Mumsnet Talk

Just unbelievable that the Sun publishes photos of Reeva Steenkamp in a bikini after she's been murdered with the headlines: ""3 Shots. Screams. Silence".

The media trying to eroticise domestic violence, basically trying to titillate men with this story, is just another example of with how little respect the issue of gender violence is treated even in the most "so called" civilised places in the world.

It's an just a tragic irony that this coincides with the One Billion Rising global action campaign to raise awareness of violence against women all over the world.

Words are failing me badly right now. It's just so utterly disgusting to see how women and women's issues are portrayed by the media.

Roy Greenslade, in the Guardian, does an excellent synopsis of journalistic responses to the Sun's truly awful headline, with lots of links.

www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2013/feb/15/sun-oscar-pistorius

It is shocking that Reeva Steenkamp is not even named on the front page. And the reality show that she was on has gone ahead and used all her footage, getting away with using her born and death dates as a tacky add on.

Thank you, Greenhill. Very good article indeed.

I wouldnt have expected any less from the Sun to be honest. They are exploiting her death.
This is an extremely sad, tragic event and should not be glamourised in any way. The families deserve better.
Then again, it sellss their shite newspaper for them doesnt it.

Here is a lovely blog post about [[ http://cratesandribbons.com/2013/02/16/reeva-steenkamp-and-media-representation/ Reeva]] who of course should be the focus of ours and The Sun's attention.

Try again

There is another thread on this in aibu? I agree it was vile.

There was also a discussion about it in r5 and a man supporting the picture said 'it doesn't matter as she won't be complaint' well no, because she is dead!! Ffs

Thanks a lot for all your comments and link to blog post. There's been quite a lot of outrage everywhere by the way the media is portraying this case. I'm glad that's happening. The fact that he was famous and successful doesn't rule out the possibility that he was violent or an abuser in RL.

We live in a world where identity seems to be mainly constructed or deconstructed online, or by the media. We don't know anymore who people really are. The first thing I heard on the radio after the news of the murder was what a great, nonviolent person he was and that they couldn’t believe he would have done something like that. So the focus was immediately on his achievements, his great character, how noble he was while a woman was dead, presumably by his hand.

She seemed like a very decent, very intelligent and very kind (since she didn't mind going out with someone with a serious physical disability) person who deserves a lot more respect than the one she's been given so far. Just because she was a model, it seems to give the media leeway to portray as just a "sexy" thing with no humanity whatsoever to her other than her attractive body. Putting the focus on that, rather than on the real horror of the story, that a vulnerable woman died undeservingly and under obscure circumstances, only confirms that we live in a society that is very sick at worst, or very dysfunctional, at best.

ERM sorry but going out with someone with a disability doesn't make someone kind.

Regardless tho she seemed to do a lot of work for we omens charities some regarding domestic violence etc and she was a graduated law student and had a lot to offer the world.

But actually even if she wasn't beautiful or smart or amazing it would still be a tragedy that she was killed. She was a human, a persons with family and friends.

The media focus on Oscar and his anguish is sickening, yes he us famous, but a woman has died! Am I right in thinking that the sun newspaper that had Reeva on the front cover didn't even mention her name along with the picture?!

Marina hyde's article is very good and quite insightful:
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/15/reeva-steenkamp-body-on-front-page