Megan Newborough: another beautiful and vibrant young woman murdered in the prime of her life

[EmmatheStageRat]

…just that really. The images of this beautiful and vibrant young woman haunt me. She was nearly decapitated by her boyfriend murderer, Ross McCullam. Just WHAT are parents of boys teaching them about positive relationships with females?

I wish people would stop saying "beautiful" when talking about a woman being murdered. I'm not sure what her looks have to do with it. What if she wasn't "beautiful"? Would that be different?

OFGS, no, let’s just agree that it’s okay for ugly people to be murdered. Does ‘beautiful’ only have to relate to physical appearance? Would Megan’s family describe her as a ‘beautiful’ person? But, hey, let’s tie ourselves up in knots talking shit while more girls and women are murdered by men.

Penance has a point though, Emma. It's tragic regardless of the attractiveness of the woman. Her youth makes it somehow worse because she's missed out on life.

Attractive women get so much more attention.

Have you a son OP?

I have, I'm sure as hell not teaching him to murder women. I hope however that I model good behaviour. There are lots of things I don't specifically tell him (and my daughters) not to do, or conversely to do, but I hope they all absorb positive interactions and responses.

No, I have two girls. Both of them vulnerable.

It's horrific, OP. I don't think the blame should go to the parents though, but lie squarely with the perpetrator.

Absolutely horrifying thing to happen.

Right, I will ask MNHQ to amend the title to ‘very plain girl is quite rightly murdered by a man’. Better? Fucks sake, some people genuinely cannot see the wood for the trees. Regardless of the DEAD young woman’s appearance, and the shade of her lipstick, she was murdered by an entitled male.

The images of her show her as vibrant, young and with all the future potential of her life ahead of her, however she might have chosen to spend it. But now she hasn't got that chance due to the violent acts of this man.

There should be much more investigation and research into the backgrounds of men that kill in this way, to determine what common factors are in their upbringing. Then money spent to address any identified issues that could be improved by early interventions in families at risk of creating violent men. But it's just not a priority for government, any government it seems.

Amen to this!

Regardless of the DEAD young woman’s appearance, and the shade of her lipstick, she was murdered by an entitled male.

Yes, this the point.

Megan’s body was found on a country lane a couple of miles from my house. McCullam’s trial hasn’t had a high profile on the national media, but it has been covered extensively in the local press. Given the number of aggravating factors in this case I was hoping he would be sentenced to a whole life term, as was WayneCozens for the murder of Sarah Everard. The judge sentenced him to a pathetic 23 years instead, meaning he will still have decades of life ahead of him when he is released.

The justice system in this country is a fucking joke. Unless there is a huge media outcry about a case, the courts simply will not impose proper sentences on men who murder women.

Attractive women get so much more attention ? Wtf have I just read.

I would be really embarrassed to be this pedantic on the off-chance that Megan’s family was reading this thread. If you’re trying to imply that I’m only touched by her death because I’ve seen an aesthetically pleasing photo of her, then you are most definitely wrong. As the parent of two vulnerable girls/young women, I am terrified that they could encounter the likes of the monster who took Megan’s life while pretending to be in a relationship with her. Rather than split hairs over semantics, can’t we at least agree on the Feminism board that every death of a female at the hands of a male is wrong, regardless of how they look aesthetically?

I know!

After the shootings in Plymouth, (male shot dead 5 others) I remember commenting on a thread that to prevent it occuring again we needed to try to learn why it happened. How and why are these young men ending up like this? Parents, schools, society all having a role in this.

I basically got called a do gooder who was feeling too sorry for the perpetrator. Everyone has a role to play, and not just the parents of boys. People don't want to hear that, easier just to drill down and blame one factor, usually the mother.

Well it's true. (In terms of media coverage, which I presumed the PP meant)

I think you need to cool it. We agree on the general point. I only mentioned something I found crass, which is to talk about a woman's beauty when the whole point is that she's dead, "beautiful" or not.

You've then insinuated you meant another kind of beauty - perhaps you meant beautiful soul because you know her personally - and that's fine.

We agree on the general point which is what I replied to in my second post. I'm not here to rant or call each other names.

Surely you don't dispute this? Women are murdered everyday. The more attractive they are the more media attention they get.

Well, why start then? This is why entitled males get away virtually scot-free with murdering women. Because we’re all too busy arguing about bullshit semantics and not getting angry at the root cause of this issue, be it societal influences, pornography, generations of sexism and misogyny, poor parenting, etc etc.

barely a day goes by without hearing about these vile occurrences. You know what? Men don’t seem to care. We are so conditioned to accept that women get murdered that it’s just tolerated. If heterosexual men were getting sexually assaulted and found slaughtered in driveways and dumped in rivers everyone on a regular basis we would be sitting up and asking ‘what the fuck is going wrong’?

Men get away with it because they are men, not because women are too busy arguing about semantics.

@Mezmer , I couldn’t agree more. But on this board it seems we’re too busy tying ourselves up in knots about whether the victim is deemed to be physically attractive or not, like some incredibly distorted version of victim blaming. Once and for all, I apologise for my obfuscating description of Megan as a ‘beautiful’ young woman. Honestly, who the hell cares what anyone ‘looks’ like when they are dead, killed at the hands of a violent male? Please, can we move forward from the micro-aggressions about my subject line and actually start to feel appalled that yet another woman, with potentially years of life and opportunity ahead of her has been killed by the hands of a man? Is this AIBU or is it the Feminism board?

Men get killed at a much higher rate, I'm not sure there is much going on in trying to lower the rate.

I need to read this properly, but it breaks it all down.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/homicideinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2021

By men. It's men. Men are the problem.

Exactly!