"There's a certain voyeurism in this kind of coverage — a sense that you don't have..."

""There's a certain voyeurism in this kind of coverage — a sense that you don't have to worry about violence because it only happens to these kinds of women," notes Melissa Gira Grant, a writer, activist, and former sex worker. Asked to select the worst recent example, she chose a New York Daily News cover that read "Hooker Slay Exclusive: Web of LI Sickos" and its accompanying inside story, "Internet sex forum wanted 'revenge' vs. Long Island hooker later murdered, dumped in burial grounds." My own pick in the Asking For It category comes from WPIX, which quotes the neighbor of Amber Lynn Costello, one of the victims: "With the people she was hanging around with, who were coming here, it was obvious something was going to happen to her." Best Candid Moment goes to the neighbor National Public Radio quotes without comment who frets about the recent discovery of more unidentified bodies: "It could be more than just prostitutes.""

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Getting Away with Murder on Long Island

Thank you, Nancy Goldstein, for a different (and important) angle on this story and its media coverage. She quoted what I actually said and ran my words past me before submitting the piece to her editor - a good way to build trust with sources, journalists take note.

One thing I'd like to stress, though, is that while the tone of the recent coverage has a lot to do with sexism, victim-blaming, and whorephobia, this is not just about cisgender women. Transgender women, as well as cis and trans men, are all vulnerable to violence when they do sex work. However, the coverage on those kinds of violent crimes (esp transphobic crimes) -when there is any at all - is even worse than when cisgender women get killed.