"Inconvenient victims": another brilliant piece by Victoria Smith

[RoyalCorgi]

She is so good. She puts her finger on something that has disturbed me for a long time - the minimisation of violence against women if the perpetrator belongs to a group that progressives regard as underprivileged:

thecritic.co.uk/inconvenient-victims/

That is such an insightful article.

Yes, it's a very worrying trend.

I know on Lipstick Alley they talk about the pressure on black women in America not to call the police on abusive husbands and partners because of police brutality against black men. And also how they feel they can't highlight the number of domestic murders because of how the statistics may be misused.

Really good article with very thought provoking points

And I'm v glad she spells out her objecttions to the death penalty too.

that's a good article. The reporting of the recent case has driven me nuts so I shall just say my version of what their headlines should have been then I'm off to forage for breakfast.

Beverly Guenther was stalked, raped and brutally murdered by a man called Scott McLaughlin. That Man has now been executed.

Excellent article.

Male pattern violence is male pattern violence. It remains so important to be able to know and talk about and keep data on this.

The current "progressive" thinking is so binary, for want of a better term. It cannot conceive of any other positions than liberal misogynists for whom women are public property, or right wing racist misogynists for whom women are private property.

She’s always excellent. I found it downright disrespectful of Beverly’s murder to call the man who did it a woman.

Scott murdered her. Amber is an invention of Scott’s.

One of the things I dislike a lot is when you see comments suggesting that a white victim is somehow more privileged than Black or ethnic minority victims. So, for example, when Sarah Everard was murdered, a lot of people seemed to think that her case was given far more coverage than normal because she was young, white and attractive. The clear implication was that this made her more privileged than a Black victim - even though it's difficult to see how a woman who has been murdered is in any respect privileged.

I get very fed up with it. It always seems designed to obscure the real problem - male violence against women - in order to virtue signal about race/

That's a very good article. The reporting of Scott McLaughlin's execution has completely sickened me.

Male violence is male violence. The one certainty across any group of people (race etc) is that the majority of violence is populated by the males of that group.

Although there will certainly be important things to distinguish across groups, ultimately we need to work on: how the hell do we stop the male violence problem and keep women and girls safe?

It’s a good point regarding inconvenient victims but I’d argue the narrative about a TW murderer follows the same pattern as narratives regarding female murderers. Anytime a woman murders anyone, there is an all pervasive reaction that seeks to excuse the killing. If the woman murders a man, well then he must have been abusive and driven her to it. If a woman murders her children, well then she must have been mentally ill and not known what she was doing. It’s result of the application of the TWAW belief.

@Onnabugeisha - we're having a conversation about male violence against women. If you'd like to talk about the very small number of women who kill other people, perhaps you could start a new thread?

Back on topic, i follow a Facebook group called The Black Femicide Prevention Coalition which is a U.S. group documenting the murders of black women and girls. One black woman or girl is murdered every 5.25 hours in the US

Did you read yesterday’s BBC article about the 100 year anniversary of the execution of Edith Thompson? She was executed because her male lover (not her) murdered her husband. The article describes how much public sympathy there was for the killer and how much public hatred there was for her.

Jane Monckton Smith’s book is also worth a read. It analyses the tendency to excuse / minimise the actions of perpetrators of intimate partner homicide, and to disregard the victim. In intimate partner homicide victims are predominantly female and perpetrators are predominantly male.

@Clymene
The conversation is about the media coverage of the execution of a TW murderer and how it is jarringly different from the usual media coverage of the execution of a non TW male murderer.

The article says it thinks the ‘why’ behind this is because the victims of a TW are deemed to be less than the victims of ‘regular’ male violence and ascribes it to the perceived disadvantaged/minority status of TW.

Im contributing to the matter under discussion. I think the ‘why’ as to the tone of the coverage is directly because of the TWAW belief because the media coverage follows the exact same pattern used for women murderers. The ‘why’ imho is not perceived disadvantaged or minority status, or victim lack of status, but rather the perceived ‘woman’ status of TW.

It’s on point, unlike your detour into race issues.

Not sure how this matters as it was 100yrs ago? Victorian society was polar opposite to today and Edith was being punished more for adultery than suspected murder. I think she was innocent tbh, and she is often one of the cases used as to why we abolished the death penalty.

So, no I was of course talking about the current modern societal view regarding women murderers.

Jane Monckton Smith’s book is also worth a read. It analyses the tendency to excuse / minimise the actions of perpetrators of intimate partner homicide, and to disregard the victim. In intimate partner homicide victims are predominantly female and perpetrators are predominantly male.

This is a good read. It reminds me of the saying “All is fair in love and war” in terms of how society does minimise murder done in both scenarios. We shouldn’t do this, but these seem to be the two get out of jail cards that can be applied without pleading insanity.

Thank you, @LoobiJee, for mentioning Edith Thompson. I hadn't heard of her before. The last lines stand out to me.

"There is an awful warning in this story: check your worst impulses towards people to whom you feel prejudice. We live in a cancelling culture - she was literally cancelled - and it's a very, very dangerous impulse but society finds it hard to resist."
^^
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-63561245

Thank you for sharing. I have nothing but admiration for Victoria Smith. She is such a brilliant writer and commentator, and she manages to say uncomfortable truths while always remaining compassionate and fair.

This in particular stood out for me: "There’s a type of excessive, visible empathising with perpetrators over victims — providing these are the right type of perpetrators — that flatters the liberal ego. Empathising with Beverly Guenther is a bit Daily Mail, a bit “won’t somebody please think of the children?” basic. Trying to put oneself in the shoes of McLaughlin requires higher-level faculties."

So spot-on. The moral vanity of self-identified progressives and those who have to pay for it.

Gobsmacked at the tweet linked in the article:
"Amber McLaughlin was misgendered at birth, which led her to rape and murder a woman, before finally becoming comfortable with her trans identity, only to have the state of Missouri put an end to this inspiring story of self-discovery

Rest in Power, Beautiful. We'll never forget."

"misgendering" (observing a baby's sex) causes rape and murder? Can they not see what they have written? It's disgusting. Nothing causes rape and murder except the rapist and murderers choosing to rape and murder.

Yeah that’s horrendous, misgendering cant make you into a murderer. I’ve been misgendered (mistaken for a boy) many times and I haven’t murdered anyone.

I also missed this from Victoria:

thecritic.co.uk/the-body-of-a-weak-and-feeble-woman/

It's something that I think about a lot.

My detour into race issues @Onnabugeisha?

It's relevant to the article linked to in the OP which, in addition to discussing the coverage of Scoff McLaughlin's execution, goes onto discuss the murder of Jane Britton who was murdered by a black serial killer.

Perhaps you haven't read the article?

Thank you for this article and for the post about the poor woman murdered by the state because her husband murdered someone. Appalling, and still reprehensible 100 years on because it's woven into the fabric our our history.

I read the article. I was being sarcastic.

That is such a good piece. Completely nails the manipulation of sympathy that happens in such incidents.

I'm going to have to look the other way when we inevitably see Scott McLaughlin's face illuminated with flickering candles at the next Trans Day of Remembrance vigil.

Murder by the State is not something I support. But 'identifying as a woman' does not mitigate the actions of yet another violent man.

Wow. I hadn't heard of Edith Thompson either. Executed for being a working class woman who had an affair