NationStates Jolt Archive

Is it just me, or is their something unsavoury about the way the five killings around Ipswich have been reported? It seems to me that due to the victims' profession a strange coldness has surrounded the vast majority of reports - as if their lives are somehow worth less than that of 'normal' people.

Time and again it has been stressed by spokespersons that they believe only prostitutes/'working girls'/'vice girls'/whatever-euphemism-of-the-day are being targetted, and so there is no need for general alarm. There have been requests for prostitutes to literally 'stay off the streets', but reassurances that other people need not worry.

Leaves a somewhat bad taste in my mouth, particularly given the fact that few if any prostitutes will have decided to take up that line of work from a wide range of other attractive options. It feels like the media are basically saying that the lives of these people is already rendered at close to null, even before their unfortunate ends.

Is it just me, or is their something unsavoury about the way the five killings around Ipswich have been reported? It seems to me that due to the victims' profession a strange coldness has surrounded the vast majority of reports - as if their lives are somehow worth less than that of 'normal' people.

Time and again it has been stressed by spokespersons that they believe only prostitutes/'working girls'/'vice girls'/whatever-euphemism-of-the-day are being targetted, and so there is no need for general alarm. There have been requests for prostitutes to literally 'stay off the streets', but reassurances that other people need not worry.

Leaves a somewhat bad taste in my mouth, particularly given the fact that few if any prostitutes will have decided to take up that line of work from a wide range of other attractive options. It feels like the media are basically saying that the lives of these people is already rendered at close to null, even before their unfortunate ends.

Look how long it took police to solve a similar string of murders in Vancouver.

I believe the press coverage of that was similarly condescending.

I was watching the news a day after the third victim's body was found on ITV and the report went on for about ten minutes and not once were they refered to as women. They were only refered to as prostitutes.

Count how many times the newsreaders and reporters say "Prostitutes" when describing the victims rather than "victims" or simply, "women"

One newsreader used the word "Prostitute" six times in two sentences.

There is a coldness surrounding the reaction to the murders, forgetting that some of the victims were mothers, but all daughters, children of mothers.

Jack the Ripper, anyone?

Jack the Ripper, anyone?

Asshole reporters, anyone?

Asshole reporters, anyone?

Zing!

Is it just me, or is their something unsavoury about the way the five killings around Ipswich have been reported? It seems to me that due to the victims' profession a strange coldness has surrounded the vast majority of reports - as if their lives are somehow worth less than that of 'normal' people.

Time and again it has been stressed by spokespersons that they believe only prostitutes/'working girls'/'vice girls'/whatever-euphemism-of-the-day are being targetted, and so there is no need for general alarm. There have been requests for prostitutes to literally 'stay off the streets', but reassurances that other people need not worry.

Leaves a somewhat bad taste in my mouth, particularly given the fact that few if any prostitutes will have decided to take up that line of work from a wide range of other attractive options. It feels like the media are basically saying that the lives of these people is already rendered at close to null, even before their unfortunate ends.

The reports also seem to spend an extra amount of time describing how the victims were "stripped" and "naked." The killer is practically glorified, as some kind of evil genius making some important statement by killing off these unclean female things, and there is always an undercurrent of victim-blaming. These women obviously got themselves killed because they chose a life of sin, don't you know!

Who cares what they did in their lives? When they are dead, they are just women.

You guys sure make a big deal of your serial killers. We've got a serial killer with a strange foot fetish running around near Atlantic City, NJ. Current body count is four or five bare-footed prostitutes so far. You don't see us covering it on every news program.

Asshole reporters, anyone?

we have Asshole reporters at 10 clock high watch out now

what is it with all reporters they like to add things to the story

Contrast this with the 7 million pound investigation into the death of Diana.

we have Asshole reporters at 10 clock high watch out now

what is it with all reporters they like to add things to the story

"I see them! Three marks at two-ten!"

You guys sure make a big deal of your serial killers. We've got a serial killer with a strange foot fetish running around near Atlantic City, NJ. Current body count is four or five bare-footed prostitutes so far. You don't see us covering it on every news program.

Thankfully we don't have so many that it has become an everyday occurence.

Thankfully we don't have so many that it has become an everyday occurence.

Most serial killers go unnoticed or their victims not identified as part of a serial murder.

You also don't have 300 million people.

"I see them! Three marks at two-ten!"

"i see them"

I have noticed this too.

Do the media keep calling the lawyer who got killed in Jan. 2006 in Kentish Town station a lawyer all the time, no they don't they call him by his name.

I have also noticed how the government has more or less failed to make any stand on the Ipswich killings. The government spends hundereds of millions of pounds on ID cards and on blaming youths for all the ills in society, yet when we are faced with a very real and lethal criminal threat, the government just looks the other way. Again is this due to the work the women did, of course. Had these women been nice middle class types with a home in the suburbs and a career, the government would actually move it's arse.

