Two women, two murders : stigmatised media representations of violence against sex workers

This chapter employed a specific Australian case study to document the structural stigma that is pervasive in in relation to the sex industry and replicated and facilitated within media representation of sex workers as deviant and blameworthy social pariahs. Our comparison of media responses to the murders of Jill Meagher, the happily married woman, and Tracy Connelly, the transgressive street-based sex worker, emphasizes the power of entrenched belief systems about women’s sexuality and the partiality towards antiquated gender norms. Taken together, these case emphasize how dominant cultural forms generate media and public sympathy generated for the victims of violence who meet gendered cultural expectations while tacitly legitimising violence against sex workers.