"There's a certain voyeurism in this kind of coverage -- a sense that you don't have to worry about violence because it only happens to these kinds of women," notes Melissa Gira Grant, a writer, activist, and former sex worker. Asked to select the worst recent example, she chose a New York Daily News cover that read "Hooker Slay Exclusive: Web of LI Sickos" and its accompanying inside story, "Internet sex forum wanted 'revenge' vs. Long Island hooker later murdered, dumped in burial grounds." My own pick in the Asking For It category comes from WPIX, which quotes the neighbor of Amber Lynn Costello, one of the victims: "With the people she was hanging around with, who were coming here, it was obvious something was going to happen to her." Best Candid Moment goes to the neighbor National Public Radio quotes without comment who frets about the recent discovery of more unidentified bodies: "It could be more than just prostitutes."—Nancy Goldstein, in her excellent piece on the story which "has been unraveling on Long Island since last December...when the remains of four bodies, disposed of in separate burlap bags 500 feet apart on a scant quarter-mile of beach, were identified as belonging to young women in their 20s who advertised themselves as escorts on Craigslist," followed by the discovery of six more victims.
In what has become a familiar tale, "Some of those 10 people might be alive today if it hadn't been for the lackluster response of law enforcement and the press coverage of the case—much of it sensationalist and dehumanizing—all because of the first victims' sex-worker status."
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