The Winkler Case-- Gender Bias in the Media

This will be the first, in what I am sure will be a series, of blogs about the Matt Winkler murder. Matt and Mary were both students at Freed-Hardeman around the same time I was there (on my way OUT actually) so I am peripherally aware of them (to the point i recognized their pictures on TV, but noit to the point where I knew them personally). I also am acquainted with Selmer/McNairy County TN, having been a mental health Crisis worker in that area for several years. At the most, I am one degree removed from pretty much everybody involved with the case. The culture and environment that the murder occured in is where my roots are. . .having lived in the community of the church of Christ in southwest TN for a good numbeer of years.

I am sure that I will elaborate more on the religious and cultural issues pertinent to the case in future posts, but right now, i want to address an issue that is very poigniant to me as this case has been developing. I am increasingly aware of the gender bias in the way that the Media has been reporting this, and other crimes.

As I have been watching the reports develop on the different news channels (at the same time the female high school teacher is being tried for having sex with a student), i have been continually hearing the question of "what would MAKE this good christian wife do such a thing?". . immediately, speculations of spousal abuse, infidelity, molestation of the daughters are being thrown out. Even on the ex church of Christ Board that I frequent, there is the general consensus that the emotional and spiritual oppression of women in such a culture would wasily lend itself to someone "snapping" and committing cold blooded murder. I had one friend say to me that she could EASILY understand. . ."with life in Selmer as a preacher's wife". I can;t really argue with all of that, but as I say, there seems to be a disparity between the way the media reports crimes against men as opposed to when they report crimes against women. There are detail that are VASTLY different than the Scott Peterson trial, but the end result is the same. . .one spouse murdered another. In the Peterson trial, his villany was portrayed as obvious and conspicuous. Everyone, including me, thought the man should fry. It is interesting to see how different the reporting has been in this case. . .about the poor woman who MUST have been justified, in some way, to kill that mean old man.

It occurs to me that this may just be evidence of a subliminal (or not so much so) form of misandry that occurs within the media--The woman is always the victim, and the man is always the perpetrator. . .you see a significant disparity in the reports of women who have commited crimes, such as murder, or statutory rape. . .me are automatically labelled as ogres or perverts, but the women are "disturbed" or "wounded" in some way. The woman becomes somehow justified in her crimes, before the facts are all in.

Or perhaps, it is even worse. Perhaps rather than misandry, it is actually a heavily veiled form of misogyny. . .just with a really good mask on. It seems that there is the assumption that women, in their "weakness", CAN'T be held accountable for heinous crimes. It seems as if the media bias may be rooted in the assumption that A man has to take responsibility for himself, but a poor mistreated woman can't be expected to make good choices. The attitude seems to be that women are never strong enough to be the perpetrator in any situation. . .she must be some sort of victim, and it is her victimization that has caused her acting out.

I am not sure which, if either, of these are true. Both are dangerous, in my opinion, as they compartmentalize people in a way that dismisses individuality and responsibility. Where I feel certain that there is as such thing as "mitigating circumstances" in many situations, i think that our media driven culture does a terrible job of observing these circumstances in a way that is equitable as related to gender.

Why did Mary WInkler shoot her husband? I am not sure. I have guesses myself, many of which are rooted deeply in my experiences in the culture of the church of Christ. This is a culture that CNN, MSNBC, et al are not necessarily privy to, and therefore should not make assumptions based on gender in reporting the case.