seeing this movie — specifically, why women made up 60% of the audience the week it opened.

It’s reasonable to wonder why so many women would want to watch a male-directed movie, the cast of which is majority male and the plot of which is about a male-dominated industry (fashion). The reason, perhaps, might be due to the murder that drives the plot, which was ordered by a woman.

Considering that the true-crime genre is very popular among women — a 2010 study found that around 70% of Amazon reviews of true-crime books are written by women, and a 2018 study that found that 73% of true-crime podcast listeners are women — it’s perhaps unsurprising that House of Gucci followed this pattern. But the presence of women still doesn’t get at why women are so drawn to this genre.

At House of Gucci’s London premiere on November 10, a reporter asked Lady Gaga how she was able to convincingly portray Patrizia Reggiani, the ex-wife and murderer of Gucci heir Maurizio Gucci. She responded by explaining the extensive notes she took on her script to understand how the Gucci business alienated Patrizia and motivated her to commit the crime, famously saying: “I don't believe in the glorification of murder. I do believe in the empowerment of women.”

The film suggests a number of motivations for Patrizia’s actions by showing how she is belittled, dismissed, and even harmed by the Gucci family. In one scene, the Gucci family patriarch Aldo (played by Al Paccino) interrupts Patrizia’s suggestions as to how the business should handle knockoffs; he dismisses and belittles her, telling her that their empire is not a “lady’s game.” Patrizia’s husband’s budding affair with his old friend also fans the flames of her raging inner fire. In a heated argument over his cheating, Maurizio slams Patrizia against a wall and tries to strangle her, blaming her for tearing his family apart. The film suggests Maurizio’s affair was the final straw for Patrizia and led her to spiral into a destructive train of thought that led her to hire hitmen to kill her husband.

This seems to be the “empowerment” Lady Gaga referred to: Women often root for women who commit crimes in retaliation for themselves being the victims of violence or abuse. Women may vicariously live through these stories, or even consider the dramatization of these crimes as instructive for how to defend themselves. Given that, globally, an estimated 736 million women (almost one in three) have been subjected to intimate partner violence, nonpartner sexual violence, or both at least once in their lives, it’s no wonder that so many women are interested in learning about how other women responded to their own experiences with violence.

Lady Gaga may have been hinting at another form of empowerment: financial. Patrizia is portrayed in the film as ruthlessly pursuing her husband’s fortune. Throughout the movie, Patrizia befriends Maurizio’s uncle Aldo to get her foot in the door of Gucci’s creative direction, and she convinces her husband to trick his cousin Paolo, who belittingly calls her a “firecracker,” into selling his shares of the company so that the couple becomes the majority shareholder. Part of the result of Maurizio’s death is that it would leave her the sole owner of the company.

The crime that Patrizia committed is in no way a reflection of feminist values, and there are no excuses for such violence. Yet, the motives behind her actions do hint at an understanding of empowerment: the need of a woman to control her affairs and reclaim her power.

Women’s love for true crime is one of few outlets available to women that lets them entertain their wildest inclinations of revenge for the injustices they face every day without actually facing any consequences. Even the many women who outwardly comply with traditionally feminine traits are still fully capable of feeling anger at those expectations; true crime lets them connect to that rage. Women’s fascination with the genre, therefore, is likely not a fascination with crime itself, but with the possibilities it poses for them to break out of the patriarchal societies they live in and which limit their potential.