What really matters here is that another woman has been murdered by a man. Male violence is an epidemic, it is killing women every single day, of every skin colour, every social class, etc. Rather than infighting over 'privilege' when it comes to media reporting of female victims of male violence, perhaps we could direct our energies to working together to publicise, protest about and push for change when it comes to male violence?
Last week we had the poor woman, her two children and her daughter's friend murdered in their beds by her boyfriend in the news.
This week it's Sabina.
A month or so ago the incel bloke on a rampage in Portsmouth, killing his mother before murdering bystanders.
In between these cases have been hundreds more that have gone totally unreported.
Why? Because they're often classed as 'isolated domestic violence' incidents.
Calling this violence 'domestic' minimises it and enables it to be brushed under the carpet. Anything to do with the domestic is automatically classed as to do with women and therefore of lesser importance.
Anything 'domestic' is also automatically labelled as 'isolated' - i.e. nothing to see here, move on, won't affect you. Absolute bollocks. All domestic violence cases are linked - linked to a wider societal acceptance of male violence which exists due to patriarchy and a sense of male entitlement which makes all women, everywhere, all the time, vulnerable to abuse and injury. If the same number of men were murdered by female partners as the other way around, there would be legislation, there would be task forces, there would be education, there would be outcry. But because it's 'just' women being obliterated off the face of the earth on a regular basis, no one in power does anything about it.
This is made even worse by the pathetic women who join the #notallmen chorus every time a woman is murdered. No, it's not all men. But it's ALWAYS MEN. Isn't it? Men kill men, men kill women. Male violence is a thing. It's statistically proven, in every society, all over the world, since time immemorial - in general, men are violent and women aren't. Just because your husband or son is lovely, doesn't mean you can ignore the fact that men in general are violent towards women. And if you include harrassment, heckling, groping, sexist comments, sex discrimination, etc within the terminology of 'violence' - then we're all experiencing this, every single day, and denial that we are is the greatest victory of the patriarchy, I'm afraid.
On the topic of the thread, yes, there is of course racial bias in the media, when it comes to everything. There is also class bias, location bias, etc. A poor white woman's murder, or a white prostitute's murder, is not going to get reported in the national news in the same way a middle or upper class white woman's murder will be. The murder of someone in London will undoubtedly get more attention than in Northumberland. A university educated black or Asian woman with a high flying career being murdered will generate much higher volumes of interest in the media than a benefit-collecting white woman's murder. Any murder related to suspected gang violence will be brushed under the carpet. This isn't just about race, and is just as much about class, actually - notice how Sabina's image in the press has been of her with her university degree - emphasising that this was an educated, professional woman. Had she been a single mum on a council estate, the press coverage would have been very different.However, comparing Sabina and Sarah is like comparing apples with oranges. Sarah Everard was missing for several days with the hope she would be found alive - much of the press coverage was appealing for witnesses to try and find her. Sabina was found already murdered and a suspect already arrested. There's no real 'hook' for the media to hang a story on there. Nonetheless, I disagree that she hasn't had plenty of media coverage. She has. As she should. I hope that the perpetrator is swiftly caught and rots in hell for all eternity. I grew up nearby and know where she was murdered well - it's a space I've always thought of as very safe and quiet, and again, just emphasises that male violence can happen to any of us, anywhere, any time. This is what we need to be uniting to fight. In order to protect all women, everywhere.