ABSTRACT
This chapter employs a specific Australian case study to document the structural stigma that is pervasive in relation to the sex industry and replicated and facilitated within media representation of sex workers as deviant and blameworthy social pariahs. The comparison of media responses to the murders of Jill Meagher, the happily married woman, and Tracy Connelly, the transgressive street-based sex worker, emphasizes the power of entrenched belief systems about women’s sexuality and the partiality towards antiquated gender norms. Media accordingly devoted significant time and attention to covering two murders committed in 2012 and 2013. Media reports on the murders of women involved in sex work often feature cautionary tales about the supposed inherent risks of prostitution that assign blame to victims, rather than perpetrators, of violence. The dominant cultural message, as Smith notes, justifies violence against sex workers even when it takes extreme forms, such as murder.
