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Originally Posted by discord /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Is he trying to be like Jack the Ripper?
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That would depend on the time of day, as well as the disposition, condition and location of the bodies. I haven't seen any reference to the level of brutality involved, nor whether there is evidence of sexual assault, nor the circumstances of the disappearance, COD or any other key details.
But I can tell you this: The choice of victims is typical for serial killers and doesn't link this one to the Ripper per se. If we discover this particular murderer used knives in ways that suggest s/he might be a doctor, then perhaps certain parallels may be drawn.
Pragmatically speaking, the prostitute is an attractive victim for the enraged and the reflexively selfish. She is sexualized by trade and must avoid the law; thus, her profession also compels her to avoid public scrutiny; she frequents places where identification is not only unimplemented but actually avoided. She is also the target of the selective and hypocritical moral outrage of any community: At worst, she is reviled; at best, ignored. All of this makes her the perfect victim to dispose of in relative darkness.
What upsets me is that, when it comes to sex workers, killers simply behave like homicidal variants of the rest of society. The idea is that prostitutes and strippers comprise a disposable subclass to be disregarded, shamed and/or mistreated in the name of morality: they are seen as self-determined untouchables. The cycle of abuse is pernicious:-- prostitutes are usually mistreated by foster parents, guardians, teachers and/or blood relatives (according to psychologist Mary Nowlan, 85% of female sex workers were sexually abused as children), customers, pimps, lawmakers, the media and, often, even individuals and organizations whom they entreat for help. For every apparent success story (Jenna Jameson), there are tens of thousands of sex workers who, at best,
survive torture, ignominy and constant abuse.
This is awful to say, but I'm being realistic: as far as victims' families go, these recent additions to the grief pool seem comparatively fortunate, insofar as their loved ones were killed in high-profile ways. What's more, their bodies were actually recovered. All of this will necessitate a concerted media-scrutinized attempt to find the women's killer(s).
In my own brief lifetime, I've known at least two sets of parents whose daughters -- both intelligent and college educated women who had worked from time to time as exotic dancers -- disappeared and were never found. One of them was portrayed as a “failed journalist” and “nymphomaniac” in the press. In real life, she was a straight-A journalism student at Rutgers who became a professional editor shortly after graduating; her “nymphomania” was merely a classic symptom of bipolar disorder:-- brain chemistry-induced promiscuity, which only meant she was occasionally indiscriminate.
The other family's daughter had been a law student with excellent grades before losing all faith in herself. She drifted into dancing and drug abuse after a terrible breakup with a bass player whom she had supported for years before he was signed. (She herself had been the guitarist of the female rock group, "Vixen," and should have trusted in her own talent more than his loyalty.) The saddest part: When she disappeared, she'd quit dancing, gotten clean and was in the process of stabilizing her recovery.
Decades have passed; it seems extremely unlikely either woman is still alive. Subsequent murder investigations were forestalled and abandoned due to the ages (over 18), circumstances and avocations of the victims.
Cases like theirs are typical, not anomalous; your current rash of murders in the UK is atypical in terms of scrutiny and resolution. Would that neither sort of case arose anywhere. Would that such women weren’t always seen as someone’s discarded sexual property, to be defaced, erased and disposed of in some wretched human junkyard.
Think about this: If the recent victims in the UK had had different jobs, they would have been referred to in the press as actual women. Yet, apparently, their profession has defined them: in the media's eyes, they've become mere "prostitutes."
