Girls, Gone

Women should relax but women shouldn’t drink. Women should be attractive but shouldn’t wear revealing clothes. Women shouldn’t have weapons but should consider carrying a weapon. Women should smile more, unless they’re smiling at the wrong person. Women should be friendly, but be careful about who they’re being friendly with. Women should be here to look at but shouldn’t walk like that. Women should be available but unavailable. Women should have sex, but above all, women especially shouldn’t have sex. Everyone knows the rules for women. But how do women learn what the consequences are when they find out this labyrinth has no safe exit?

Casey Johnston, our resident expert on all horrifying things, has written an incredible piece on the rules for women: in fiction, in life, and in that funny place where the two intersect, the ubiquitous and beloved genre known as true crime. Read the entire thing here.