Last Saturday, Sabina Nessa, a 28-year-old primary school teacher, was found dead in southeast London. The previous evening, Nessa had been due to meet a friend at a local pub and it’s believed she was attacked at about 8.30pm. It all bears a painful resemblance to what happened to Sarah Everard, says Ella Alexander in Harper’s Bazaar. Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, was murdered after she disappeared while walking home through Clapham on the evening of March 3. Only, unlike with Everard, whose face was on the front cover of papers and whose case sparked protests, there has been very little comment on Nessa. On Wednesday morning, five days after her death, Metro devoted just seven lines to the story.
Why the disparity? Would Everard’s disappearance have dominated the news cycle “were she not a pretty, white, blonde thirtysomething who looked like someone who might be your friend, or a daughter of your friend”? And would Nessa’s murder have been covered more extensively if she were white? “I think we know the answer.” It’s a grim reality, but one we must confront. “Gender-based violence doesn’t discriminate, but we do.”