Amanda Knox: Feminist Icon

Now that she's back in Seattle and no longer in an Italian jail cell, Amanda Knox has to decide what kind of life she'd like to lead. (Public? Private? Some reality-show combination of the two?) One choice, however, has already been made for her, because Knox is now a prime candidate to become a feminist icon.

Before, during, and after the 2009 murder trial in which she was accused of killing her British roommate Meredith Kercher, Knox was called a lot of terrible things. But last week, prior to her acquittal, a lawyer labeled her a "witch," the piece de resistance of smears against women. 

Any self-respecting feminist feels the hair stand up on the back of her neck when she hears that word in any context other than a reference to Wiccans. The appellation conjures up the specter of the Salem witch trials, which any history student knows were used as a way to punish women seen as getting out of line. To call a woman a witch is to cast aside logic and evidence and rely on notions of evil mysticism, something women supposedly have a lock on.

The Knox case—and the voluminous press coverage that attended it—could certainly be seen in this way. The physical evidence put forward by prosecutors was sparse and unconvincing, and much of the fascination with the onetime University of Washington student focused on her character.

While the witch label is a new one, her image as a sexy party girl was there from the start, as was her nickname "Foxy Knoxy"—all it took to damn Knox in some eyes. (See one piece from The Times of London headlined "Diary reveals Foxy Knoxy's sex secrets.")

The pillorying of women for their sexuality is, of course, another feminist bane. And Knox's treatment has not gone unnoticed. One British blogger wrote "that she had condoms and a vibrator in a see-through bag has been widely reported as some kind of proof that she was deranged enough to kill her housemate in a sex game," while a Seattle writer assailed the virgin/whore complex that seemed to run through the Knox case.

Both writers posted their observations prior to the "w" word's use in court last week—well before Knox was set free and given the option to grab the icon mantle or leave it for the next woman cursed by the smear.