Imagine a man who killed and often ate 17 victims, having mainstream television content created about him and his life. Though this scenario may seem like that of a dystopian universe, this scenario is sensationalized in the case of Jeffrey Dahmer—the most recent content being Netflix’s biopic “Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” created by Ryan Murphy.

Who is Jeffrey Dahmer? 

The “Milwaukee Cannibal” Jeffrey Dahmer was notorious for luring men and underage boys to his apartment under the impression of sexual interest, torturing, murdering, and eating their corpses after performing necrophilia. His victims include 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, 19-year-old Errol Lindsey, and 31-year-old Anthony Hughes. Read more about Dahmer’s victims.

What led to his arrest in 1991 was when Tracy Edwards escaped Dahmer’s apartment after five hours of capture and found two police officers on North 25th Street in Milwaukee. When the officers noticed that Edwards’ handcuffs could not be unlocked without Dahmer’s keys, they decided to return to the apartment. As the officers examined Dahmer’s apartment, they found knives and a dresser with Polaroid photos of corpses.

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Relatives of the killer’s victims have expressed that the show has resurfaced their trauma.

 Shirley Hughes, the mother of Anthony Hughes, recently “condemned” the series, stating that she “doesn’t understand how the television show could be made.” Though Hughes is now 85 years old, she is still grieving her son’s murder and is part of a larger group of people whose relatives were murdered by Dahmer.

Errol Lindsey’s cousin Eric Perry stated that Netflix “wasn’t required to consult victims’ families because the events it portrayed are public record.” Despite this, the depiction of events was sufficient to re-traumatize.

Errol Lindsey’s sister, Rita Isbell, was dismayed to see her courtroom speech to Dahmer—in which officers had to restrain her from attacking him—reenacted and used as a meme.

Many fans of “true crime” – non-fiction media in which an author investigates a true crime case – have stated that they had little knowledge of the severity of Dahmer’s crimes prior to watching the series. They highlighted episode 6 about Anthony Hughes.

Critics argue that there was an excessive focus on the sexual montages of Dahmer, such as the footage of him with a stolen mannequin while music plays in the background. However, compared to “My Friend Dahmer,” a biopic exploring Dahmer’s troubled high school years, “Monster” is less sympathetic and focuses more on his impact on the victims.

In addition, there have been great amounts of content related to Jeffrey Dahmer released recently. For instance, “Fresh Meat” was released in 2021, “My Friend Dahmer” in 2017, “The Jeffrey Dahmer Files” in 2012, and “Dahmer” in 2002.

This poses the question:

when will this exhaustive cycle of Dahmer content end?