Missing white woman syndrome
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Missing white woman syndrome is a term which is used by
social scientists Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...
and media commentators in reference to the media coverage, especially on television, of missing-person cases involving young, attractive, white, upper middle class women or girls compared to the relative lack of attention towards missing women who were not white, of lower
social class A social class is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the Upper class, upper, Middle class, middle and Working class, lower classes. Membership in a social class can for ...
es, or of missing men or boys. Although the term was coined in the context of missing-person cases, it is sometimes used of coverage of other violent crimes. The phenomenon has been highlighted in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and other predominantly white countries. American news anchor
Gwen Ifill Gwendolyn L. Ifill ( ; September 29, 1955 – November 14, 2016) was an American journalist, television newscaster, and author. In 1999, she became the first African-American woman to host a nationally televised U.S. public affairs program ...
is widely considered the originator of the phrase.
Charlton McIlwain Charlton Deron McIlwain (born 1971) is an American academic and author whose expertise includes the role of race and media in politics and social life. McIlwain is Professor of media, culture, and communication and is the Vice Provost for Facul ...
defined the syndrome as "white women occupying a privileged role as violent crime victims in news media reporting", and posited that missing white woman syndrome functions as a type of
racial hierarchy A racial hierarchy is a system of stratification that is based on the belief that some racial groups are superior to other racial groups. At various points of history, racial hierarchies have featured in societies, often being formally institut ...
in the cultural imagery of the US.
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (born February 6, 1962) is an American sociologist and professor of sociology at Duke University. He was the 2018 president of the American Sociological Association. Early influences Bonilla-Silva was educated in Puert ...
categorized the racial component of missing white woman syndrome as a "form of racial grammar, through which
white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...
is normalized by
implicit Implicit may refer to: Mathematics * Implicit function * Implicit function theorem * Implicit curve * Implicit surface * Implicit differential equation Other uses * Implicit assumption, in logic * Implicit-association test, in social psychology ...
, or even invisible standards". The phenomenon has led to a number of tough on crime measures, mainly on the
political right Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, auth ...
, that were named for white women who disappeared and were subsequently found harmed. In addition to race and class, factors such as supposed attractiveness, body size, and youthfulness have been identified as unfair criteria in the determination of newsworthiness in coverage of missing women. News coverage of missing black women was more likely to focus on the victim's problems, such as abusive boyfriends, criminal history, or drug addiction, while coverage of white women often tended to focus on their roles as mothers, daughters, students, and contributors to their communities.


Origin of the phrase

American news anchor
Gwen Ifill Gwendolyn L. Ifill ( ; September 29, 1955 – November 14, 2016) was an American journalist, television newscaster, and author. In 1999, she became the first African-American woman to host a nationally televised U.S. public affairs program ...
is credited with originating the phrase at the Unity: Journalists of Color journalism conference in 2004. At the conference, she said "I call it the missing white woman search syndrome. If there is a missing white woman you're going to cover that every day."


