Jeffrey Dahmer was born on May 26th, 1920, and is known as the Milwaukee Cannibal. He has killed 17 men and boys over the course of 13 years with the youngest being only fourteen years old and was charged with several counts of murder.

On September 21st, 2022, Netflix released their new limited series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. While this show has done phenomenally well, with an 86% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.4/10 on IMDb, the show has also accumulated quite a lot of controversy.

Fair warning, this show is not for the faint of heart. The first episode starts with Jeffrey in his apartment holding a bloody knife with which he killed his prior victims. This episode further goes to show the ways Jeffrey would lure his victims into his house and proceed to kill them. This show contains a lot of gore and violence and can make one squirm easily. Throughout the next few episodes, we learn about Jeffrey’s stories and how he turned out to be this horrific serial killer. In episode two we find out why Jeffrey turned out the way he was. His parents were consistently fighting and Jeffrey found his mom lying unconscious in her bedroom from a drug overdose. The episode continues to show Jeff disturbingly killing animals and dissecting them with his father. However detailed and engrossing this show may be, it is very harmful to the many families who had to live through this tragedy.

It has come to light that Netflix had depicted the real victims of Jeffrey Dahmer’s murders within the series. One of the many families depicted in this show was the Isabell/Lindsay family. Rita Isabell was the sister of one of the victims. She was not made aware of the plans made by Netflix, nor did they inform her. They used the same clothing she wore as well as the same hairstyle the day of the trial.

“I think it’s messed up,” said junior Victoria Castillo. “It’s obvious that some people would not be comfortable with sharing that part of their lives, they should have some decency and ask the families of the victims.” Several students had similar opinions on this topic and they all agreed that what Netflix did was unacceptable.

Not only did they not inform the families, but they used the real victims’ names. Imagine how tragic it is to see the way your child died at the hands of a monster.

“They should’ve at least put a warning out for the family and viewers because this is a very traumatic event, and the families should be the ones to speak on behalf of the victims. Their parents would not want to be reminded that their child had been murdered all over again,” said senior Bella Bertorelli.

Let it be advised that episode two can be hard to watch for some people, it showcased one of Dahmer’s victims, a 14-year-old being led into his apartment.

“The show was very sickening to watch. The acting was portrayed perfectly, and it sent chills down my spine. If you can handle seeking inside the mind of a twisted psychopath, then you would love the documentary,” said junior Sofia Marquez.

One must ask themselves if they want to support this show. It has been revealed that Netflix did not inform the families about the production, nor did they tell them when the show was released. Even though this is public information everybody would want to know if their story is being told and if it is being told accurately. The best way to spread awareness is a precise explanation of what truly happened.