What was so special about JonBenet?

[conuly]

Not intending any disrespect towards the poor girl or her family, but why is it her we've been hearing about off and on for the past ten years? Why is it her who got to be featured in so many tabloid articles?

Why not any of the other children who have been lost or killed in the past ten years?

Tangentially, I know pictures exist of her *outside* of her pageant pictures. Saw one or two of them tonight. So why were virtually all the pictures we've constantly been inundated with been the ones from the pageants? Was that really the best way to remember this kid?

Comments

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

Probably because she was the little beauty-pageant queen, and also because her parents were rich.

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

The JonBenet story had legs because of the full-on weirdness of those pageants; then the initial circumstances were suspicious, leading many people (and much of the media) to finger the parents; then we got documentaries effectively proving the parents' innocence; then we got documentaries about how this case ruined the parents' lives and how the police prefer to accuse the available rather than the guilty.

Most abducted little girls don't have a quarter of that going on, hence their relative neglect when it comes to media coverage.

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

And now I see JonBenet's mother died of ovarian cancer on June 24. Doubtless, if this hadn't happened to them and they'd had to spend all their money on lawyers, they'd have been able to afford medical care for her and she'd still be around.

This is too depressing a story to contemplate.

[thornleaf.livejournal.com]

By placing her in beauty pageants at such a young age (and putting her in clothing and makeup completely inappropriate for a six-year-old), her parents had sexualized her more than most girls are at twice her age. In the eyes of most people, I think, this made her a target for paedophiles. On top of that, the media (and, hence, most of the population that followed the story, even to a small degree) believed (or implied) that above and beyond just sexualizing their child, one or both parents had actually murdered her. And got away with it.

It was bound to be a high-profile case because the little girl involved was unusual, the circumstances were sensational, and the accusations towards the parents were believable (to a point) because of the way they'd treated her while she was alive (not as a child but more like a champion showdog).

As for why we only seem to see the pageant pictures; well, I think that goes right back to all of the points I just discussed. That was what set this case apart from every other child murder - she was sexualized by her parents and made a target, in a sense, and the pictures of her looking like a mini-adult elicit a stronger response from the viewer (in terms of revulsion and disgust, generally) than do pictures of her as a normal child.

That'd be my guess, anyway.

[hopefulnebula]

Hey, at least you've had "on and off." It's been more or less constant out here.

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

Probably because she was the little beauty-pageant queen, and also because her parents were rich.

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

The JonBenet story had legs because of the full-on weirdness of those pageants; then the initial circumstances were suspicious, leading many people (and much of the media) to finger the parents; then we got documentaries effectively proving the parents' innocence; then we got documentaries about how this case ruined the parents' lives and how the police prefer to accuse the available rather than the guilty.

Most abducted little girls don't have a quarter of that going on, hence their relative neglect when it comes to media coverage.

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

And now I see JonBenet's mother died of ovarian cancer on June 24. Doubtless, if this hadn't happened to them and they'd had to spend all their money on lawyers, they'd have been able to afford medical care for her and she'd still be around.

This is too depressing a story to contemplate.

[thornleaf.livejournal.com]

By placing her in beauty pageants at such a young age (and putting her in clothing and makeup completely inappropriate for a six-year-old), her parents had sexualized her more than most girls are at twice her age. In the eyes of most people, I think, this made her a target for paedophiles. On top of that, the media (and, hence, most of the population that followed the story, even to a small degree) believed (or implied) that above and beyond just sexualizing their child, one or both parents had actually murdered her. And got away with it.

It was bound to be a high-profile case because the little girl involved was unusual, the circumstances were sensational, and the accusations towards the parents were believable (to a point) because of the way they'd treated her while she was alive (not as a child but more like a champion showdog).

As for why we only seem to see the pageant pictures; well, I think that goes right back to all of the points I just discussed. That was what set this case apart from every other child murder - she was sexualized by her parents and made a target, in a sense, and the pictures of her looking like a mini-adult elicit a stronger response from the viewer (in terms of revulsion and disgust, generally) than do pictures of her as a normal child.

That'd be my guess, anyway.

[hopefulnebula]

Hey, at least you've had "on and off." It's been more or less constant out here.