Studies, reports and analyses


United States

In 2003, the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' published an article detailing the disparity between the coverage of the Laci Peterson case, and that of Evelyn Hernandez, a Hispanic woman – both of whom disappeared in 2002. A report that aired on
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
in 2006 noted the differences in the level of media coverage given to missing white women (such as Laci Peterson and
Natalee Holloway Natalee is a female given name. It is a variant of the name Natalie, though uncommon according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Notable people with the name include: * Natalee Caple (born 1970), Canadian author of novels and poetry * Natalee Holloway (b ...
), when compared to the level of coverage given to
LaToyia Figueroa LaToyia Figueroa (January 26, 1981 – August 2005) was an American woman of African-American and Hispanic descent who was murdered in 2005. Figueroa, who was five months pregnant at the time, was reported missing on July 18, 2005 after she f ...
, a pregnant
black Hispanic Black Hispanic and Latino Americans, also called Afro-Hispanics ( es, Afrohispano, links=no), Afro-Latinos or Black Hispanics, or Black Latinos are classified by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget, and other U.S. ...
woman. Figueroa disappeared in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
in 2005, the same year Holloway disappeared. A 2010 study of news coverage of missing children found that black missing children cases were significantly underrepresented, when compared to national statistics. Missing black girls were significantly underrepresented in national news reporting. The coverage of death cases for black boys was significantly greater than expected. Coverage of non-black female kidnapping cases was greater than expected. A subsequent study found that children from
minority group The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...
s, especially black children, were more likely to remain missing for longer periods of time. A 2013 study that addressed media coverage of missing children, focusing on gender, but not race, found that "the results revealed that gender and age play only a minor role in deciding which abduction incidents are covered by newspapers, as well as the extent to which they are reported on. Specifically, newspapers dedicated more words to female victims than male victims, and reported more on younger children (aged 11 and under) than older children (aged 12 and over) when they were the victim of a nonfamily abduction." In 2015, a report was published that re-examined the results from Min and Feaster's 2010 study about media coverage of missing children and confirmed that the media coverage of white missing persons was disproportionate compared to non-whites; but found that the coverage of females was not as biased as the 2010 study concluded. In 2016, Zach Sommers, a sociologist at
Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...
, published a study explaining that while there is a sizable body of research that shows that white people are more likely than people of color to appear in news coverage as victims of violent crime, there is relatively little when it comes to missing persons cases. Sommers cross-referenced the missing persons coverage of four national and regional media outlets against the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
's missing persons database and found that black people were disproportionately less likely to appear in the news when compared to their rates of missingness; he also found that among those missing persons who appeared in the news, the coverage was much more intense (i.e., more articles were written) for white women and girls than other demographic groups. Professor
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (born February 6, 1962) is an American sociologist and professor of sociology at Duke University. He was the 2018 president of the American Sociological Association. Early influences Bonilla-Silva was educated in Puert ...
theorised that the subtle standard of placing a premium on white lives in the news helps to maintain and reinforce a
racial hierarchy A racial hierarchy is a system of stratification that is based on the belief that some racial groups are superior to other racial groups. At various points of history, racial hierarchies have featured in societies, often being formally institut ...
with whites at the top. For example, black women are members of both a marginalized racial group and a marginalized gender group. Crucially, though, black women have an "
intersectional Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adv ...
experience
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
is greater than the sum of
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
and
sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...
". In other words, like white women, black women are subject to sexism, but the form of that sexism differs for black women because of the compounding effects of
racial discrimination Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin color, race or ethnic origin.Individuals can discriminate by refusing to do business with, socialize with, or share resources with people of a certain g ...
; with missing white woman syndrome being a pertinent manifestation of this social phenomenon. Some sociologists have argued that the tone of media coverage for black female victims differs markedly from coverage of white female victims in that the former are more likely to be blamed for purportedly putting themselves in harm's way, either knowingly or unknowingly.
Victim blaming Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially at fault for the harm that befell them. There is historical and current prejudice against the victims of domestic violence and sex crimes, such as ...
in this context reinforces the notion that black female victims are not only less innocent, but also less worthy of rescue relative to white women. Other observers note the lack of publicity given to black female victims of
police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...
in news coverage, attributing the silence to a tradition of "sexism and
patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...
" in American society. Kym Pasqualini, president of the
National Center for Missing Adults National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
, observed that media outlets tend to focus on "
damsels in distress The damsel in distress is a recurring narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has either been kidnapped or placed in general peril. Kinship, love, or lust (or a combination of those) gives the male protagonist the motiv ...
"—typically,
affluent Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...
young white women and teenagers. In a 2016 ''
Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'' article about the
disappearance of Tiffany Whitton Tiffany Michelle Whitton (born January 30, 1987) is an American missing person who vanished after an incident with Walmart loss prevention officers in Marietta, Georgia, in the early morning hours of September 13, 2013. After being observed app ...
, journalist
Tom Junod Tom Junod (born April 9, 1958) is an American journalist. He is the recipient of two National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors. Early life In 1980, Junod graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the S ...
observed that white women of lower social status, such as Whitton, a 26-year-old unemployed drug addict who was on parole, do not get much media attention, as "media outlets are ruthlessly selective, and they tend to prefer women who are white, pretty, and, above all, innocent." Whitton's mother stated that producers of shows like ''
Nancy Grace Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs show on HLN, from 2005 to 2016, and Court TV's ''Closing Arguments' ...
'' told her they weren't interested in her daughter's case. Dr. Cory L. Armstrong wrote in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', "the pattern of choosing only young, white, middle-class women for the full damsel treatment says a lot about a nation that likes to believe it has consigned
race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
and
class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...
to irrelevance." In 2017, a research paper from the
University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...
studied media coverage and found that " ... disparities in coverage were seen based on race and age. In addition, the narratives of the reports were framed as cautionary tales, and victims were seen as active participants in their disappearance." In 2019, two
criminologists Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...
, Danielle C. Slakoff from
California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...
and Henry F. Fradella from
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
, published an open-access research article about the Missing White Woman Syndrome. They examined 4 years' worth of coverage in 11 different U.S. newspapers. Slakoff and Fradella found that White missing women and girls received more initial and repeated coverage than missing black women. The
Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
Urban Indian Health Institute published a study in 2020, by professor Emily A. Grant, which found that 710
Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
people were reported missing in the state of Wyoming between 2011 and 2020, and assessed the media coverage, and concluded that media coverage of Indigenous and people of color was significantly less than coverage of missing white people.


