#(gone girl narrator voice) Cool Girl is fine getting into cars with men she doesn’t know. Cool Girl leaves her drink unattended.

[meatcrimes]

not to be an angry feminist on main but i have actually existed in this world as a woman so i think i have something of inherent importance to say on this topic

women did not just suddenly become afraid of walking home alone at night in 2020. women have walked to their cars with their keys in their fists since before true crime was even a concept. we have ALWAYS covered our drinks. self defense tips were passed down to us from older female relatives ever since we were old enough to need them. we have been doing this since puberty, or even younger. especially women who aren’t white, aren’t cis, and are working class. we have done this in our own neighborhoods, our own cities and communities. your mothers and grandmothers did this. our mothers and grandmothers taught this to us decades ago. this was not invented by podcast influencers trying to sell pepper spray keychains. this was done out of necessity for survival. not some made up fetishized idea of becoming a victim, but our actual real experiences of being victimized/knowing women who were victimized.

do true crime podcast influencers capitalize on this and promote fearmongering? absolutely yes. but don’t you fucking dare gaslight us by saying our fears are “crazy” or “self obsessed”. this site overuses the word gaslighting but i don’t think I’ve ever used the term more appropriately than right now.

ask yourself, who benefits from women letting their guard down and putting themselves in potentially dangerous situations in order to not seem like “one of those true crime girls”? to me, the answer is obvious but i feel like a lot of men / non-women won’t understand unless i explain in detail.