The heartbreaking news of the Gabby Petitio missing person’s case, turned into murder, has been consuming the news. There have been numerous news articles written, extensive coverage on television and YouTube, and it has even created a conversation on popular platforms such as TikTok. This devastating story has opened the discussion on exactly why this story had the opportunity to captivate the public. In contrast, most stories about missing women of color from lower social classes have their stories constantly ignored by media outlets. ‘Missing White Woman Syndrome’ refers to the phenomena of media coverage primarily focused on white women from middle to upper social classes, often at the expense of women of color.
‘Missing White Women Syndrome’ is a term initially coined by Gwen Ifill in 2004, and is recognized as a hidden form of privilege. This concept greatly connects and relies on the idea of the mythical norm; meaning if you don’t fit into society’s standards of being white, straight, thin, and from an upper social class, the less privilege you receive in society. The less you fall into the mythical norm, the less attention your story will likely receive from the public and media.
The Law and Society Association states that Indigenous women who go missing in Canada receive 27 times less news coverage than white women. They also receive “dispassionate and less-detailed headlines, articles, and images.” When Petitio’s case was entering the news, the displacement of Haitaians as well as the number of murdered and missing Indigenous women was still growing, leading to frustrations about media coverage and which stories are ‘worthy’ of being told.
This issue does not stop at what the media chooses to cover, but also how the media decides to cover stories. Petitio’s stories and stories like hers are referred to as “inspirational” and “moving,” where women of color’s cases have much more negative descriptions. News stories about white women create stories focused on generating sympathy from the public. They typically entail how caring the victim was, how they were a good daughter or a devoted wife. Meanwhile, stories about women of color, if shared at all, tend to feature the victim in a negative light, discussing any past problems they might have had even if the information is not connected to the crime.
The difference in tones and the effort put into the telling of different people’s news stories give off the idea that some people’s lives matter more than others. That perpetuates a damaging cycle of ignorance.
Issues such as MWWS are a part of a bigger story of the issues consuming our society, particularly the narratives we put onto different women. White women are constantly portrayed as vulnerable victims while women of color are always shown as troubled. Missing women of color are often ignored and lost in statistics, whereas white women are given a chance to have their stories heard, thereby humanizing them.
Similar to the many discussions on the topic of privilege, particularly white privilege, it causes outrage with people thinking this implies that stories of women such as Petitio’s don’t matter. However, that is far from the truth. It simply means that everyone should receive the same energy and attention hat white women do.
So for those who have been following Gabby Petitio’s story and are heartbroken, and want to do something, now is the time to use that energy. Use this motivation to educate yourself on the larger issue of women, particularly women of color going missing. Educate yourself on how the news and media can have racist beliefs, even if subtle. It is not too late to learn and end this vicious cycle of ignorance in the news. As Gabby Petitios’s father stated, “I want to ask everyone to help all the people that are missing and need help.” He continued, “Like I said before, it’s on all of you, everyone that’s in this room, to do that. If you don’t do that for other people that are missing, that’s a shame, because it’s not just Gabby that deserves that. So look to yourselves on why that’s not being done.”