Canada

According to a 2008 study published in ''The Law and Society Association'', aboriginal women who go missing in Canada receive 27 times less news coverage than white women; they also receive "dispassionate and less-detailed, headlines, articles, and images".


United Kingdom

In January 2006, the
London Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
Commissioner,
Ian Blair Ian Warwick Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton, (born 19 March 1953) is a British retired policeman who held the position of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2005 to 2008 and was the highest-ranking officer within the Metropolitan Pol ...
, accused the media of ‘institutional racism’ in its reporting of murders. He contrasted the reporting of the death of the male white lawyer Tom ap Rhys Price with the murder of the male Asian builders' merchant Balbir Matharu. He said ‘murders in minority communities do not seem to interest the mainstream media’. He said that the
death of Damilola Taylor On 27 November 2000, ten-year-old Nigerian schoolboy Damilola Taylor was killed in London, in what became one of the United Kingdom's most high-profile killings. Two brothers who were 12 and 13 at the time of the killing were convicted of mansla ...
, a 10-year-old black boy, was clearly an exception to this. He said he had been surprised at how much coverage the murders of two 10-year-old white girls in Soham had received.
University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...
Criminology Professor Yvonne Jewkes cites the
murder of Milly Dowler On 21 March 2002, Amanda Jane "Milly" Dowler, a 13-year-old English schoolgirl, was reported missing by her parents after failing to return home from school and not being seen since walking along Station Avenue in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, that ...
, the
murder of Sarah Payne Sarah Evelyn Isobel Payne (13 October 1991 – c. 1 July 2000), was the victim of a high-profile abduction and murder in West Sussex, England in July 2000. Her disappearance and the subsequent investigation into her murder became a prominent c ...
, and the Soham murders as examples of "eminently newsworthy stories" about girls from "respectable" middle-class families and backgrounds whose parents used the news media effectively. She writes that, in contrast, the
killing of Damilola Taylor On 27 November 2000, ten-year-old Nigerian schoolboy Damilola Taylor was killed in London, in what became one of the United Kingdom's most high-profile killings. Two brothers who were 12 and 13 at the time of the killing were convicted of mansla ...
, a 10-year-old boy from
Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, initially received little news coverage, with reports initially concentrating upon street crime levels and community policing in London, and largely ignoring the victim. Even when Damilola's father flew into the UK from Nigeria to make press statements and television appearances, the level of public outcry did not, Jewkes asserts, reach "the near hysterical outpourings of anger and sadness that accompanied the deaths of Sarah, Milly, Holly, and Jessica". However, according to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, the killing of Damilola Taylor had shocked the UK. Two cases of missing-white-girl syndrome that have been given as contrasting examples: the
murder of Hannah Williams The murder of Hannah Williams was an English case in which a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Hannah Williams (May 1986 – c. 21 April 2001), was murdered after going missing during a shopping trip on 21 April 2001. Robert Howard, a convicted sex offend ...
and the
murder of Danielle Jones The murder of Danielle Jones (16 October 1985 – c. 18 June 2001) was an English murder case Murder conviction without a body, where no body was found and the conviction relied upon forensic linguistics, forensic authorship analysis of text m ...
(both were white). It was suggested that Jones received more coverage than Williams because Jones was a middle-class schoolgirl, whilst Williams was from a working-class background with a stud in her nose and estranged parents. Another explanation for the difference in the coverage has been given: the eroticisation of the victim by news reports about a sexual relationship between Jones and her murderer, her uncle.


