The Absent and Silenced Voice in Media Representations of Filipina Victims of Homicide in Australia

This article explores the absent and silenced voice in Australian newspapers through case studies of two Filipino women – Nenita Westhof and Marylou Orton – who were victims of homicide in Australia. It draws on a feminist discourse analysis of newspaper articles and interviews conducted with their families and friends. The method used is one way of enabling people to hear the stories of those who do not have a voice in the present. Analysing newspaper representations in light of the interviews provides an entirely different, more accurate and just reconstruction of the women's lives. Media representations of Nenita and Marylou bore little resemblance to their ‘lived reality’. In most instances, journalists did not acknowledge that the women were victims of domestic violence. Furthermore, sexist, racist and class-based discourses constructed Nenita and Marylou in accordance with dominant representations of Filipino women in Australia. They were held accountable for their own deaths, while their abusive male partners were frequently portrayed as victims of women who abused them. The article argues that such representations sensationalize the issues, misrepresent violence as the women's fault and shift responsibility from the perpetrator to the victim. In the process, they silence women's voices.