Tue 7 Oct 2014 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
An Australian newspaper has sparked fury by labelling the victim of a monstrous murder a “she male”. Indonesian trans woman Mayang Prasetyo was reportedly murdered, then cooked, by her husband Marcus Peter Volke in their Brisbane apartment. Volke took his own life after fleeing from police on Sunday. A petition on change.org is asking for the Courier Mail to make a public apology for the story it’s headlined ‘Monster chef and the she male’ and ‘Ladyboy and the butcher’: “Rather than persecuting the offender in this case it appears that Courier Mail is attempting to justify or trivialise Mayang's murder on the basis of her transgender status,” the petition’s authors write. They point to the Courier Mail's own Code of Conduct which states it should make no pejorative reference to a person’s sex unless it’s relevant. “I question how Mayang's sex assigned at birth is relevant to her murder if not to sensationalise a horrific act? The story contained on your page certainly provides no further insight into the relevance of Mayang's sex assigned at birth nor her history as a sex worker as this murder was committed by an individual who was clearly aware of her transgender status and work history and would therefore not be eligible for defence under any country's ‘panic’ law - thus making this information irrelevant,” the petition reads. “We also demand that you run an article about the prevalence of gender-related violence in Australia and worldwide- with the latest statistics showing 1509 reported murders in the last six years.” It continues “The transgender community experience some of the highest levels of violence in any minority and the propagation, scandalisation and trivialisation of stories like this which diminish a horrific domestic violence crime to a focus on transsexualism (which for the record is no longer the appropriate terminology) does nothing but perpetuate this violent cycle. “News Limited should be deeply ashamed of the terminology used in this story as well as the clear 'victim blaming' it implies.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 7th October 2014 - 2:55pm