The true crime industry has become a billion-dollar empire, filled with podcasts, documentaries, streaming series and books. Women dominate the genre’s audience, but what is the reason for this fascination with murder and other mysteries? Forensic psychologist Dr. Rachel Toles exclusively tells In Touch that it may be less about obsession and more about survival.

“It is one of the number one questions that I get when I go on tour talking about true crime and true crime stories, because 90 percent of my audience members are female, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that 90 percent of homicides are committed by males,” Toles tells In Touch Investigates’ Kristin Thorne.

Toles says that while “a man’s biggest fear” when meeting someone from online for the first time is that the person doesn’t look like their photos, “a woman’s biggest fear” is that she might be killed.

“So there’s something to that. I think that women disproportionately consume true crime because they live in a world that disproportionately targets them,” Toles continues. “So when people hear about women who like true crime, they often accuse them of maybe rubbernecking trauma, like, they’re like, ‘What’s the deal here?’ But they’re also studying patterns.”

Toles adds that women who listen to true crime stories often aren’t doing it for the “excitement” of it.

“There is something about studying patterns. I’ve always said that true crime is like a woman’s DIY survival guide,” she says.

Toles also says that once women become mothers, they often “realize how dangerous the world can be.”

As for why men aren’t as into true crime as women, Toles suggests that they “don’t want to sit with the discomfort of, ‘It’s too real. It’s too unsettling. Knowing that we are statistically way more capable of this. We’re more likely to do it.’”

She adds that men might have “a little bit of judgment” in their minds if they see a woman “watching a lot of true crime.”

“So, you know fairy tales, if you think about them, historically, they’ve always been coded survival manuals for girls. Don’t talk to wolves (men). Don’t go into the woods alone. Beware of the charming prince who isn’t what he seems,” Toles says. “You know, true crime is the modern-day dark fairy tale. It’s not a tale of romance or rescue, but of detection, escape and grit.”

She concludes, “The woman in the story doesn’t just doesn’t get saved. She saves herself, or sometimes, tragically, most of the time, when it comes to true crime, doesn’t. But we, as the observers, cannot be that when we can be the final girl, we get to be the final girl, because we know how this is going to go down.”

Toles is a clinical psychologist and criminal expert from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In her touring masterclass, The Psychology of Serial Killers, she “explores the terrifying minds of the world’s most infamous serial killers,” including what motivated them to kill and why people are captivated by their crimes.