A long way to go
Women continue to be judged according to community stereotypes, by what people think we should be, by how we are expected to act and according to someone else's moralistic, simplistic assessment of our role in society.
In the same way we continue to be "appalled, but not surprised" when yet again a woman who is a victim becomes the subject of further victimisation within the legal system.
Deb Milka, convener of Scarlet Alliance, a NSW organisation for sex workers' rights, was "appalled but not surprised" in response to a verdict of manslaughter, instead of murder, brought against John Beltrame. Beltrame killed 17-year old Jasmin Lodge in February last year by strangling her with an electrical cord.
Beltrame admitted to killing the young woman. He claimed that after he had paid for and had sex with Lodge, she had stabbed him in the leg and held a knife to his throat while demanding money. In his panic, and in self-defence, he strangled her. He claimed to have thrown the knife away, but it was never found.
During the trial Beltrame's former girlfriend testified that he had told her he had strangled the girl because he had been dissatisfied with her sexual services and wanted his money back. He did not tell her that Lodge had had a knife or that she had threatened him. In fact, he said his cut leg was from the smashed window of a car yard he had broken into before picking up Jasmin.
Yet Beltrame was found guilty of manslaughter, not murder. During the trial he took advantage of a right which remains valid only in NSW and the ACT, and which has been abolished internationally except in South Africa, Fiji and Eire: making an unsworn statement from the dock, without having taken an oath or affirmation and without risking cross-examination. It was when making this statement that Beltrame presented his story of having acted in self-defence.
The outcome has outraged and dismayed women's groups. "Because we're doing something that is unacceptable in the community, we continue to be scapegoated as the ones who created the crime rather than the victim", stated Milka. A spokesperson for the Women's Legal Resources Centre pointed out that it was impossible legally for anyone to contradict Beltrame's unsworn statement from the dock.
Meanwhile the fact that Jasmin was working in the sex industry and that she had been a state ward were made more than clear in coverage of the case. Her personal history and lifestyle were on trial. Next to coverage of the trial outcome, the Sydney Morning Herald ran a story with the headline "Dumped girl, 14, was a prostitute". The story was a report on the identification of the body of a 14-year old woman, whose death is being treated by police as "suspicious".
It was, of course, no coincidence that the two stories were run together. In both cases the fact that the murdered young women were prostitutes rated a story in and of itself.
Until women cease to be treated in a way that is moralistic and judgmental, we will continue to be victimised even when we seek justice. This case proves that we've still got a long way to go.