South Africa

Sandile Memela, chief director for
social cohesion Group cohesiveness (also called group cohesion and social cohesion) arises when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main co ...
at South Africa's Department of Arts and Culture, noted amidst the Oscar Pistorius
trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...
that there existed substantial differences between how media outlets reported on the murders of
Reeva Steenkamp Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp (; 19 August 1983 – 14 February 2013) was a South African model and paralegal. She modeled for ''FHM'' magazine and was the first face of Avon cosmetics in South Africa. Steenkamp once worked as the live roaming presen ...
and Zanele Khumalo; two South African models, respectively white and black, who had been murdered by their boyfriends under nearly identical circumstances. Memela asserted that the discrepancy between the media coverage of the Steenkamp and Khumala murders amounted to "
structural racism A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
" within South African society, and stated: "As a country we seem to have chosen to ignore the agony, pain and suffering of the Khumalo family for no other reason than that they are black." On September 11, 2014, the South African news network
SABC3 SABC 3 (stylised as S3) is a South African free-to-air public television network owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It carries programming in English and, few in other South African languages. It has a number of its own re ...
aired an investigative report which raised concerns around the "Missing White Woman Syndrome"; where the death of Steenkamp was juxtaposed with the death of Zanele Khumalo.


Analogous cases that do not involve missing persons

Social scientists have reported biases in media coverage for other situations that involve white women, but are not missing-person cases.


Jessica Lynch

Social commentaries pointed to media bias in the coverage of soldier
Jessica Lynch Jessica Dawn Lynch (born April 26, 1983) is an American teacher, actress, and former United States Army soldier who served in the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a private first class. On March 23, 2003, she was serving as a unit supply specialist ...
versus that of her fellow soldiers,
Shoshana Johnson Shoshana Nyree Johnson (born January 18, 1973) is a Panamanian-born former United States soldier, and the first black female prisoner of war in the military history of the United States. Johnson was a Specialist of the U.S. Army 507th Mainten ...
and
Lori Piestewa Lori Ann Piestewa ( ; December 14, 1979 – March 23, 2003) was a United States Army soldier killed during the Iraq War. A member of the Quartermaster Corps, she died in the same Iraqi attack in which fellow soldiers Shoshana Johnson and Piestewa' ...
. All three were ambushed in the same attack during the
Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
on March 23, 2003, with Piestewa being killed, and Lynch and Johnson being injured and taken prisoner. Lynch, a young, blonde white woman, received far more media coverage than Johnson, a Black single mother, and Piestewa, an Indigenous Hopi single mother from an impoverished background, with media critics suggesting that the media gave more attention to the woman with whom audiences supposedly more readily identify. Lynch herself leveled harsh criticism at this disproportionate coverage that focused only on her, stating in a congressional testimony before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:


Presumed kidnapping of "blonde angel" in Greece

In October 2013, a girl estimated to be about four years of age was found in the custody of a
Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
couple in
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
and was presumed to have been abducted. The story about the "blonde angel" and the search for her biological parents received international media coverage. A Romani rights activist commented on the case to say "imagine if the situation were reversed and the children were brown and the parents were white." The child was later identified as Maria Ruseva. Her biological mother was a Bulgarian Roma who gave Maria up for adoption.


Murder trial defendants

Critics have also cited excessive media coverage of murder trials where the defendant is female, white, young and attractive, and included them along with Missing White Woman Syndrome instances in an all-encompassing narrative nicknamed the "woman in jeopardy" or "damsel in distress" genre. In such cases, the media will focus on the accused, rather than the victim as in Missing White Woman Syndrome cases, and they will be more ambiguous about their guilt than in other criminal cases regardless of evidence. Cited examples include
Amanda Knox Amanda Marie Knox (born July 9, 1987) is an American author, activist, and journalist. She spent almost four years in an Italian prison following her wrongful conviction for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a fellow exchange student with ...
,
Jodi Arias Jodi is a feminine given name which may refer to: People * Jodi Albert (born 1983), English actress * Jodi Anasta (born 1985), Australian actress and model * Jodi Anderson (born 1957), American heptathlete * Jodi Appelbaum-Steinbauer (born 1956), ...
and
Casey Anthony Casey may refer to: Places Antarctica *Casey Station * Casey Range Australia * Casey, Australian Capital Territory * City of Casey, Melbourne * Division of Casey, electoral district for the House of Representatives Canada * Casey, Ontario * ...
.


