"Beautiful women"

[InvisibleMoonDancer]

I have never considered myself a feminist until very recently and I'm still in the process of learning more every day.

Today, I noticed something while watching a murder documentary, the narrator said "he killed two beautiful young women" and I came to the realisation that I see this in the news all the time but have never paid attention.
So even after being murdered we are referred to in the media as "a beautiful young woman" or something along those lines but yet men are never referred as "handsome young man" if they are brutally murdered.

Because women are always objects to gaze upon and admire first and human beings second. Beauty is an accident of birth and not even half of the story about any woman's life, and yet it's a key thing we often observe and commemorate about women. It helps us to gloss over women's inner lives, their struggles and their achievements. Oh she was beautiful! Nothing more, nothing less.

They might say "beautiful young men" though. I've heard that said by people in grief.

But yes I agree about the way young female victims are portrayed. Its worse in fiction, movies, etc.

@Doona

They might say "beautiful young men" though. I've heard that said by people in grief.

But yes I agree about the way young female victims are portrayed. Its worse in fiction, movies, etc.

"Beautiful young man" / "lovely young man" is used.

I don't take it , in this context that it means
"Oh she was beautiful! Nothing more, nothing less" but more in the context of all young life being beautiful.

I can see how you might read it in that way MissBarbary. I'm just so used to young women being reduced to their looks in popular culture.

Classically “beautiful” women are given far more air time when they are victims of crime. I read a lot of Ann Rule true crime books and although I enjoy them I get very frustrated with the focus on the women’s looks. Repeatedly.

Good looking female victims of crime get much more attention than other ones.

If a paper (certain ones) can get hold of pics of the victim in bikini etc they will publish lots of them.

The value of women and girls is still heavily about their looks and girls and women are used as decorative all over the TV papers etc.

I think the idea that they meant beautiful on the inside is a massive stretch Tbh.

Also beauty is in the eye of the society. Missing white woman syndrome is a thing.

There is a fetishisation of violence, and sexual violence against women, to the portrayal of murder victims on tv and in the media. Plus there's an uncomfortable crossover between the increase in violent porn and violence towards women in tv and films.

Women victims are also generally ‘mum’ ‘gran’... much more then male victims I think.

Not just the media though - everyday people too. When a women is killed and the news is spread on SM, comment will follow saying something along the lines of ‘tragic, and she was just so beautiful as well’. Which sounds like it wouldn’t be as tragic if she wasn’t as beautiful.

I also think the male response to such things also becomes much more primal if the victim was ‘beautiful’ - often along the lines of ‘he should be hunted down and strung up’, ‘they should put me in a room with him for 5mins’.

Not necessarily crime articles, but just normal every day stuff, how often do we read; 'The 34 year old brunette had been visiting the area blah blah' when it's about a man? Never. Yet a woman's haircolour is always seen as relevant. Pure objectification.

Women are usually described as ornaments ("beautiful young woman") or caregivers ("devoted mum/gran), wheareas men are described in terms of what they do - "successful business man", "keen sportsman", "engineering student." If they are described as a dad it's usually preceded with "hardworking" - eg: "hardworking dad of four."