Women need daring more than ever before
They shouldn’t be frightened out of doing anything nor feel intimidated or threatened wherever they work
Kim Wall had been going about her job, doing what she had been doing for years; chasing a story, a feature article about an interesting man; an engineer who had built a submarine and was intending to build a homemade rocket. It was an ordinary day for the intrepid journalist; pursuing her next article, another in a long line of interesting stories of people’s lives, some of which had been published in the best-known publications across the world. But Kim never anticipated meeting a monster. She was never seen alive again after boarding that makeshift submarine with Peter Madsen in August 2017. Days later a body was found washed up on a Danish beach; tortured, mutilated, dumped.
As journalists we’re always on the lookout for a good story, a news article, feature or an update to an old story. We venture out to speak to people, a lot of the time in their own homes, not really knowing what to expect depending on the situation or the story, or the information that might come to light when you are there and the type of piece you’re trying to write. Most of the time when writing feature articles, the journalist needs to visit the people in their homes, to see where they live, how they live and who they are as persons. It’s part and parcel of the job to create the scenario for the story to unravel and pique the interest of readers. This is what makes reporting such an interesting profession and one of the reasons it’s such a popular choice among young writers.
I’ve met some of the most interesting and heart-warming people, and others who didn’t appreciate what my job was. No one ever believes that they are walking to their death or that they will be faced with extreme violence when they go on a job. Yet it happens, and it seems to be a growing trend for journalists around the world. I’ve been lucky enough to have avoided violence in my career, partly because of the patriarchal newsrooms that I’ve found myself working in, which seemed to send only the males to do the jobs deemed too risky for women, despite our protestations to the contrary.
It seems that women are targeted in many ways more so than men and we can see it today in the way women journalists are treated on social media, being pilloried and bullied by faceless antagonists.
Violent fantasy
Recently our screens were filled with yet another instance of horrific violence against a woman, a tragedy that made it to the limelight because of the gruesome details and the fact that it happened in a Western country. We also saw a man being given a life sentence in Denmark (although I’m not sure in what world 16 years is a life sentence) for torturing and murdering Kim, who had simply been trying to do her job. She had messaged her boyfriend that night about being on the submarine and going down, saying she was ‘still alive’. A judge and jury last week were shown in court how Madsen had watched brutal, explicit films in the weeks preceding the murder and had been living out a violent fantasy that night, with Kim as his victim. He must have known he’d be found out, yet his sick compulsion led to Kim’s death.
The man is a suspected psychopath, not that that takes away from the fact that he is a cold-blooded killer, but it will be a warning for other women journalists, indeed all journalists around the world — a warning that shouldn’t have to be. Women should be able to do their jobs in a harassmentfree environment. Yes, I realise that being a journalist comes with its own special issues and risks, but it shouldn’t be different for men and women. I don’t want to have to think twice about going to someone’s home to do an interview; I don’t want to have to think about bringing someone with me to do my job. I wouldn’t be able to do my job properly. No one would even want to hire me. Women shouldn’t be frightened out of doing anything nor feel intimidated or threatened wherever they work. Yet, depressingly, they are.
Little girls can be whatever they want to be, regardless of the perceived dangers that are associated with a particular job. But if these dangers are heightened because of their gender this can and does push women out of the positions. However, I truly believe that, just as the past hundred or so years have proven, women will always push back.
They will always realise when something is wrong in the way society is and they will strive and eventually reach their destination; one of equal standing with men, where their strengths are valued and where they can work and live without intimidation or bullying. Such a world, you might say, isn’t possible. But humans will be roaming the earth for as long as climate change allows us and I believe there will be a natural evolution towards equality. It’s just a shame that Kim and millions of women like her will never get to see it.
■ Christina Curran is freelance journalist based in Northern Ireland.