More than ten years of 'wheelie bin murders'
A murdered woman is not a wheelie bin
It’s now more than a decade that I’ve been researching and writing about the appalling way mainstream media reports men’s violence against women. While I’ve seen some improvement (fewer “flirtatious women” and “spurned lovers”) the underlying attitudes haven’t really changed much. They permeate all the language of reporting on men’s violence: Men are not responsible for the violence they commit. Women lie, cheat, nag, and push until men lose control. They’re all just isolated incidents, not a pattern of behaviour supported by public structures. If a woman is not the perfect victim she is a liar. If a man is not an evil monster he is just a good guy who made a mistake or he’s a poor guy who was falsely accused. All these myths and their systemic supports remain largely untouched and unrecognised.
A while back, I wrote a piece for Tim Dunlop on why most journalists are unable to provide ethical, nuanced reporting on gender based violence. Very little has changed since then. Except that too many women have been killed by men who claim to love them. Too many women are still being abused by men who claim to love them. And far too many children are growing up with no way of knowing that life without fear and violence is even possible.
When I wrote that piece for Tim, I didn’t have the time to regularly do the sort of reporting we’re missing by not having journalists with experience and expertise in gender based violence. I’m not sure I have it now, but I do think it’s time to try.
If you want to follow the FixedIt project, there are plenty of other places to do that. I don’t intend to cross-post all the fixes here, but I’m going to start with this one because it’s a not just one headline, one publication, or one murder. This is more than a decade of sensationalising, minimising, degrading reporting on women killed by men who claimed to love them. The protest against “wheelie bin murder” headlines has been going on for almost that whole time, gaining weight and volume over the years, and still there’s not one but two “wheelie bin murder” headlines in the Herald Sun today. Here and here. These headlines are written by people who use words for a living and refuse to distinguish between a murdered woman and a rubbish bin.
Chaithanya “Swetha” Madhagani is dead. Her husband took her son and fled the country. He reportedly told her parents that he killed her.
I defy anyone to find a report of her alleged murder that doesn’t sensationalise it with a reference to “wheelie bin murder”.
Swetha was a woman. She was a PERSON. She had a life and a future that was viciously ripped away from her and all the people who loved her.
Journalists are supposed to understand language. It is their job to use words to accurately describe events. WTF is wrong with them that they can’t tell the difference between a woman and a wheelie bin?
This is not an accident or slip up due to lack of resources and training. This is a choice.
These examples are only a few of the many “wheelie bin murder” headlines from the last decade. Every single one of them were protested when they happened. Including the one from today.
Next time a man kills a woman, hides her body in a wheelie bin, and the BIN is the main focus of the headline, remember: whoever wrote the headline knew exactly what they were doing and chose to do it anyway.
Jane Gilmore’s books Fixed It, Fairy Tale Princesses Will Kill Your Children and Teaching Consent explore all the reasons these myths exist and continue to hold such power. Find out more, read extracts, or order your copies here: www.JaneGilmore.com/books
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