7 True Crime Podcasts That Do Women Justice
True crime is having a moment – or maybe more of an hour. From Netflix specials like Making a Murderer to the 2019 Bundy biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, there’s a plethora of grizzly content to consume. Young people (and especially women) everywhere have succumbed to a feverish morbid fascination – we just can’t get enough of serial killers, cults, and everything in-between.
In the last few years, hundreds of true crime podcasts have popped up covering specific abductions, cold cases and serial abusers, but there’s one issue which a lot of these shows get horribly wrong; yup, I’m talking about women. While trailblazers like Serial set the bar for podcast-journalism pretty high, there are still plenty of heinous tropes running rife in the true crime genre. There’s often a fixed idea of what constitutes an “acceptable” victim (spoiler alert – she’s a virginal blonde who says her prayers) not to mention a shedload of gratuitous violence amped up for dramatic effect, and the grotesque narrative around sex workers.
So if you’re keen to hop on the true crime bandwagon but can’t face being clobbered by patriarchal reporting, this one’s for you. Here’s a handful of true crime podcasts that won’t make your feminism shudder…
Rukmini Callimachi pictured at the ruins of a church in Mosul. Image sourced here.
Caliphate
Brought to you by The New York Times and presented by the award-winning journalist Rukmini Callimachi, Caliphate is a ten-part audio series which explores the Islamic State and the fall of Mosul. Callimachi’s reporting is both thoughtful and thought-provoking; she paints a vivid picture of Northern Iraq at the hands of ISIS. Speaking with compassion and integrity throughout, Callimachi artfully extracts information from unusual sources, including an interview with a former ISIS member.
Image sourced here.
Dirty John
Where Caliphate is hard-hitting, Dirty John is a little more digestible. An LA Times podcast as well as a widely-binged Netflix drama, Dirty John tells the story of serial con-artist, fake doctor and all-round scumbag John Meehan. The reporting is a little indulgent in that familiar true crime-y way, but each of the women he affected has the opportunity to speak for themselves.
Left to right: Rachel Fairburn and Kiri Pritchard-McLean. Image sourced here.
All Killa No Filla
Hosted by comedians Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Rachel Fairburn (equal parts filthy and fabulous), All Killa No Filla is the result of their mutual obsession with serial killers. From Fred and Rose West to Belle Gunness (a Norwegian-American serial killer active in the 1800s), they cover seriously wide ground, but while they remain respectful of the victims throughout, everyone else is subject to a fairly healthy roasting. Don’t let the name fool you – there’s quite a lot of filler, but the fun anecdotes will dispel your fear of being brutally murdered.
Image sourced here.
30 for 30: BIKRAM
Bikram Choudhury is the reason Bikram Yoga (aka Hot Yoga) gained popularity in the West. In his many years of success, he taught the likes of Madonna, Lady Gaga and David Beckham, but he was also accused of sexual battery, false imprisonment, discrimination and harassment. In 30 for 30: BIKRAM, his rise to fame and the unfolding controversy is slowly fleshed out in excruciating detail, but host Julia Lowrie Henderson keeps the truth and recovery of his victims front and centre throughout.
Left to right: Antwan Williams, Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods. Image sourced here.
Ear Hustle
Recorded for the most part inside San Quentin prison, California, Ear Hustle is a departure from classic true crime. Rather than hearing a journalist dive into a cold case, you’ll hear from the endearing, intelligent, and often spectacularly personable inmates themselves. They shed an easy light on the reality of life in the US prison system, with episodes on subjects like cellmates, death row and even dating. Co-hosted by visual artist and volunteer Nigel Poor and former inmate Earlonne Woods, this show is startlingly frank, charming and sensitive.
Image sourced here.
NPR: Believed
Comprised of nine short episodes, this series unravels the murky history of Larry Nassar, a USA Gymnastics National team doctor and now convicted serial child molester. Rather than zoning in on the upbringing of Nassar or the motivation for his crimes, co-hosts Kate Wells and Lindsey Smith interview several of the women he targeted – only a handful of the whopping 156 victims who testified against him in total. Believed sheds an important light on the wide and long-lasting ripple effect of a perpetrator like Nassar, and the undeniable force these women became when they came together to send him to jail.
Image sourced here.
Small Town Dicks
This show isn’t about national, high profile cases. Instead, it focuses on the minutiae of small town police work, and the everyday criminals detectives in local law enforcement have to reckon with in America. Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa Simpson!) hosts alongside Detectives Dan and Dave – you’ll hear real recordings of 911 calls as well as original police interview footage – prepare to be fascinated.
So there you have it! Next time you’re craving a little dollop of true crime, remember it doesn’t have to come riddled with problematic commentary. Each of these shows is available to download on the Apple podcast app as well as the Podcast Player app for Android, and you can find several of them on Spotify too.
Title illustration by Ana Hard. Catch her on Instagram @anahardesign.
