Above: Amanda Knox pondering a sequel
The Amanda Knox case is one of those things that seems to go on forever, like Kim Kardashian’s pregnancy. After extensive press coverage and a ridiculously long trial that ended in acquittal, Ms. Knox has done the bashful thing and written a book. Yes: it seems that having cameras and constant news stories circulating your trial isn’t enough to whet a attention-hungry appetite. Profoundly titled Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir, Knox has made her own splash in the literary scene with a first-hand view as to what she was doing before and during the investigation of the murder of her roommate. And joy of joys, good old Jezebel has done a review.
There’s many annoying things about this article, so let’s go over each one bit by bit, shall we? Firstly, the way the author, Tracie Egan Morrissey, completely schmoozes over such a merit-less person as Knox is vomit-worthy. What did she do that was so great? Cure cancer? Stand up for a cause? No: all she did was get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time; as unfortunate as that may be. Secondly, the title of the article is a weak, self-righteous attempt of inspiring empathy among readers: “12 Ways We Are Amanda Knox.”
Now there are several other annoying factors about this article, but instead of segmenting them into individual pieces let’s just clump: thirdly, the article itself. The gist of the article is that Amanda Knox’s story is the “most prominent story of slut-shaming since The Scarlet Letter, but so much more important and shocking.” It makes the argument that (as the title suggests) we, as females, are all Amanda Knox because she was “normal”. Here are Morrissey’s standards of what makes Knox “normal”:
“By the end of the first chapter of Amanda Knox’s memoir…she got her first vibrator, flew to Italy, had sex with a stranger she met on a train, smoked weed, and got Herpes. She’s, like, cool. Or at the very least she was normal. So, so normal. And if being a young woman having fun while exploring her independence and sexuality is a crime, then we’re all guilty.”
Let’s get something straight here: Herpes is not cool. It has not, nor will it ever be. Since when has getting any STD been cool? Or normal? Aren’t STDs something that should be, you know, atypical and abnormal? And shouldn’t that be a good thing? Any STD does not, most certainly does not, make you cool.
This is what’s wrong with the article in general: it’s trying to make the abnormal the norm in order to battle “society.” Morrissey even continues more heroic features of Knox, such as “she accidentally leaves swirl stains” and “she’s a pothead.” And while these may be normal for some and certainly no cause for critique (except maybe leaving swirl stains…I mean, really), should someone like Knox, who, once again, has done nothing, be deemed a beacon of “progressive, feminist-y [girliness]”? Are these the new standards Morrissey and Jezebel are trying to set as being “cool” for girls?
But listen, whatever: to each their own. People can do what they want and should be free to do so. However stating someone like Amanda Knox is “cool” and “normal” and therefore a prototype of feminine achieve is just as insubstantial as previous norms. Trying to elevate her story as something of social-boundary-breaking importance based solely on a few factors is just as bad as painting the letter “A” on someone because they happen to be friskier than everyone else in town. In other words, we are not all Amanda Knox, and nor should we aspire to be. Unfortunately most of us don’t have the means of publishing a book to nationally say so.