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When does a story about evil become evil itself? On Oct. 3 of this year, Netflix released the third season of its Monster <\/strong>series, which also includes \u201cMonster: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story\u201d and \u201cMonster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.\u201d This most recent release follows the life story of infamous serial killer Ed Gein<\/a> (Charlie Hunnam, \u201cThe Gentlemen\u201d), who is notorious for having dug people up from their graves and skinned human corpses to fashion furniture. Gein grew up under the influence of a mother who taught him that the world was full of sin, but idolized her in spite of these harsh lessons. Upon her death, Gein stayed holed up in the farmhouse that they shared, and, inspired by his obsession with her, he began creating a skin suit to quasi-resurrect and, according to the show, \u201cbecome\u201d her. The series took this unconfirmed fact and ran with it, portraying Gein as a cross-dressing, transgender woman and indirectly suggesting that this was a main motivator for his crimes. <\/p>\n The opening scene of the season displays Gein dancing around his house, donning a skin suit, a dress and heels. The show also often depicts Gein pleasuring himself while wearing women\u2019s undergarments, as if he is aroused by his own femininity. In the fourth episode, Gein even has sex with a woman in exchange for being allowed to wear her bra and underwear. I almost pitied him, assuming he was transgender and coping with untreated mental illness, raised by a family that didn\u2019t support him in either transitioning or seeking psychiatric support \u2014 but I was soon proven wrong. In real life, there is absolutely zero evidence<\/a> suggesting that Gein ever engaged in cross-dressing, which is a major plot point in the series. The emphasis the show places on Gein\u2019s cross-dressing was absolutely unnecessary, then, and clearly done to dramatize Gein\u2019s life in a way that weaponizes the transgender community.<\/p>\n What makes this choice even stranger is how blatantly it contradicts the show\u2019s claim to tell the \u201ctrue story\u201d of Ed Gein. If a series markets itself as rooted in fact, fabricating such a central detail crosses from dramatization into outright deception. There is no historical record, witness account or police report suggesting that Gein ever wore women\u2019s clothing, yet the show builds entire scenes \u2014 and its opening image \u2014 around this falsehood. It\u2019s not just inaccurate, it\u2019s irresponsible, especially when audiences have been told that what they\u2019re watching reflects reality.<\/p>\n On the whole, the show seemed to be attempting to foster audience sympathy for Gein\u2019s actions. He is depicted as being very weak-minded and easily influenced, taking inspiration from everything he reads and every word spoken to him. He also has a childish voice and vocabulary, which allows his character to play the \u201cchild card\u201d and attempt to validate his immaturity. Hunnam\u2019s acting was admittedly high-quality, but he is also a conventionally attractive man, which, historically<\/a>, has only heightened the audience\u2019s tendency to sympathize with Monster protagonists. Lyle Menendez (Nicholas Alexander Chavez, \u201cGeneral Hospital\u201d), Erik Menendez (Cooper Koch, \u201cPower Book II: Ghost\u201d) and Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters, \u201cAmerican Horror Story\u201d) were also all played by conventionally attractive men in the other additions to this Monsters series, causing both the shows and featured murderers to gain popularity<\/a> as people\u2019s outlooks on these criminals became overwhelmingly more positive. <\/p>\n