Missing women

Policing absence

Bibliographic Data

ID8962875
AuthorsOlivia Stevenson (0000-0001-8758-2207, Office of the Vice Provost Research University College London London WC1H 0BT), Hayden Lorimer (0000-0003-3004-4891, Geographical and Earth Science University of Glasgow Glasgow G12 8QQ, corresponding author), Hester Parr (0000-0002-1590-5027, Geographical and Earth Science University of Glasgow Glasgow G12 8QQ), Penny Woolnough (0000-0002-4563-0976, Division of Psychology, School of Social and Health Sciences University of Abertay Dundee DD1 1HG)
Year2016
Volume42
Issue2
Pages220-232
Publication date2016-11-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/tran.12160
OpenAlexW2559047811
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited35

This paper considers the neglected mobilities associated with a sample of UK women reported as missing. Refracted through literatures on gendered mobility and abandonment, the paper argues that the journeys of these women in crisis are not well understood by police services, and that normative gender relations may infuse their management. By selectively exploring one illustrative police case file on Kim, we highlight how reported and observed socio‐spatial relationships within private and public spaces relate to search actions. We argue that Kim's mobility and spatial experiences are barely understood, except for when they appear to symbolise disorder and danger. We address the silences in this singular case by using the voices of other women reported as missing, as collected in a research project to explore the agency, experience and meaning of female mobility during absence. We argue that women reported as missing are not abandoned by UK policing services, but that a policy of continued search for them may be at risk if they repeatedly contravene normative socio‐spatial relationships through regular absence mobilities. By way of conclusion, we address recent calls for research that explores the relationships between gender and mobility

Abandonment (legal · Agency (philosophy · Meaning (existential · Mobilities · Normative · Political science · Sample (material · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology · Sex work and related issues

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