Calgary doesn’t get too many Law and Order type homicides- typically murders in Calgary are straight-forward gang or drug related. Then there are the murders we don’t hear about, the nameless prostitutes or homeless women whose killers are often never found. Sex worker victims are more likely to be killed by someone who is related to their profession. Half of female victims in other professions are killed by “someone with whom they had had an intimate relationship”, namely boyfriends or husbands.*
For me, and likely for most of you, this statistics are horrifying and instill a visceral sort of fear. These nameless women who are killed by the people they trusted most are on the front lines of the battle against patriarchy and the way our culture treats their murders speaks volumes about the misogyny feminists are often told doesn’t exist.
I started thinking about this subject again with the death of Jasmine Fiore whose accused killer is minor Calgarian celebrity. Not familiar with her name? That’s because we only know her as “model”.
From CBC:
“Fugitive Calgarian charged in model’s killing”
The Globe and Mail:
“Search for model killer suspect shifts to Canada”
The National Post:
“Reality-TV star charged with U.S. model’s murder armed and in Canada: police”
Jasmine was married to her killer for a short period of time. Aside from that and the brutal details of her murder we don’t know much about her. Only after some digging did I find an article on the Examiner.com mentioning she was a singer in a band called “Machines of Joy.” Her Wikipedia entry briefly indicates she was making plans to open her own gym.
Did she have family? What was she passionate about? I suspect we’ll never know, because hearing from the mother of murder victim is not sexy or entertaining. However, judging by the Google results that come up under her name, digging out her old Playboy photos is. And if you’re too embarrassed to log on to playboy.com, the Ottawa Sun has helpfully put up a slide-show.
RIP Jasmine.
*Homicide stats from Statistics Canada
