Using the Care Frame
The Full Story
In the last ten years, true crime podcasts have exploded into mainstream pop culture. Often, these stories explore issues of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, femicide, and intimate partner violence. While many listeners of true crime cite public education and learning how to keep themselves safe as two of the main motivations for following true crime, the genre itself often risks repeating the same issues of mainstream crime reporting when it comes to gendered violence, such as victim-blaming, rape mythology, and the perpetuation of problematic stereotypes.
The Care Frame: True Crime is a tool for true crime creators to avoid these issues and tell more “care-full” true crime stories about gender-based violence through the proposed “frame” method.
The Care Frame: True Crime was developed through a critical discourse analysis of seven serialized podcasts, and in consultation with eight subject matter experts on true crime storytelling. It is the first guide of its kind: A feminist "care frame" format for true crime storytelling. The four proposed frame sides: Expert GBV Analysis, Purposeful Storytelling, Narrative Style, and Storyteller Identity shape a methodology for both producers of true crime to thoughtfully produce content about gender-based violence, and, also provides a framework for consumers of true crime to critically listen to the stories to discern what is a care-full telling and what is not.
Four Foundational Principles
Consider each principle as you shape your story with care.
How to use the Care Frame: True Crime
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Start with the Walls: Before beginning your story, carefully consider each of the four walls that frame your narrative space.
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Reflect on Your Identity: Examine your own position, privileges, and relationship to the story you're telling.
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Define Your Purpose: Clearly articulate why this story needs to be told and how it serves survivors and communities.
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Choose Your Narrative Style: Select an approach that prioritizes care, respect, and dignity.
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Develop Your GBV Analysis: Consider the broader context of power, systems, and structures that contribute to gender-based violence.
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Create Within the Boundaries: Use the creative space to craft your story, always staying within the care-centered framework.
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Review and Refine: Regularly return to the four walls to ensure your story remains grounded in care-full principles.
Thank You
I would like to offer my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Mike Mopas, and committee member, Dr. Stéfy McKnight, for your incredible support on this project. Your feedback, wisdom, and guidance were invaluable to this project, and Dr. McKnight, without you, I would not have had the term “care-full” to shape all of this.
Additionally, this project would not have been possible without the knowledge and experience of all the creators and storytellers I interviewed. Thank you for being open to speaking with me, for thinking that this project might be worth something in your world, and for offering your time as a resource to co-create this tool. The world is better with great stories being told.
Dr. Max Liboiron's work on decolonizing climate change research shaped this project with a "sandbox" format turned Care Frame. Though we've never met, thank you Dr. Liboiron!
I am also grateful to Carleton University’s Sociology and Anthropology Department I have had the chance to study with, but thank you in particular to Dr. Aaron Doyle, Dr. Carlos Novas, and Dr. Kelly Fritsch. I am also deeply grateful to Dr. Matthew Yeager, who, many years ago, helped me understand the potential paths of an undergraduate degree in Criminology through Peter Gabriel and a big blue book.
Additional Resources
We recommend further reading to amplifying your understanding of the Care Frame method.