A sad example of the moralitic puritism and class snobbery that runs deep in Britain.

What struck me when I first heard this news, was the police telling prostitutes to 'get off the streets now'. Listen...these aren't nymphos, they are on the streets because that's the only thing keeping them from total disaster. Get off the streets 'till they catch this guy? And then what? Not have enough money to pay their rent? Yes, they are risking their lives...but it's NOT BECAUSE OF THEM that their lives are in risk. So why don't we deal with what the problem truly is? The lives of women in the sextrade, or the lives of junkies, or the lives of the homeless, the mentally ill, whatever...their lives are considered to be of less value. Not only do they become targets for violence, but they also are blamed for being easy victims, and society ultimately doesn't give a shit.

Look at how long Pickton got to rape and murder women. It's only horrifying why...because he fed them to his pigs? No one cared when the women were just GONE. We just don't want them to show up in macabre form later. Stay gone girls, just stay gone...

I have also noticed how the government has more or less failed to make any stand on the Ipswich killings. The government spends hundereds of millions of pounds on ID cards and on blaming youths for all the ills in society, yet when we are faced with a very real and lethal criminal threat, the government just looks the other way.

The government should not be concerned with immediate kneejerk reactions to individual instances of crimes. That is the kind of thing which leads to farces like the dangerous dogs act.

is it just me or r more and more people getting away with thing. i cant be that hard. this murder know who they are and where their going ( i'm talking about the rent girls ) why cant they make a link

The government should not be concerned with immediate kneejerk reactions to individual instances of crimes. That is the kind of thing which leads to farces like the dangerous dogs act.

Oh, like the Diana investigation?

You don't see us covering it on every news program.

I'm glad it is on the news, as it raises issues that are way beyond the issue of the killings and the criminal responsible for them.

A lot of people will hopefully see this dark chapter of 2006 as a way in which a debate can come about on doing what should have been done long ago, legalisaing the sex trade and giving sex workers full legal protection from abuse, violence, rape and pimping. Also the issue of drug abuse is here too, time to start treating addicts as human beings with a sickness that needs medical and theraputic help, not a jail sentence, like our current law and order moralising government does.

i blame the chavs

The government should not be concerned with immediate kneejerk reactions to individual instances of crimes. That is the kind of thing which leads to farces like the dangerous dogs act.

Yes they should as this is no knee jerk reaction. Sex workers have faced abuse, violence, rape and death for as long as it has been pushed underground by it's illegality.

Legalising it is a must, to protect sex wrokers from the daily and sometimes lethal risks of attack and abuse. Making sex work illegal will never make it go away, human sexuality is one of those areas that the government need not police and we should start to operate our laws according to 21st century logic and not 19th century morality.

By making sex work a legal industry, there will be a base of standards and laws by which sex workers will be safe and the rate of crime and sexual illnessnes related to the currently illegal sex trade will drop.

I've heard NPR covering the story a day or two ago. One of the women they had interviewed had said she wouldn't go in because she needs to work. The next day she was one of the victims.

I've been following this on BBC World, and I didn't get the impression that their lives were treated as woth less. Quite the contrary, there was a lot of emphasis on their families, and on presenting them as human beings whose deaths leave loved ones grieving.

The BBC website has also been pointing out that prostitutes are much better protected in the Netherlands, where their job has legal status, and suggests that Britain can learn from the Dutch.

I've been following this on BBC World, and I didn't get the impression that their lives were treated as woth less. Quite the contrary, there was a lot of emphasis on their families, and on presenting them as human beings whose deaths leave loved ones grieving.

The BBC website has also been pointing out that prostitutes are much better protected in the Netherlands, where their job has legal status, and suggests that Britain can learn from the Dutch.

I was talking about my own perception of the news, which is from newspapers as I do not watch TV at all.

I was talking about my own perception of the news, which is from newspapers as I do not watch TV at all.

Then might I suggest you stop reading those newspapers?

People, quite rightly, complain about the paparazzi and about inaccurate news reporting, but no-one threatens to boycott, for instance, the Daily Mail.

Reuters Article. (http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-12-15T165837Z_01_L15761530_RTRUKOC_0_US-BRITAIN-MURDERS.xml&pageNumber=1&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage1)

so now they're paying them, and giving them drugs to stay off the streets...

is prostitution legal in Ipswich?

I have noticed this too.

Do the media keep calling the lawyer who got killed in Jan. 2006 in Kentish Town station a lawyer all the time, no they don't they call him by his name.

I have also noticed how the government has more or less failed to make any stand on the Ipswich killings. The government spends hundereds of millions of pounds on ID cards and on blaming youths for all the ills in society, yet when we are faced with a very real and lethal criminal threat, the government just looks the other way. Again is this due to the work the women did, of course. Had these women been nice middle class types with a home in the suburbs and a career, the government would actually move it's arse.

