Research...

I can't sleep. (I'm tired, but I can't seem to fall asleep) So I decided to come online and research old media clippings of some missing Manitoba women. -- I am about to embark on a year-long project about missing Aboriginal women, so I figured since I couldn't sleep, I might try to gather as much information as I can...

It's haunting; the deeper I got into my google searches, the more I fully realize that this issue is not limited to just a handful of women. -- I mean yes, I know the stats. However, knowing the stats, and seeing the seemingly endless supply of photos and names of these missing women are two completely different things.

And in many cases, the media was not kind. In a number of articles I read, the media made it a point to emphasize the lifestyles of these women, as opposed to simply just mentioning it or highlighting it. They may as well have said: "This woman is missing. She's a hooker. She's addicted to drugs."

I mean don't get me wrong, I suppose lifestyle is an important factor in these cases (or, at lease for some of them) but the major emphasis that the media takes serves to devalue the women as people. -- By focusing on the troubles of the missing woman, we don't/can't empathize and perhaps even care, because we're not addicted to drugs, and we've never sold our bodies for sex. No, we'd never end up in this situation... (In case you're wondering, I am being sarcastic.)

It's frustrating.

Perhaps if the public was allowed a different perspective into who these women are, and the impact that their disappearances have had on their families, they would actually start to give a shit.

Arrgh, I'm frustrated. I should try and go back to bed. (This topic is far too big for me to even explore right now...)