Perhaps many Feministe readers have been following this story, but if you haven’t, Seattle has been abuzz with the story of Amanda Knox, a University of Washington student studying abroad in Perugia, Italy. Knox is being held on suspicion of involvement in the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher. In addition, two men, one of whom was Knox’s boyfriend at the time, are being held in connection with the murder.
I won’t delve too deeply into the details of the case, but Knox has certainly not helped herself with the conflicting statements she’s given to the Italian police, particularly concerning her whereabouts on the night of the murder. Despite this, Knox still maintains her innocence, so we will have to wait and see how justice plays out.
One of the interesting twists to this case is that one of the suspects in the murder of a young, attractive white woman is a young, attractive white woman. This woman from Seattle who is studying in Italy has some observations about some of the coverage in Italy the case has generated:
Since this murder, to be a college student from Seattle has become shorthand for something else. Ms. Knox has been called “una bugiarda” (liar), “L’Americana,” or my personal favorite, “La Luciferina.” Even worse, her image-destroying online postings, in which she appears to be inebriated, have become part of this media circus. Italians have gotten all too well acquainted with “la studentessa di Seattle” (thanks again for the great press). Laughing about her constantly changing alibi, they now often refer to her just as “Amanda.”
And of course there was that unfortunate online name she gave herself: “Foxyknoxy.”
Sophie Egan’s op-ed has more to do with the images Italians have of American students, and specifically those from Seattle. I found it striking, however, that Knox has been portrayed in certain gendered ways. As Egan points out, Knox seems to be increasingly portrayed as some sort of femme fatale. The Times of London has certainly obliged us as well:
Rudy Hermann Guede, a suspect in the murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, has claimed that Ms Kercher complained to him that Amanda Knox, her American flatmate, was a “drugged-up tart”.
Guede himself is in a good deal of hot water, given that police have evidence that he had sex with Kercher the night of her death and Kercher had been sexually assaulted prior to being murdered. So it’s to his advantage to portray Knox in as negative a light as possible. When a woman’s involved, slut-shaming with a good dose of female rivalry thrown in never seems to fail.
I’m certainly not implicating or defending anyone here. All of the suspects are in a lot of trouble, and the police have good reason to suspect their involvement. But this sad tale has layers of cultural baggage placed upon it, most notably the stock story of young women going wild abroad, and Knox has been placed at the very center of it, even though the exact nature of her alleged involvement still isn’t known. If Knox weren’t a suspect, I wouldn’t be surprised if the focus of the coverage would be shifted to Kercher and we’d be hearing more lurid details of her lifestyle.
It certainly doesn’t help that there is, as Dave Neiwert at Orcinus points out, an ugly racial element to this case as well. Both Guede and a previously arrested suspect (who was implicated by Knox, but who has been released from custody due to lack of evidence) are immigrants to Italy from Africa. Combine girls gone wild, Italian style with fear of immigrants, and you’ve got a pretty potent brew.