Recently I read a post on a trans woman’s blog, where it was pointed out that as long as rapes and murders of trans women (and of women in general) continue to be stories of how victims got themselves into a bad situation or lied, or acted out or… then the victim-blaming will continue.

I actually see it as a step forward for the story to be about the one it’s actually about. Namely the culprit who did what he did, not because anything the victim could have changed, but because he CHOSE to do it.

It’s tragic that yet another woman’s life is lost, but that’s it. Write an empathetic obit and let that be it. She does not deserve to have her story, her personal life dragged through the media, because we know how many of them will treat her story. And she doesn’t deserve to become ‘an example’ or ‘a lesson’ to others. She’s a person and none of us knew her, we never would have known her except for one thing: A man decided to murder her, because he’s not right in the head.

I don’t want to read about the victim. Nothing in her story can help me avoid getting killed, nothing in her actions can teach anyone else what not to do. Anything else we might read is what I’d call ‘privacy porn’. We suddenly want to know as much as possible about a person we’ve never heard before, whom we’ll never meet, and who will never have an impact on our lives, but we want all the details of her life anyway, even as she’s not even alive to deny us that access should she have wished it.

Instead, I want to read about why the killer did what he did, and how our society and we as voters can help make changes for the better. This would, of course, demand that we talk about the real reasons for his crime, namely misogyny and kyriarchy, rather than the prep school bullshit commenters here have pointed out. So I would agree with the media focus in this case: keep it on the murderer – it is his actions we can learn from.

quixote, I read about that case and had the same reaction. Women’s bodies and lives have no value, now that they’re not claimed by men under coverture. (At least, that’s the best I can do to put this devaluation of women into a broad historical perspective!)

It’s discussed as if this was some sort of free speech case. There’s no mention, hell, there doesn’t even seem to be any concept!, of the harassment involved, of the huge sudden threat to the woman’s physical safety, of the expense, time, and emotional toll of having to find a new place to live, changing all her phone numbers and email addresses, informing all her friends and co-workers and business contacts, endlessly discussing the situation with her boss and on the job (who are going to be at least curious about the flood of messages), and on, and on, and on, and on. All that isn’t even on the map.

I wonder if Yahoo would have been as slow about removing fake profiles if they’d been about something serious? Posting pictures of antiques and the address where they could be found, for instance.