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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to be annoyed by this?

175 replies

falcon · 01/08/2008 12:49

We recently had an attack on a woman here in Glasgow, she was viciously assaulted and it's getting the appropriate publicity.

However what annoys me is that in every report they refer to the woman as a prostitute.

Does it really matter if she's a prostitute or a 'respectable' finance manager?

Is she of less importance because of her job?I think not, so why must they constantly make mention of it when they could just say 29 year old woman instead?

I understand it's of course relevant to the police and their enquries, but perhaps not so relevant to the general public.

It seems to me that it's almost a way of saying, it didn't happen to one of us, we nice normal respectable people.

OP posts:
noonki · 01/08/2008 21:06

i read in the paper that more sex worker murders go unreported than reported

no one knows they have gone

ExterminAitch · 01/08/2008 21:11

i know someone who works with trafficked women, nooki. it would turn your hair white to hear what goes on. and then when they escape, how our poxy asylum system treats them.

mablemurple · 01/08/2008 21:13

Men attack prostitutes because they dislike women, and it just so happens that prostitutes are easier to attack because it is easier to lure them into isolated places. It is NOT relevant to mention her "profession" and it just demonstrates how, even in 2008, women are still divided into those who are "good girls" and those who are not, with the latter not being so deserving of our sympathy or help.

mablemurple · 01/08/2008 21:16

So no, you are NOT BU.

ExterminAitch · 01/08/2008 21:19

it is absolutely as relevant as it was to mention the professions of the other two women who were recently murdered in glasgow...

plus, if a male sex worker was killed it would be mentioned too.

what newspaper reports only half the story? it's ridiculous. she was a prostitute, she's been attacked, it's relevant. if she turns out to have a blindingly fascinating personal story, that will also be reported.

chefswife · 01/08/2008 21:28

it is relevant and normal to report on her profession. what makes people say it's not is because they are typecasting from a supposed righteous point of view. victims of heinous crimes professions and the people they leave behind are all reported. others in society may feel that prostitutes are asking for it, just as the young girl wearing sexy clothes apparently asked to raped. that's not right either. it is unfortunately a hazard in that profession that you will be assaulted and possibly murdered. this is where government legalizing the profession would help.

it is normal within society to ask what someone's profession is. that is the first discussion at a party when you meet someone new... 'what do you 'do'?'

noonki · 01/08/2008 21:31

exterminAitch - it makes my blood run cold when I think about trafficked women.

The scale of it now is so horrendous. I have worked with many asylum seekers and the way the system works is terrible

and the lack of resources put into saving trafficked women is so poor

as was said before

what
if
it was
your
child

mablemurple · 01/08/2008 21:35

But why is it relevant in a murder like this to report anyone's profession at all? It does not matter in the slightest what these women did - it's certainly nowhere near half the story. The press use "prostitute" as shorthand for "well, she was asking for it, wasn't she - she's only got herself to blame" and it is naive to pretend otherwise.

ExterminAitch · 01/08/2008 21:36

if it was my child i'd be heartbroken and i'd wonder where i'd gone wrong tbh. this might make me lash out at newspapers for reporting that my child was a prostitute when i want to remember her as a bonny six-year-old. i can understand that. but it doesn't make her lifestyle/work as an adult irrelevant.

ExterminAitch · 01/08/2008 21:38

mabel, are you familiar with the fact that glasgow sex workers often speak of a serial killer in the area? that they complain that the council is sitting on the story because they don't want the bad publicity? that there have been a number of sex workers killed in the city and outskirts in the last few years?

THAT'S why it's relevant.

SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore · 01/08/2008 21:41

yes its relevent but lets face it if was a worker from asda would the headline say "asda cashier attacked" or "young woman brutally attacked"

it could have been mentioned in the main body of the article it was not necessary to be in the headline. the victim was in fact a young woman. prostitution was her job not what she was. the media refer to these woman as prostitutes as if that is all they are.

noonki · 01/08/2008 21:41

I do think it is relevant -

remember the poor estate agent that was killed - that changed the way that all home visits have been carried out in this country

unfortunately if any other profession had had as many collegues killed, the government would have changed laws / legislation to ensure that the amount of deaths declined.

In our society these women are so marginalised and it is such a political debate no party will dare touch it.

noonki · 01/08/2008 21:42

but saying that the press definately overplay the term prostitute and underplay the fact that they were a person

ExterminAitch · 01/08/2008 21:43

if there had been five other asda cashiers killed in the last few years, i guarantee you the headline would not have read 'young woman killed'. don't know why people are so mimsy about this... gotta say, street workers are street workers, they really are defined by their jobs, their addictions, their marginal lifestyles.

oi · 01/08/2008 21:44

snort at mimsy

noonki · 01/08/2008 21:45

yes ea but the papers definately underreport these murders

ExterminAitch · 01/08/2008 21:45

noonki, if there's an interesting story about the person that they were, the features desk would be all over themselves trying to get it. unfortunately the plotline 'care... abuse... homelessness... domestic violence... addiction' isn't front page news.

ExterminAitch · 01/08/2008 21:46

or page nine, even. unless it's the wifey's section, of course.

noonki · 01/08/2008 21:46

that is too true...

noonki · 01/08/2008 21:49

I get so annoyed at the press, they hugely influence the way people think and yet have no morals when it comes to what they say will influence society

think rape cases/conviction rates (with the over representation of 'she cried rape stories in the press')

ExterminAitch · 01/08/2008 21:49

over to you on that one, oi...

oi · 01/08/2008 21:50

lol

just typed a post and deleted it (sigh)

I shall say just one thing...people buy papers, papers print stories that people will buy.

mablemurple · 01/08/2008 21:53

Sorry - still don't see why it's relevant - if there is a serial killer in the Glasgow area then ALL women are in danger, not just prostitutes. If you are saying that the council is sitting on the story BECAUSE they are prostitutes, then that is a completely different story where it WOULD be relevant to report their job, because they, as a group of people who do a particular job, are being discriminated against. But to report that a prostitute has been murdered - nope, not relevant.

MsDemeanor · 01/08/2008 21:53

Every single report of a crime will include the victim's job. Prostitute, vicar, accountant, second hand car salesman, greengrocer...whatever. It's one of the few early facts available.

noonki · 01/08/2008 21:55

are you a journo ea?

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