A sad example of the moralitic puritism and class snobbery that runs deep in Britain.
To be fair, even in the US the names of the victim[s] are not released untill Family has been notified, so if one person's family hasn't been notified, then the police can't release the name to reporters. Also, the family can request not to release the name.

You guys sure make a big deal of your serial killers. We've got a serial killer with a strange foot fetish running around near Atlantic City, NJ. Current body count is four or five bare-footed prostitutes so far. You don't see us covering it on every news program.

Now imagine if it had been four of five non-prostitute women. Say, teachers, accountants, heck, maybe a politician, but the last might be cheating. I bet there'd be a bigger row.

Is it just me, or is their something unsavoury about the way the five killings around Ipswich have been reported? It seems to me that due to the victims' profession a strange coldness has surrounded the vast majority of reports - as if their lives are somehow worth less than that of 'normal' people.

Time and again it has been stressed by spokespersons that they believe only prostitutes/'working girls'/'vice girls'/whatever-euphemism-of-the-day are being targetted, and so there is no need for general alarm. There have been requests for prostitutes to literally 'stay off the streets', but reassurances that other people need not worry.

Leaves a somewhat bad taste in my mouth, particularly given the fact that few if any prostitutes will have decided to take up that line of work from a wide range of other attractive options. It feels like the media are basically saying that the lives of these people is already rendered at close to null, even before their unfortunate ends.

agree.....some 15 yrs ago we had some nut shoot up a school and kill 14 women, a tragic event and women here went into all sorts of dramatics, public demonstrations of solidarity against crimes against women committed men.....fair enough but at the same time there was serial killer preying on native prostitutes and not a word of protest or sympathy from anyone......

No one cared when the women were just GONE. We just don't want them to show up in macabre form later. Stay gone girls, just stay gone...
That's because most of the time, when someone just vanishes without a trace, they wanted to be gone, and so the police just opt not to waste their time.

i blame the chavs

Explain this logic.

You guys sure make a big deal of your serial killers. We've got a serial killer with a strange foot fetish running around near Atlantic City, NJ. Current body count is four or five bare-footed prostitutes so far. You don't see us covering it on every news program.Of course not, they're prostitutes, which brings us back to the OP's point.

Of course not, they're prostitutes, which brings us back to the OP's point.
Nah, the problem is that the killer hasn't racked up enough points yet.
This (by which I am obviously refering to the US) is the homeland of Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and Ed Gein: if you want to creep out the American public you've got to have a much better gimick than a foot fetish, or at least get your kill total up into the double digits.
Hell, most of the US congress is believed to have killed at least one woman over the course of their lives.

Explain this logic.

Sorry.. logic?

is prostitution legal in Ipswich?

Nope. Not that I know of.

I think the reason it's got such a big news coverage is because its in rural england. Nothing ever happens here, so it just seems a surprise to people for ANYTHING to happen here. My uncle wont let my aunt go anywhere on her own, and they live in felixstowe! (a big port town in suffolk) :D

This (by which I am obviously refering to the US) is the homeland of Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and Ed Gein: if you want to creep out the American public you've got to have a much better gimick than a foot fetish, or at least get your kill total up into the double digits.

Of course it should be noted in passing that Charles Manson's personal kill total was zero, nilch, nada.

I have noticed this too.

Do the media keep calling the lawyer who got killed in Jan. 2006 in Kentish Town station a lawyer all the time, no they don't they call him by his name.

I have also noticed how the government has more or less failed to make any stand on the Ipswich killings. The government spends hundereds of millions of pounds on ID cards and on blaming youths for all the ills in society, yet when we are faced with a very real and lethal criminal threat, the government just looks the other way. Again is this due to the work the women did, of course. Had these women been nice middle class types with a home in the suburbs and a career, the government would actually move it's arse.

A sad example of the moralitic puritism and class snobbery that runs deep in Britain.

If the government were to take a specific stance on this particular murder case, it would be accused by people exactly like you of hijacking the case to make a very political point, as opposed to dealing with a genuine situation. The governments job is not to deal with specific instances like this. To do that is to play with the media on the media's own terms. Governments are above and beyond the media. Just because the media makes a big deal of this, does not mean the government should. It is the job of the police to deal with this, not the government.

Now imagine if it had been four of five non-prostitute women. Say, teachers, accountants, heck, maybe a politician, but the last might be cheating. I bet there'd be a bigger row.

On a very objective level, its because this kind of thing is more common amoung prostitutes in the first place. News is about the extoridinary, not the ordinary

The same logic applies to them being refered to as prostitutes as opposed to women. A women dying is not news, it is not exceptional. The murders have to be placed in some kind of context to create news.