what's in a name...?

I am really pissed off at the way in which the Ipswich murder victims have been represented by BBC radio news; as in - "Another prostitute has been found dead in Ipswich", not "another women", or "another victim", but "prostitute". I'm not sure I can think of another group of people who are as consistently referred to by their occupation, as women sex workers. The men who buy sexual services are, by contrast, "clients" - a posh word more normally associated with people being helped by solicitors, accountants or even, dare I say, CAB.

As a result of the publicity about the current cases, it has become apparent that there are many unsolved murders of women who sell sex, but they don't merit the media's attention because they are prostitutes, and are therefore they are "asking for it". Of course, selling sex is dangerous - the "clients" make it so - many sex workers experience regular and horrific violence at the hands of "clients" - selling sexual services on the street is an act of desperation driven by poverty and vulnerability.

There is something perverse about us humans, especially those who work in the media - we/they are happy to either ignore or vilify a group of highly vulnerable women, whilst letting this walking turd smarm his way back into our media.

By the way Lord Archer (he is still a Lord despite his imprisonment for perjury) was a "user" of Ms Monica Coughlan who was employed at the time as sex worker.

Here endeth this rant....


Update Tuesday 7:00pm - the worst news - the bodies of another two women have been found, almost certainly victims of the same murderer
... and a Guardian article