When I was a young idealist, I believed that human beings were essentially good. Today, skeptical and hardened by life, I don’t believe that anymore. At all.
Sarah Everard – and every other woman raped, tortured and left for dead in a field, on a garbage dump or wherever – could be us. We are all Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa, Gabby Petito and hundreds of thousands more. The list of names is too long. All victims of femicide. Learn this word. It means “the intentional killing of women or girls (by a man) because they are female”. It’s in fact terrorism, and governments (other than Spain) are doing nothing about it.
33 year old Sarah Everard – dead. A new marketing job. A loving family and boyfriend. The remains of her burned body were found in a garbage bag in a field. Killed by a man because she was a woman. Femicide.
28 year old Sabina Nessa – dead. That university teaching degree your family was so proud of will be of no use to you. Killed by a man because she was a woman. Femicide.
22 year old Gabby Petito – dead. You had your whole life ahead of you. Her remains were discovered in Teton County, Wyoming. Killed by a man because she was a woman. Femicide.
As of September, France counts its 80th femicide death of 2021. By the end of the year, that number will be higher. Last year it was 102 women.
In Canada, 160 females were violently killed in 2020.
Every woman who learns about yet another femicide should take it personally. We all walk around city streets at 8:30 or 9 p.m. (and much later) believing we are safe. We’re not.
The recent murder of teacher Sabina Nessa triggered a huge outpouring of grief as outrage reignites over the safety of women on Britain’s streets just six months after the death of Sarah Everard.
Sabina Nessa is believed to have been killed while on a five-minute walk to meet a friend at a pub at around 8.30 pm last Friday. Her body was found near a community centre hidden under a pile of leaves. UPDATE: she was “randomly” killed by an Albanian man who used a 2ft-long weapon to strike her repeatedly before carrying her away unconscious. Called a “predatory” stranger attack, there was no suggestion that he knew his victim.
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Years ago, I was barrelling up Manhattan’s Riverside Drive in the backseat of a taxi.
“Is it safe around here?” I shouted to the driver through the plexiglass partition that separated us.
“Lady!” he yelled back over his shoulder, “Nowhere’s safe!”
I never forgot that.
Anytime, anywhere (just like the terrorist attacks here in Paris and elsewhere in the world.) I no longer go down to my basement storage locker which is two floors below the ground floor in my apartment building. I saw a man down there once who was wandering around and looked very suspicious. Frightened, I hightailed it back upstairs as fast as I could. Because of a scary incident involving a strange man, I only go down to the basement of my building now accompanied by other people.
These men who intentionally murder women? They should die too. That’s my personal opinion. They don’t deserve to breathe a single breath, because they took the breath of innocent women. (Furthermore, they feel no contrition for what they did.) Why should taxpayers finance their incarceration?
Read how Couzens went into a shop to buy himself a drink and a Bakewell tart after he had finished raping and killing Sarah.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/29/wayne-couzens-used-police-id-to-kidnap-sarah-everard-court-told
Sarah Everard’s family ‘haunted by the horror’ of her murder
Mother of woman killed by police officer says the ‘brutality and terror’ of her last hours are unbearable
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/29/sarah-everard-family-haunted-by-the-horror-of-daughters-murder
Juliet in Paris
“No where is safe…”
Add Mollie Tibbetts to the list. Brooklyn, Iowa.
Unfortunately, I’m unconvinced that Couzens has only raped and killed once. It was a deliberate and intentional murder and I’m sure if the Met and other local agencies look into other murders and missing women reports, they will eventually link to this biohazard.
Yes, I remember that tragic Mollie Tibbetts case … and so many more. I don’t believe that the Met is capable of handling all these murders and missing women reports, quite frankly; it all seems to be over their heads. I’ve just now read the front page of The Guardian in which a police commissioner was accused of victim-blaming after saying women should “just learn a bit about that legal process” in case they are falsely arrested. He said “So women, first of all, need to be streetwise about when they can be arrested and when they can’t be arrested. She (Sarah Everard) should never have been arrested and submitted to that.”
So it was the victim’s fault! I throw up my hands in despair.
I’m just waiting for the proverbial “other shoe to drop” when it’s disclosed Couzens is a “under color of authority” serial killer.
As for the police commissioner’s remarks – irresponsible, deflecting and will cause unnecessary physical harm to women questioning their encounters with police. Arrest for resisting and obstructing police will ultimately rise.
I’m not sure what “under color of authority” means, CB. This tragedy doesn’t feel like a slippery slope, but rather a greased pole and we’re all heaped in a pile at the bottom. I know I’m mixing my metaphors, but that’s how I see it. Who will have the smarts and the courage to actually do something praiseworthy and pragmatic?
“Under color of authority, or color of law,” is a concept embedded in US laws. I’m sure the UK, and every EU country have a similar law.
From: Study.com
Color of Law Defined
In law enforcement, there must be checks and balances to ensure officers are acting in a lawful manner when offenders are in their custody. The color of law is that checks and balances system.
The color of law is defined as any authority using his or her power to willfully deprive a person of his or her rights and privileges protected by the U.S. Constitution. It is designed to protect individuals of their rights. Authority figures including police officers, judges, security guards, mayors, city council members, members of Congress must abide by the color of law. Those who break it are charged with a federal crime.
Thanks for the elucidation, CB. I’m curious to see how that US statute is transposed to British and French law. In any case, have a pleasant Sunday. Bon dimanche!, as they say here.