There's a lot of discussion these days about things that are dangerous to women--is it heart disease? Is it stress? Car accidents? Drugs? Serial killers? Trans women in bathrooms?--but it seems like one of the biggest hazards to women are the men in their lives.
This book details the cases of thirty women who vanished. Stretching back to 1976, and with cases as recent as 2007, the women featured in this book seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. For some, the legal system was able to prove a case against the men in their lives, but for others, the search for justice may never be resolved.
The amazing thing to me was the stories that the husbands gave upon their wives' disappearances. "So, you had a fight, and she just left the house--at 3am. In her pajamas. Barefoot. Without her purse, or her glasses, or her car, or her TEETH? Leaving her small dependent children behind. And you decided to say nothing for three weeks? And while she was gone you replaced your mattress and moved your girlfriend into the house?" It boggles the mind that many of them managed to get away with most likely murdering their significant others, despite there being a mountain of circumstantial evidence pointing right at them like a neon sign.
Could some of these women have run away to start new lives away from their ostensibly abusive spouses? Could some of them have been snatched off the street by a predatory stranger? Perhaps. Is it likely? No.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this book--it's not exactly a fun read. However, it is important to remember these women, and know that these are only thirty cases among thousands. According to this report from CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/06/us/dome...) an average of THREE women are murdered EVERY DAY in the United States by their intimate partners. The story this book tells is merely the tip of a terrifying iceberg.
ETA: Sorry about the weird formatting. I don't know what's even happening here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
CBR14 #1 - Revenge Body by Rachel Wiley
Cannonball Read #14. Hope springs eternal, I guess. I have to say that Rachel Wiley is probably my favorite living poet. I've been a fa...
-
Harold Schechter is mostly known for his true-crime accounts of serial killers. However, with Nevermore he introduces one of my favorite cha...
-
As anyone who follows this blog knows, I am fascinated by disasters. I know more about shipwrecks, fires, and molasses floods than anyone I ...
-
Stephen Ambrose writes some of the best historical non-fiction I have read (and I have read quite a lot.) His work regarding the European th...
No comments:
Post a Comment