Naming the Nameless

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

 

Another Rapist Goes Free

This story is horrific:

Having sex with a drunken 14-year-old he had plied with alcohol was not a criminal offense by former Calgary man, a judge ruled yesterday.

Justice Peter McIntyre said there was insufficient evidence the girl didn’t consent to having sex with Trevor Byron Niebergall.

But McIntyre did find Niebergall guilty of sexual assault for placing his genitals on the girl’s face after she passed out — an act the offender captured on his cellphone camera and showed to co-workers.

McIntyre said the fact the teenage complainant didn’t remember her sexual encounter with Niebergall at a December 2005 New Year’s Eve party did not mean she hadn’t consented.

There are so many rape myths working against this poor girl the whole thing is a disaster. This man committed the very definition of rape however will go unprosecuted because the judge found it more important to shame the victim than prosecute her assaulter. This girl was victim of an intentional crime: Niebergall got her drunk, had sex with her, took pictures, and then sexually assaulted her further. And yet the word rape is not used once in this article. As soon as I find out how to contact this asshole judge I’ll be informing him of a few things:

1. A 14 year-old is a child. While she is at the age of consent, she is not likely to be able to defend herself from this kind of attack.

2. No one can give consent when they’re drunk. Not young girls, slutty girls, good Catholic girls, or men. No one. It’s in this document called the Criminal Code of Canada you might want to check out.

3. Having sex with someone when they cannot consent is rape. It’s not a fucking misunderstanding.

What makes this whole case even worse is that the judge seems to think because the victim was drinking she deserved what happened to her:

The complainant was not forced to consume alcohol — she drank … beer willingly and then switched to alcohol. It is not at all clear why she drank so heavily.

What, no comment about how short her skirt was? She drank heavily because she’s a teenager at a party. Should all young girls be put in lockdown on New Years Eve lest they have too much fun and invite rapists to take advantage of them? What happened here is no one’s fault but the perpetrator and to imply otherwise is misogynist and setting a dangerous precedent.