The Brisbane Time published an article allegedly about Suzy Rackemann being identified as the woman police claim was killed by her son in August this year.
The headline and the text of the article were not about Suzy. They were about her brother – because he was a professional sportsman.
When a man (allegedly) murders a woman he does not only kill one woman. He also kills the shared life she should have had with all the people who loved her. This is always part of the story of men’s violence against women and it should always be part of the reporting on men who (allegedly) kill women.
But it should not be the only story.
Suzy was a person. She was 61 years old and had a life and a future that mattered to her and to the world, as well as to all the people who knew her and loved her.
This article by the Brisbane Times isn’t about Suzy as a person or the full life she lived and should have continued to live. It was about her brother and his cricket club and their fundraising for her funeral.
They are part of the story of Suzy’s alleged murder and they should be seen and heard.
In this article, however, they are the only story.
Suzy is not even mentioned as a person. She is just the sister of a retired cricket player.
Did she have other siblings? Friends? Other children? A career? Did she play sport? Read books? Did she bake or draw or sing?
I don’t know.
If this article was all I read about Suzy, I would know more about her brother than I do about her.
According to Counting Dead Women Australia, 57 women have been allegedly murdered in 2024 by 30th October.
Every single one of those women were people. Their lives and the future they should have lived were torn from the world (allegedly) by a man who believed his feelings were more important than a woman’s life and future – and the lives of all the people who cared about her.
Erasing the identity of women allegedly murdered by men contributes to erasing how crucial it is that we all do more, work more, invest more to keep women safe from dangerous men.
Suzy Rackemann was a person. Now she is dead and she shouldn’t be. No one should forget that and no one should ever erase it.
Want to know more about the myths that contribute to this?
BOOKS
Jane Gilmore’s books, Fixed it: Violence and the Representation of Women in the Media, Teaching Consent, and Fairy Tale Princesses Will Kill Your Children are available now with free shipping inside Australia if you purchase from: www.JaneGilmore.com/books
PODCAST
Also available now is the Fairy Tale Princesses Will Kill Your Children Podcast in which Jane invites expert guest on the show to explore agism, women’s unpaid work, consent, power and silence, and coercive control. Find out more here.
FixedIt is an ongoing project to push back against the media’s constant erasure of violent men and blaming of innocent victims. If you would like to help fund it – even $5 a month makes a big difference – please consider becoming a Patron
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