Media reporting the murder of women

[PaleGreenGhost]

Wouldn't it be great if we could get a national newspaper to agree to report every single murder of a woman, on a prominent page, daily. With a dedicated reporter liaising with police forces and trained in writing non victim-blaming reports that don't obscure the perpetrator. Just as a time defined trial.

I mean obviously it wouldn't be great it would be devastating.

I know the femicide census exists but having every crime reported at the time, reported as if they are of national urgency and seen by people not necessarily looking for that information, might help make the sheer scale of the crime visible.

And here I was thinking murder was a human problem.

Cancer is a human problem, and in the big picture view cancer is cancer, but you won’t get far studying or even discussing it if you aren’t allowed to distinguish between different types of cancer, different groups of cancer sufferers, different causes of cancer, common cancers vs rare cancers, and different cancer epidemiology in different countries.

The same is true of violence. Why are you so dedicated to making this discussion useless?

@AlecTrevelyan006
I’m a man - not sure if you’re a man or a woman - and I’m surprised that you can’t see the difference between most murders of men and most murders if women.

I’m surprised people cannot see the commonalities between murders by men of men and of women outnumber the differences. Same methods used. Similar reasons. Similar factors (substance abuse, parental abuse, poverty, access to weapon). The only real difference between the men that murder men vs women are in the type of relationship between murdering man and his victim.

@PlanDeRaccordement

I think most people would be aware than an observation should not be construed in such a way.

Best nonapology ever. And from someone so concerned about posting “in good faith” absolutely hilarious.

As for the rest, I am detecting that several posters on a thread in a UK forum about the reporting of the murder of women are a little ?? about the introduction of a death in Nigeria and several deaths in the USA in a manner that seems to be intended as counterpoints.

Are you suggesting that U.K. murderers and murders are materially different from foreign murderers and murders? And here I was thinking murder was a human problem.

I invite you to share this thread with a trusted ally. Perhaps with their assistance, you might reflect on the impression they form of your contributions and their relevance to the topic.

While the perpetrators in nearly all cases are men, the cause of the murders of men and the cause of the murders of women are very different. As a result, the (potential) solutions and are also very different.

Agreed. Do you have a sense as to whether the solutions-focused approach for the deaths of men and women might involve different data collection and analysis?

I just have big picture view that murder is murder

Yes, and 'All Lives Matter'? As this sentence suggests the same type of thinking

@allmywhat
I don’t think the discussion is useless?
Another thing to consider is that if we publish only the murders of women, then that drives perception. The perception will then be that most murder victims are women, which is the opposite of reality. And women will be even more afraid than they are now.

It’s already bad that posters are saying they worry more for daughters than sons when statistics say sons are twice as likely to murdered than daughters. That is in part a result of the “raising awareness” activity that has been done. What good has it done other than generate disproportionate fear in women? Has it actually reduced the number of women’s deaths? I see no evidence it has.

Every time we try to talk about women, people start up whingeing 'What about men?'

Well, men are the ones causing the trouble, encouraging each other, giving each other excuses (a 'rough sex' defence? Give me strength) and passing light sentences so their like are out to cause more harm in no time. Men are the ones telling us we have to believe they are women, and that we have to give more attention to their 'feelings' than to their own.

It's time to put aside the cause of 'men'. I'll be willing to care again when women are free of oppression. Right now, it's women. We need each other.

@MolyHolyGuacamole

I just have big picture view that murder is murder

Yes, and 'All Lives Matter'? As this sentence suggests the same type of thinking

No it doesn’t. Because Black Lives Matter is highlighting the higher rate of police brutality and death in custody of black people compared to white people. Black people are more likely to be murdered by police than white people

Yours is the All Lives Matter way of thinking because you’re centring women who are murdered at less than half the rate of men. Men are more likely to be murdered than women.

I don’t think the discussion is useless?

It's far from useless and I didn't say it was. I said your contributions to the discussion seem intended to render it useless. There's no point at all in chiming in with vague deepities like "murder is murder" and "murder is a human problem" when rational people are discussing more specific issues, unless the goal is to distract from the actually useful discussion.

That's not the right analysis because it completely ignores the power differentials - structural with both race and sex, and additionally physical with sex.

@DoesHePlayTheFiddle
Well, men are the ones causing the trouble, encouraging each other, giving each other excuses

Yes! As I’ve said from the start. The problem is male violence. It’s bigger than violence against women. It’s all the destruction they do and the systematic way they perpetuate their violence down the generations.

It may be bigger than violence against women, but let’s not pretend there aren’t particular issues with male violence towards women and the causes are different to male on male violence.

Putting a spotlight on women murdered by men, whether those men were strangers, lovers, ex-lovers, fathers and keeping it there is no bad thing. Railing against the structural discrimination that women face, pushing back against victim blaming, recognising that the root of violence against women and girls rests in power and power imbalance and challenging this is important.

The murder of men matters, of course it does, but denying the killing of women is firmly rooted in a male view of power does no one any favours.

All that would happen if male deaths were reported in the way the OP proposes for women is that women would be lost in the mix, dismissed as less of an issue.

@PlanDeRaccordement

Yes most women are killed by men, but so what? Why is a victim of one sex to be portrayed as a “matter of national urgency” while a victim of the other sex is to be ignored?

Surely, if the objective is to make male violence a “matter of national urgency” it would be more sobering and accurate to portray all the victims and not less than half of them?

This is feminism board. If men want to do the exact same thing I will not stand in their way, no one will. Even I'm struggling to see why this matters so much to you.

..if we publish only the murders of women, then that drives perception.
No one is suggesting that we only publicize the murders of women.

