Misogyny is the oldest prejudice and men killing women is a tale as old as time. Men’s violence against women is the leading cause of the premature death of women globally. Everywhere on the surface of this earth men are the main reason women die prematurely. As in everywhere, everywhere all at once. You wouldn’t know this by reading media accounts of murdered women. One would be forgiven to assume from the news alone that these were isolated incidents and that the individual women had it coming. Nothing systemic or global to see here. These specific women deserved to die. Those men had reasons and we’ll gladly share them with you. Let’s talk about how the media report femicide and how they insist on telling us these women deserved to die.
Stone the prostitute
The Bible records a story in which Jesus bumps into a group of men intent on stoning, killing really, a woman who they believed was a prostitute. Jesus does his thing, saves the woman, the men leave and he tells the woman to go on her way. Prostitutes and women of questionable morals by the standards of men have always deserved death. The way patriarchal society sees it, they’re basically asking for it. It’s the wages, the consequences of their sin.
Over a decade ago, a Kenyan woman, Agnes Wanjiru was murdered by a British soldier on suspicion of being a sex worker. No justice has been served. Most recently, a Kenyatta University student called June Jerop was murdered in April 2023. The way the media has been reporting the news reminds us of this societal desire to stone the prostitute and kill the woman of perceived loose morals.
Phone data in the murder of June Jerop reveals that the 36-year-old was communicating with 2 other men on the evening she disappeared pic.twitter.com/cHgtCZvbTq
— Kenyans.co.ke (@Kenyans) April 7, 2023
There are allegations that she was seeing multiple men at the same time. That’s bad enough. Worse is she ate a man’s money. She was living beyond her means, on a man’s dime and still being unfaithful to him. If there has ever been a woman that had it coming, the media headlines tell us, this one did.
Murdered KU student owed me KES 1M, was earning KES 48,000 and staying in a KES 30,000 house, suspect sayshttps://t.co/y467z4zj6K pic.twitter.com/qBaw0Go0D4
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) April 12, 2023
It’s not the first time the murder of a woman has been justified because of her alleged consumption of a man’s money. Ivy Wangeci was hunted down and murdered in broad daylight by a man who claimed she accepted his gifts, and ate his money.
One witness for a man, two for a woman
Another religious tradition asserts that because of women’s inherent weakness, one man’s testimony is equal to that of two women. This logic is inherent in everything we do. People refuse to believe women and the disbelieving response to claims of sexual assault and violence is just one way this manifests in society. In the case of Jerop, we are reminded yet again about society’s insistence on believing men, validating their claims and centering them no matter the case at hand.
Jerop is dead. She was murdered, yet the media insists on inundating us with headlines from male suspects who have no shortage of stories to tell about the kind of person Jerop was. How she was living beyond her means, how she owes them money… If a man says it, it must be true. More importantly so what a woman is dead, men and their experiences, their side of the story must remain our focus. They are all we care about.
The court heard that June Jerop had bought a car from her boyfriend and was still paying the debt although it was registered under his name.https://t.co/WZLxwdN6dp
— K24 TV (@K24Tv) April 12, 2023
Not too long ago, the media houses came out with interviews of Ivy Wmangeci’s murderer talking about how remorseful he is. Men must be centred at all times. Even the ones who have confessed to murdering women. Who cares about women when you have men?
Naftali Kinuthia says he regrets hacking to death Ivy Wangeci using an axe in April 2019; tells court there were better ways to address the rejection he felt. pic.twitter.com/PpqTyXF4Yz
— The Standard Digital (@StandardKenya) March 3, 2023
An isolated incident, nothing to see here
A woman is killed. If you were to go by the news, this is the most isolated of isolated incidents. Men don’t kill women like that all the time. Women are poisoned, stabbed, pushed off buildings, and hacked to death in broad daylight but it’s not a systemic issue. We don’t have to talk about patriarchy, sexism and whatever it is about masculinity and men that tells them they can kill women for whatever reason big or small. They are justified at all times. When women say men hate and women and #YesAllMen benefit from the patriarchy and violent men, there is no shortage of men coming out of the woodwork to call them bitter feminists. It’s not patriarchy. It’s not men’s misogyny. It’s none of that. There’s nary a statistic on femicide to be seen anywhere. Each incident is reported as such, as an isolated incident, untethered from the reality we know to be true.
Here are just a few of the murders that rocked the nation or at least a subset of the nation that lives in perpetual fear of being added to this growing list.
POSTMORTEM REVEALS June Jerop Kangogo, a 36-year-old accountant and KU student who was found dead after a date, died from excessive bleeding due to stabbing. https://t.co/pzopVMmi8A pic.twitter.com/yrKi9HYZjX
— Nation Africa (@NationAfrica) April 6, 2023
19-year-old Kenya Mass Communication student, Purity Wangechi, found dead in Kiambu Town with two stab wounds in the neck; body had been dumped in thicket, police say. pic.twitter.com/FQQykHWM3K
— The Standard Digital (@StandardKenya) May 14, 2022
A Murder Puzzle:
Police hold three suspects in connection with the brutal murder of Purity Wangechi a Kenya Institute of Mass Communication student; her body was found dumped in Kiambu#NTVWeekendEdition @zeynabIsmail @ItsBrianObuya pic.twitter.com/eiv4S16QTQ
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) May 15, 2022
Family of Sheila Adhiambo who was raped and killed over sexual orientation demands justice. pic.twitter.com/yij6RdAvZP
— The Standard Digital (@StandardKenya) April 27, 2022
Stabbed To Death:
The trial proceedings of Governor Okoth Obado in the murder of Sharon Otieno and her unborn baby has kicked off.
Dr Johansen Oduor says there were seven stab wounds and two slash wounds on Sharon's body. #NTVTonight @SmritiVidyarthi @MamoAli15 pic.twitter.com/hoHKoU6B98
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) July 12, 2021
Obado Was The Father:
Gov’t Chemist confirms Obado fathered Sharon Otieno’s unborn babyChemist says child’s DNA had a 99.9% match with that of Governor Obado
Three witnesses testified today in ongoing Sharon Otieno murder trial #JKLive @KoinangeJeff pic.twitter.com/IvXto0oyAc
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) July 14, 2021
Exclusive: The Sunday Times has discovered that the British soldier accused of killing a young mother, before dumping her body in a septic tank while on training in Kenya, later joked about the murder on Facebook with friends from his regimenthttps://t.co/ad2Bnz5Ap8
— Times Politics (@timespolitics) October 30, 2021
UPDATE: The husband of Kenyan runner Agnes Tirop has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Police say Emmanuel Rotich was caught "while fleeing" and may face charges after an investigation. Tirop was found dead with stab wounds in her home weeks after breaking a world record. pic.twitter.com/JTtjUtCm6K
— AJ+ (@ajplus) October 14, 2021
Velvine's Very Painful Violation:
23-year-old Velvine Nungari raped, died while receiving treatment.
The prime suspect in the rape and murder case, Joseph Kinyua, will remain in police custody for 10 days.#NTVWeekendEdition @OBurrows @Ole_tenges pic.twitter.com/JoIgmY0Row
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) March 19, 2021
The list is endless but not according to the media. According to them, each case is completely isolated. Men don’t hate women. This society doesn’t aid and abet men. Femicide? What even is that? Nothing to see here.
Check out
The Dead Cannot Speak – There Are No Two Sides Of The Ivy Wangeci Story
5 Issues Facing Women All Around The World
