Emily Greenhouse asks: Why do news reports still count the numbers of women and children killed in war zones? http://nyr.kr/1xAjgSO
“If we truly wish to identify the most helpless victims, we should count, alongside children, the infirm and the elderly. Instead, we tally the number of women and children killed, reflecting and perpetuating outdated ideas about women’s lives and women’s bodies.”
Photograph by Ilia Yefimovich/Getty
Reports of women and children casualties give the report shock value. It reveals war as being even more horrific — the surprise of casualties who are noncombatants.