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THERE’S a lot that is wrong with the media but let’s take a moment to be grateful for the English press not having a sordid tabloid side to it. I’ve heard about acts like inappropriate images of Benazir Bhutto and Nusrat Bhutto being thrown from planes which, I’m told, weren’t widely reported in the English press. The Urdu press is another beast, and now social media is the new tabloid magazine. I’m grateful this paper’s website calls out all forms of misogyny against celebrities and politicians, but of course we have a long way to go.
Misogyny is so deeply ingrained that I’m always surprised when I hear women spew hatred at Malala Yousufzai, Sharmeen Obaid and Maryam Nawaz — this axis seems to get under everyone’s skin. Patriarchy has no gender as the feminist bell hooks [sic] wrote.
Tabloid culture is alive and well and flying the flag high for misogyny in the West. I was reminded of this while watching the newly released two episodes of The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox. You may remember the story of the American student charged with the sexual assault and murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007.
She was convicted in 2007 and then acquitted in 2011 as was her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. They were retried in 2011 and convicted again before being acquitted by the supreme court a year later.
What is ‘reclaiming your story’ about?
Sollecito did not garner the kind of media frenzy Amanda did because — you guessed it — misogyny. Tabloids had a field day calling her ‘Foxy Knoxy’ and painting her as a sexual deviant. I watched the two episodes because I was curious as to why this story was being dredged up again. Hasn’t it all been written, televised, pod-casted, Vlogged, already?
It turns out that Amanda Knox is behind this project and wants to reclaim her story. She is one of the producers as is Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern who nearly brought down Bill Clinton’s presidency. She too has been the subject of many documentaries and wants to reclaim her narrative, ie, recreate her ‘brand’.
What happens to other people’s perspective when you are reclaiming your story? Is it fair to Meredith and her family; is Amanda profiting from this terrible thing that happened to Kercher and also her? And, what is this ‘reclaiming your story’ about? I keep seeing this all over social media with influencer types telling you to change your narrative. Is it helpful — ie, stop playing the victim — or could it send you down a harmful path where you stay in a state of victimhood, unable to break a cycle of negativity?
Since I began teaching at university-level almost nine years ago, I’ve noticed two things: one, it’s someone else’s fault I’m late, unable to do the assignment, not interested in being here, etc. The second is the inability to apologise, which ties into holding oneself accountable. This, unfortunately, isn’t limited to students. A driver banging into your car will not say sorry, nor will the restaurant who serves you unhygienic food, and you can forget about that Vlogger selling you lies. You have to demand apologies now and you may not get them.
To return to Amanda Knox’s new show — she has every right to tell her story because she has always maintained her innocence and wants to clear her name. We learn as much about her naivete as we do about the Italian justice system’s desperation to pin the blame on someone, as well as how media framing can drive narratives. Perhaps the most brutal lesson was that ultimately Amanda had the money to make this TV series which I’m guessing Kercher’s family did not. Justice is not blind.
Reclaiming your narrative is a powerful tool in the context of marginalised voices whose stories rarely get told. I don’t really care that rich white women, wronged by their systems, are using it to set the record straight, but it is upsetting that theirs are the only stories that get the airtime they do. There’s a renewed interest in JFK Jr who is the subject of a documentary and docudrama, 26 years after his death.
Has Hollywood run out of stories? I know we love to depict women as damsels in distress but every now and again we try to break that mould.
Whose stories get told in Pakistan and whose voices are suppressed? Your first thought will likely go towards political parties currently out of favour. Let me remind you how when they were in power, they repressed voices. When they return — and we know they will shamelessly bend the knee — they will repress again. I’d love to see the cycle break but I doubt it will so I channel my energy watching bad TV shows. So you don’t have to.
The writer is a journalism instructor.
X: LeadingLady
Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2025