OP made an interesting suggestion to tackle a specific problem, lets discuss it;
''Wouldn't it be great if we could get a national newspaper to agree to report every single murder of a woman, on a prominent page, daily. With a dedicated reporter liaising with police forces and trained in writing non victim-blaming reports that don't obscure the perpetrator. Just as a time defined trial.''

I’ve just read through a whole series of papers about the contagion of violence and found a few interesting observations.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207247/?report=reader

On cause of and preventing domestic violence:
“Like the spread of acts of collective violence, evidence shows that exposure to interpersonal violence leads to additional acts of interpersonal violence. Speaker and planning committee member Charlotte Watts of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine noted that there is evidence of the relationship between intimate partner violence and other types of interpersonal violence. She cited the relationship between early exposures to child sexual abuse, violent households, and harsh punishment as a child, and a woman being more vulnerable later in life to experiencing violence (Abramsky et al., 2011). Furthermore, she pointed to evidence that similar early exposure to violence for men is linked to increased likelihood of perpetrating violence. This early exposure to violence can be the child being directly violated or witnessing violence in the home. Additionally, childhood exposure to interpersonal violence in the home can lead to the child's perpetration of interpersonal violence against peers later in life, through bullying and dating violence (Crooks, 2011).”

“Dr. Watts cited violence prevention intervention models and evaluations from Brazil and from South Africa that show that active engagement of men and boys to redefine masculinity can reduce the perpetration of intimate partner violence.”

“Dr. Watts suggested that changing social norms around the construct of masculinity has been shown to prevent the contagion of family violence. She also noted that intervention programs often focus on the woman who had been a victim of intimate partner violence, but do not address the children within the household. She suggested that interventions targeted for the entire household are key to interrupting the contagion of violence.”

This is interesting regarding suicides (self directed violence) and I wonder if anyone has studied the impact of media/news coverage of murder on the rate of murders? I think I read that news coverage of serial killers can lead to copycat serial killers.

“Forum member and planning committee chair Rowell Huesmann of the University of Michigan stated that evidence has clearly shown that media violence promotes the contagion of violence significantly and substantially. Dr. Gould highlighted the role of the media on suicide clusters. She cited that the most consistent finding is related to the dose-response effect, which is that there are significant increases in suicides when the frequency of media reporting on suicides increases.”

If this dose-response effect also applies, then dramatic front page constant media coverage of murdered women might result in increase?

Even I'm struggling to see why this matters so much to you.

Because we will not make progress on saving women’s lives if we don’t address the larger problem of male violence. All this talk that women are victims because they’re women is a defeatist circular argument. We can’t change our sex and such a narrative just makes women afraid. We shouldn’t be asking why someone is a victim, but why did the murderer kill? What made them violent?

Detangling how and why men become violent and murder is more complicated. This is an interesting study on how violence is similar to a contagious disease...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207245/#!po=51.7857

The only real difference between the men that murder men vs women are in the type of relationship between murdering man and his victim.

Exactly. And breaking them down by context and addressing the issue with the social context in mind is more useful than breaking them down by murder weapon. Many domestic abusers are sweetness and light outside the home and they would never ever attack a male stranger.

Take this man, for instance. So far, he has killed three female partners/ex-partners. Slightly different methods every time. The commonality is that he is an abusive man within intimate relationships.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/02/man-pleads-guilty-murdering-ex-girlfriend-angela-best-theodore-johnson

@PurgatoryOfPotholes
Yes agree. Fortunately he is in prison for life and has no arms, so don’t think he will kill again. Still for three women to be murdered before he was put away for life is shocking.

[quote PlanDeRaccordement]Even I'm struggling to see why this matters so much to you.

Because we will not make progress on saving women’s lives if we don’t address the larger problem of male violence. All this talk that women are victims because they’re women is a defeatist circular argument. We can’t change our sex and such a narrative just makes women afraid. We shouldn’t be asking why someone is a victim, but why did the murderer kill? What made them violent?

Detangling how and why men become violent and murder is more complicated. This is an interesting study on how violence is similar to a contagious disease...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207245/#!po=51.7857[/quote]
This idea from OP is simply a start. If we manage to get traction on this idea, more could be done maybe.

My own interpretation is that we spotlight murdered women (and who by) to get it in the public consciousness. If we can point to the daily lists and say to police, politicians, whoever that this isnt good enough.
Also to add any sentence later as we will all know who they are on about having read about it previously.

And then if men feel the need they too can petition the newspapers about a front page column for themselves.
I actually think that men do not like the spotlight being shone on their behaviour so I believe they wouldnt want this.
But frankly thsts not my problem.

My own interpretation is that we spotlight murdered women (and who by) to get it in the public consciousness. If we can point to the daily lists and say to police, politicians, whoever that this isnt good enough.
Also to add any sentence later as we will all know who they are on about having read about it previously.

Yes this is what I meant. Just an idea of something relatively simple and possibly achievable as in this time of declining newspaper readership perhaps a paper might like the image of being the first to get on board with this.

Just so the crimes are there, as basic fact. And people can decide for themselves if they're happy with what's being done about them.

I'm also not convinced it would necessarily increase the attitude of not letting girls outside so much out of fear, because so many of the murders are in the home.

@PlanDeRaccordement

Why only women? Over 70% of murder victims are men. So we just what, ignore them?

That may be the case. But when men are murdered, it is usually at the hands ofeither a perfect stranger or a known rival or enemy. Whereas when women are murdered, it's usually at the hands of their husband, boyfriend, son or father.

There's a WHO paper on changing the culture around violence you might be interested in;

Changing cultural and social norms that support violence
www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/norms.pdf