Photograph of Gabby Petito prior to her disappearance Source: https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/16/us/gabby-petito-timeline-missing-case/index.html
Gabby Petito has made nationwide news as she had been declared missing after not returning from a country-cross journey with her boyfriend. On August 25th of 2021, she sent her last texts to her parents, and by September 11th, the search for her began. Petito’s tragic disappearance left social media to spread awareness and search for the 22-year-old. Only eight days after she was reported as missing, her body was found after a nationwide search. Many news sources have continuously updated their sites to keep the public involved with her search, CNN’s article is featured here.
Although Petito’s family found their answers, Seraphine Warren has not. For the last three months, her aunt, Ella Mae Begay has been missing from the Arizona area. Warren is distraught over the lack of attention to find her and is speaking up for the Indigenous community as a whole. Only 18% of Indigenous women for the past decade have made any media coverage in Wyoming, the place where Petito was located. [1] African Americans, Asian Americans, and Indigenous have a significantly lower rate of public attention, the stigma of crime and poverty being factors of the neglect. Police and FBI conduct fewer investigations, along with society’s discriminatory desire to draw attention to a particular story.
Headshot of Ella Mae Begay. Source: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/09/26/gabby-petito-case-renews/
“Missing white woman syndrome” has been termed to describe the drastic difference in publicity. The prominence of this term has been seen more frequently. In the recent release of season 3 for the Netflix show “You,” episode 3 is titled “Missing White Woman Syndrome” as the public is hunting to solve the tragedy of the beautiful Natalie, a successful, white realtor who is beloved by her community. An African American character, Marienne, discusses within the episode how if it was a black woman, the media would react very differently. This parallel aligns with our class discussion of intersectionality as it dissects how individuals compare people in contrasting identities. This technique of identification assists people in seeing the variations of privileges found within race, gender, abilities, and more. Within this particular case, intersectionality would be applied to compare Gabby Petito, a white, 22-year-old female, to Ella Mae Begay, a 62-year old Navajo woman. The variation in characteristics creates an outline for why there is such a distinct difference in attention from the media. Although they are both women, the major issue within this injustice is the racially influenced factor.
This systemic injustice does not beg to reduce the productivity involved with a missing white individual’s case, but rather increase the awareness and seriousness towards those of other races. More than anything, it is dehumanizing that a certain skin color is deemed more important and privileged when it comes to government desires to search, public interest, and media importance. Walking around campus, I’m sure several individuals could tell Gabby Petito’s story or at least recognize her name, but they could not say the same about Ella Mae Begay.
[1] AP NEWS. (2021, September 25). Petito Case Renews call to spotlight missing people of color. Whitehurst, L., Tang, Licon. https://apnews.com/article/media-social-media-arizona-Race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-2fe13213df563f1560dede872890b8f2
Thank you for sharing this story! It is important for everyone to be aware of what news stories are being publicized, but also what stories are not being shared with the public. The phrase “missing white person syndrome” is something that is new to me, so thank you for bringing this to my attention. It is sad to realize that because you are different race, it will make you less “important” in the eyes of news broadcasters. I would categorize this issue within the idea of white privilege.
You did an excellent job of sharing these stories! I had not even been aware of Ella Mae Begay’s story until I read your presentation, which really shows something about the media. The fact that a white woman gone missing got so much more recognition and attention than a woman of color is heartbreaking, and it is posts like yours that help create a change. Thank you for this.
This story had me very interested and I kept up with all of the information when it first happened and was all over social media. Such a great idea for a injustice example and very good detail you used. It was explained really well and I like the examples you used to further your injustice. I liked reading what you had to say about this case.
Hi! I think you picked a really grea topic thats very relevant to society and current to the news going on today. Personally I had noticed that the amount of coverage from the Gabby Petito case was almost extreme. Everyone on tik-tok, twitter and instagram were coming up w theories and talking about this case. Although tragic, thousands of people go missing every year, and many of them dont get even a fraction of the amount of coverage that Gabby did. Overall great topic choice, very informative!
I really enjoyed seeing this case appear on our site as I have been hearing about this all over social media. I think that the media coverage on this case has been great for the influx of information that has been shared and all of the tips that have been given to the authorities because so many people are aware of what is happening. It also can cause a bad connotation around this case due to false information and accusations. I think this case will be a turning point in how the media handles all cases. Every case should receive as much awareness as hers did. It is tragic what had happened but you did a great job of writing this article, I enjoyed reading what you wrote!