Storylines like this could be a springboard to discuss why a child needing a $1,800 surgery can’t get it in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, or why the policies criminalizing sex work and law enforcement contribute to the violence sex workers face. These reactions are typical in crime dramas police and other witnesses often blatantly display their contempt for sex workers. As Jess talks about Erin’s choice to escort, both Colin and Trisha’s facial and bodily gestures convey judgment, contempt, and disgust. While Mare is in the foreground for most of the scene, the camera does switch to Detective Colin Zabelboth (Evans) and Trisha Riley (Jess’s mother, played by Katie Kreisler) in the background. In sharing her dead friend’s secret-she explained that Erin was considering work as an escort to pay for her baby’s surgery. With tears in her eyes and reluctance, Jess shows the cops the online escort page she’d helped Erin to create. Mare presses Jess-suspecting she knows more than she is letting on. In an intense scene, the detectives visit Jess Riley (Ruby Cruz), Erin’s best friend, and question her about Erin’s life right before her brutal death. Erin was shot, beaten, and dragged to a river, where her naked and fractured body is captured in close detail for viewers. On Mare of Easttown, in episode four, “Poor Sisyphus”, the show’s leads are investigating the murder of Erin McMenamin, a young mother, who we recently learned is hiding the identity of her child’s father, and has suffered much psychological violence from her alcoholic father and physical violence and bullying from peers. When asked about reporting violence to the police, they reported that police did not take their complaints seriously and often told them that they should expect violence.” Thus, along with harmful laws criminalizing consensual sex work, our culture creates the conditions under which violence against sex workers becomes normalized and seen as acceptable. In utilizing the “sex worker murder victim trope”, or what others have called the disposable sex worker trope, they are traversing into dangerous territory that crime dramas can’t seem to get enough of, contributing to the normalization of violence and stigma sex workers face.Īccording to a study by the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center, “Eighty percent of street-based prostitutes interviewed had experienced or been threatened with violence while working. Mare of Easttown is flirting with a dangerous trope with real-world implications for people in the sex industry. My stomach sank-murder victim is the only role television seems to have for sex workers. But, once it happened, I stopped singing praises.Ī few episodes in, the pair of sleuths suspect that the murderer they are hunting is targeting sex workers. This is a good look for her, and she is not alone Jean Smart, who plays Helen, Mare’s mother, offers unexpected comedic genius. I’ve actually never enjoyed her performances as much as I do on this show. Undoubtedly, there is much to love about this show- the acting is phenomenal, particularly Winslet’s gritty and raw performances. I’ve been watching intently as the dazzling Kate Winslet playing Detective Mare Sheehan and Evan Peters, as Detective Colin Zabelboth, investigate the disappearance and murders of several women in the small working-class, fictional town of Easttown. I was in love with HBO’s new hit crime drama, Mare of Easttown, until it went there.
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