This morning, while scrolling through my general news feed, six words caught my eye on the homepage of News.com (and again on Yahoo News) that instantly made me reel: “Granny fighting for life after stabbing”.
I posted it to our all-female team: “Am I wrong to feel so incensed by this headline?”
The response? “No”. They were equally horrified…but not surprised.
It might seem like a small thing, some sloppy editing perhaps, but the regularity in which women are reduced to labels when they’re reported on as victims of violence is sickening. News outlets share scant details of “mums”, “daughters”, “wives”… but never just, people. And the description of “granny” tips things over the edge in the stakes of disrespect and dehumanisation.
For clarity, the woman at the centre of this horrific story, is Paulette Mountford, a 60 year-old church worker from Perth. Like thousands of other women (including 35 this year who have tragically lost their lives), she is the victim of domestic violence. Her husband, 72-year-old Christopher John Sullivan, allegedly stabbed her with a machete at about 5.30pm yesterday evening.
Her daughters issued a statement about the incident, sharing their intent to stay focused on their mother’s recovery and describing her as a “kind-hearted” and “strong woman”. Others noted her palpable warmth and generosity.
‘We are devastated and utterly heartbroken that our dear mother has endured such a horrifying ordeal and is now fighting for her life at Royal Perth Hospital. For such a kind-hearted person to suffer so deeply is hard for us to understand.
‘All that we want at this time is for our mother to overcome her injuries, and we pray and hope that she gets better soon. She is a strong woman and we know she will be using all her strength to get better.’
Their description is of a person they love; who is respected and cherished by family and friends. She is a grandmother, yes. But this is not her identity. She’s certainly not a “granny”– an informal and ageist term to describe older women.
My own mother is 65 years old. She is a poet, an educator, a foodie, a potty-mouth, a linguist and an obsessive walker.
If I were to read of her described as a “granny” under the same circumstances as Paulette Mountford’s daughters would have this morning, my heart would have broken into a thousand more pieces.
Yes, as media companies we are trying to get the story out in the public interest. Yes, we are often doing so quickly in adherence to tight deadlines. But, I truly believe that if we want to see the stats surrounding male violence against women shift, then we need to start paying some attention to the way we talk about and paint the picture of victims. We need to start using their names in headlines. We need to stop reducing women to gendered, offensive labels that do nothing to share their story and the horror of their circumstance.
In short, we need to do better at treating women like human beings. Only then, will we start to see lasting change.