The media likes to romanticize the wrong people: murderers, rapists, and criminals in general. Richard Ramirez, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer have gone viral over social media not only because of the horrifying crimes they’ve committed but also because of their “attractiveness.” Fans have gone as far as to make edits and try to prove these murderers innocent. Across TikTok, many fans claim that due to “pretty privilege” these murderers can get away with what they did and use their past to defend their actions. They may say “They were a good a kid when they were younger,” as if that defends the fact they murdered someone.

Richard Ramirez, also known as “The Night Stalker,” is a very well-known serial killer from the 1980s. He is recently blowing up due to the Netflix series revolving around his story called “The Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer” where they share how he was caught and how he lured his victims into killing them. In this series, they mentioned how girls would show up to his trial just because they thought he was very attractive. They also used his looks as an excuse to defend him from what he had done. In an Oxygen article, they shared a quote a fangirl shared during his trial, saying “I know that he’s a nice person.” Grunge even went into detail about how a girl named Doreen Lioy continuously sent Ramirez letters until they got married. They even shared a CNN interview where Lioy said that she believed Ramirez is innocent and is “Overlooked due to his reputation.” She also stated in this interview that Ramirez is kind, funny, and charming. She thinks he’s a great person, and he’s her best friend and her buddy.

Ted Bundy is also a hugely known serial killer that was around in the 1970s. From 1974-1978, for 4 years straight he abducted, bludgeoned, and killed at least 20 women, and possibly even more. Lots of theories are surrounding why he specifically killed women. One theory that sticks out is how he was out for revenge on his first girlfriend. Women’sHealth shared how Bundy’s first girlfriend, Diane Edwards, had nice things and a family, and Bundy would lie and say he had nice things and a nice family even though he did not. He also revealed how this relationship brought out a lot of his insecurities since Edwards had things he didn’t. When Edwards ended the relationship he desired some sort of revenge on her, which left many people wondering if Bundy’s murders had to do with the revenge he was talking about. Most of the victims looked the same: they were white, slim, and had long black hair just like Edwards. Netflix also released a movie about Bundy, called “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.” They shared his story, and just like they did with the series about Ramirez, they shared how he attracted the media due to his looks. Even now, many girls on social media like to fangirl and make edits about Bundy, claiming deep down he was a very charming person as if that excuses what he did to these poor girls.

Recently, Jeffery Dahmer also went viral over the media since this year Netflix released a series about Dahmer called “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.” Dahmer was known for intoxicating his victims with drugs and then killing them, these victims mostly being black men. As disgusting as it sounds, he even went as far as to cook his victims and eat them. According to Biography, this all happened between 1978-1991. In Dahmer’s Netflix series, they shared a scene where Dahmer was in prison and a fan had sent him money; $5-20 along with a letter stating how he’s Dahmer’s biggest fan, and how even though many people think what he did was wrong, the fan personally thinks what Dahmer did was cool. Not only did Dahmer himself get loads of attention, but so did the actor that played Dahmer in the series, Evan Peters. Many people congratulated Peters due to his acting skills and how well he played Dahmer. But Peters said “It felt important to be respectful to the victims, to the victims’ families, to try to tell the story as authentically as we could,” in a Netflix interview. It is very important to not sexualize the actors and to have respect for the families and victims because they are still suffering to this day. Across TikTok, many people tend to fail and continuously make edits of Dahmer and attempt to prove his innocence.

We have to respect victims’ families and the victims themselves while watching a documentary about serial killers. Not only is it harmful to the victims, but also to their families to see people in the media repeatedly defend the killer of their family member. Have some respect and do not sexualize the actors playing the role, and especially do not sexualize the actual criminal. Let’s change the media and not let it continue to sexualize and romanticize serial killers.