AWW Review No 5: Invisible Women by Kylie Fox and Ruth Wykes

When news of a murder hits the headlines, the public sit up and take notice. Or so you would assume. Apparently this is not the case for murdered sex workers, however. Invisible Women tells the stories of these women. While their occupation may be seen as unsavoury by society in general, this should not mean that we are any less horrified by their violent deaths - yet it seems that we are.

Society generally perceives sex workers as nameless and faceless. We do not consider that these women are somebody's daughter, sister, aunt or mother and that their deaths involve the same kind of pain and loss as any murdered family member or friend. Invisible Women gives a voice to these women whose plight has been silenced by a lack of reporting, which then results in a lack of the kind of outrage that any murder should evoke.

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Invisible Women challenged my thinking on this subject. Reading each of the stories brought home that remaining silent about this unpleasant topic allows killers to remain at large because we are not demanding that they be brought to justice. If murder is murder, why should it matter what the victims's occupation is? With the recent focus on stopping violence against women, this book serves to remind us that there is still a very long way to go to make this idea a reality.

Although a sad and confronting read, Invisible Women is compelling and very thought provoking. Well done to the authors for honouring the memory of the numerous victims within its pages.