Thursday, December 14, 2006

Vice City

Well the papers are all over the "Suffolk Ripper". And I really don't need to say that the murders are horrific. What bugs me is the media's need to constantly refer to the victims by their occupation. The linked article is one of the least offenders, the tabloid are running with things like "5TH DEAD VICE GIRL FOUND". Now I often talk about prostitution on this blog and people post comments furiously insisting it's just a career choice and that some women enjoy it. Now firstly - all five dead women had serious drug habits, none worked the streets by choice and secondly - if it's just a career, like account manager or cardiologist, why don't we describe them as murdered WOMEN and mention that they all had the same occupation in a single paragraph later on in the article? Harold Shipman murdered old women but I never saw the headline "ten more knitters deaths to be reviewed in Shipman case".

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