Missing white woman syndrome

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Missing white woman syndrome is a term used by some social scientists[1][2][3] and media commentators to denote perceived disproportionate media coverage, especially on television,[4] of missing-person cases toward white females as compared to males, or females of color. Supporters of the phenomenon posit that it encompasses supposed disproportionate media attention to females who are young, attractive, white, and upper middle class.[5][6][7] Although the term was coined in the context of missing-person cases, it is sometimes used of coverage of other violent crimes. The phenomenon has been highlighted in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and other predominantly white countries, as well as South Africa.[8][9]

Despite the popularity of the term "missing white woman syndrome," there have been few empirical studies examining the subject.[10] According to a single 2019 study, gender was a significant factor in media coverage of missing person cases. The study found that female victims receive more coverage overall, and national and out-of-state attention is even more skewed towards representing women. The 2019 study also found missing person cases involving White people received more media attention than those involving Black people.[10] However, the authors also reported that non-black women of color (such as Asian and Latina women) are just as over-represented as white women in news coverage, suggesting that the misnomer of "missing white woman syndrome" is rather a function of the under-representation of black women in media cases.[11] Analysis has also found that missing women are twelve times more likely than missing men to receive attention in Louisiana, despite men and women going missing at similar rates nationally.[12]

The phenomenon has led to a number of tough-on-crime measures, mainly on the political right, that were named for white women who disappeared and were subsequently found harmed.[13][14] In addition to race and class, factors such as supposed attractiveness, body size, and youthfulness have been identified as unfair criteria in the determination of newsworthiness in coverage of missing women.[15] News coverage of missing black women was more likely to focus on the victim's problems, such as abusive boyfriends, criminal history, or drug addiction, while coverage of white women often tended to focus on their roles as mothers, daughters, students, and contributors to their communities.[16]

  1. ^ Sommers, Zach (Spring 2016). "Missing White Woman Syndrome: An Empirical Analysis of Race and Gender Disparities in Online News Coverage of Missing Persons". Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology. 106 (2): 275–314. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Liebler was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Lundman, R.J. (2003). "The Newsworthiness and Selection Bias in News About Murder: Comparative and Relative Effects of Novelty and Race and Gender Typifications on Newspaper Coverage of Homicide". Sociological Forum. 18 (3): 357–386. doi:10.1023/A:1025713518156. S2CID 141625288.
  4. ^ Foreman, Tom (March 14, 2006). "Diagnosing 'Missing White Woman Syndrome'". CNN. There is no polite way to say it, and it is a fact of television news. Media and social critics call the wall-to-wall coverage that seems to swirl around these events, 'Missing White Woman Syndrome'. That was the phrase invoked by Sheri Parks, a professor of American studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, during our interview yesterday.
  5. ^ Robinson, Eugene (June 10, 2005). "(White) Women We Love". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference MMCR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cory L. Armstrong (2013). Media Disparity: A Gender Battleground. Lexington Books. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-7391-8188-1.
  8. ^ "Oscar Pistorius: The Verdict". SABC. September 12, 2014. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
  9. ^ Mau, Alison (December 16, 2018). "We've all had the chance to mourn Grace Millane, but the court denies this other slain woman that humanity". Stuff.co.nz.
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Slakoff was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Slakoff & Fradella 2019, p. 85: "As Table 2 illustrates, missing black girls and women accounted for 19.59% of news stories in the research sample even though they are estimated to account for 33.84% of missing persons. This disparity of more than 14 percentage points demonstrates that the media continue to underreport stories about missing black women and girls. Conversely, missing white girls and women are overrepresented in news stories by 8.81%, and missing women and girls from other racial backgrounds are similarly overrepresented by 8.63%."
  12. ^ Musial, Jennifer (2023). "25: Pregnant and Disappeared – The Missing White Woman Syndrome in Magazines". In Boyle, Karen; Berridge, Susan (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Gender, Media and Violence. Taylor & Francis. doi:10.4324/9781003200871-30. ISBN 978-1-000-91935-6. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  13. ^ Stein, Sarah Land (2012). The Cultural Complex of Innocence : an Examination of Media and Social Construction of Missing White Woman Syndrome (PhD thesis). University of Southern Mississippi. ProQuest 1113331344.
  14. ^ Essig, Laurie (2014). "Racial Politics in the US and the Figure of the White Lady. One way to understand the senseless killings of Black men is through the 'lady'". Psychology Today. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  15. ^ Moody, M.; Dorries, B.; Blackwell, H. (2008). "The Invisible Damsel: Differences in How National Media Outlets Framed the Coverage of Missing Black and White Women in the Mid-2000s". Conference Papers – International Communication Association. pp. 1–23. Archived from the original on March 9, 2015.
  16. ^ Cheryl L. Neely (2015). "African American Women as Victims of Violence – How do news stories affect our perception of crimes against women from different racial backgrounds?". Utne Reader. Retrieved October 9, 2017.