Laws named after missing white women and girls

Several laws have been created in the aftermath of disappearance cases, and are sometimes informally named after the missing person. Commentators have observed that disappearances of white women give rise to such laws more often than missing non-white women or missing men.Missing White Woman Syndrome—Why Do People Care Less When Women Of Colour Go Missing?" Yasmin Lajoie July 19, 2020, https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2020/07/9883915/missing-white-woman-syndrome-madeleine-mccann Such laws in the United States include Laci and Conner's Law (named after
Laci Peterson The ''lac'' repressor (LacI) is a DNA-binding protein that inhibits the expression of genes coding for proteins involved in the metabolism of lactose in bacteria. These genes are repressed when lactose is not available to the cell, ensuring that ...
), Amber alert laws (
Amber Hagerman An Amber Alert (alternatively styled AMBER alert) or a child abduction emergency alert ( SAME code: CAE) is a message distributed by a child abduction alert system to ask the public for help in finding abducted children. The system originated i ...
),
Jessica's Law Jessica's Law is the informal name given to a 2005 Florida law, as well as laws in several other states, designed to protect potential victims and reduce a sexual offender's ability to re-offend. A version of Jessica's Law, known as the Jessica ...
( Jessica Lunsford), Caylee's Law (
Caylee Anthony Caylee Marie Anthony (August 9, 2005 – June-December 2008) was an American girl who lived in Orlando, Florida, with her mother, Casey Marie Anthony (born March 19, 1986), and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July 1 ...
),
Megan's Law Megan's Law is the name for a federal law (and informal name for subsequent state laws) in the United States requiring law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders. Laws were creat ...
(
Megan Kanka The murder of Megan Nicole Kanka (December 7, 1986 – July 29, 1994) occurred in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Seven-year-old Megan Kanka was raped and murdered by her neighbor, Jesse Timmendequas, after he lured ...
), Dru's Law (
Dru Sjodin Dru, dru, or DRU may refer to: People Real persons (surname) * (born 1987), French trampolinist * Joanne Dru (1922–1996), American actress Real persons (forename) * Andrew Dru Castro (born 1976), American Grammy Award-winning recording engin ...
), Lori's law ( Lori Hacking), Kristen's Act ( Kristen Modafferi), and Skylar's Law (Skylar Neese).


Examples


Missing white woman syndrome

The following missing-person cases have been cited as instances of missing-white-woman syndrome by media commentators. The commentators stated that these missing persons garnered a disproportionate level of media coverage relative to non-white, or less-wealthy, or male missing persons.


Missing persons who did not receive comparable media attention

The following missing person cases have been used as counterexamples by social scientists or media commentators. These are missing person cases which, according to the source, did not receive as much media attention they would have received if they were white, or female, or more affluent.


See also

*
Attention inequality Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether considered subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...
* Damsel in distress *
Institutional racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, health ...
*
Male expendability Male expendability, male disposability, the relative expendability argument, or the expendable male hypothesis is the idea that male lives are of less concern to a population than female lives. From a reproductivity standpoint, in most vertebrat ...
*
Media bias Media bias is the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of many events and stories that are reported and how they are covered. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening of J ...
*
Missing and murdered Indigenous women Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) is an epidemic of violence against Indigenous women in Canada, the United States, and Latin America; notably those in the FNIM (First Nations, Inuit, Métis) and Native American communities. Acros ...
*
Racial hierarchy A racial hierarchy is a system of stratification that is based on the belief that some racial groups are superior to other racial groups. At various points of history, racial hierarchies have featured in societies, often being formally institut ...
*
White privilege White privilege, or white skin privilege, is the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or economic circumstances. With roots ...
*
White supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...


References


Further reading

*
Missing Woman Ignored Because She's Black?
article about the lack of coverage around Athena Curry's disappearance, missing since May 2011.


External links


blackandmissing.org
– Black and Missing But Not Forgotten {{DEFAULTSORT:Missing White Woman Syndrome 2004 neologisms Class discrimination Criticism of journalism Media bias Race and society Sexism Social phenomena Women and death Social classes White privilege