This unaltered story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.org.
License [2]: Creative Commons 4.0 - Attributions/No Derivities/Int'l.
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Why isn’t Sabina Nessa getting the attention Sarah Everard did?

By:   []

Date: 2021-09

Like many people I first heard of Nessa’s death through social media. I went to various news sites, looking for more information on her case, expecting her story to be all over the news. But coverage was minimal.

My hunch was that Nessa’s death was getting less coverage than Everard’s had, so I used the social media analytics tool Crowdtangle to find out. The figures were stark: in the first week after Everard’s death, there were twice as many posts on Facebook as there have been since Nessa died. And 50% more interactions with those posts: while 225,000 people reacted to a post about Everard in the seven days immediately after her death, only 148,000 have responded to the news of Nessa’s death.

Similarly, a quick look at Google Trends shows that immediately after Everard’s death, there was a huge spike in people searching for her name. We’re now a week after Nessa’s death, and there’s been no equivalent trend.

The two cases aren't the same: Everard was missing for six days before her killer was arrested, and her death was confirmed a day later still. So the coverage of her case in the first week in part reflected the urgency of a missing person inquiry. Still, the difference is striking.

The same day as news of Nessa’s killing broke, an article was posted asking the important question of whether there has been any meaningful change since the abduction, rape and murder of Everard. The disheartening reality is no, things haven’t really changed. Months after Everard’s murder, here we are – having the exact same conversations about violence against women and girls.

Only, it’s not exactly the same, is it?

The race question

Some might ask, why bring race into it? The answer is that, while the wider issue is the epidemic of violence against women, it intersects with race in a way that women of colour are all too familiar with.

Within three days of Everard’s disappearance, her case had been covered by numerous organisations including the BBC, The Guardian, The Independent and Huffington Post. It feels uncomfortable to make these comparisons but in the aftermath of her death, Crowdtangle shows that social media shares were significantly higher for Everard-related posts than they were for Nessa.

It’s not a competition, and it’s not about whataboutisms. But the insidious minimisation of violence against women of colour can’t be ignored. Stories of women of colour are often unheard and unreported.
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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/why-isnt-sabina-nessa-getting-the-attention-sarah-everard-did/
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