MWWS
Missing white woman syndrome
Example
It's sad to see MWWS play out with Gabby in the media
Yeah, she deserves the attention but many other women deserve it too
MWWS definition by Slang.net
This page explains what the acronym "MWWS" means. The definition, example, and related terms listed above have been written and compiled by the Slang.net team.
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Missing white woman syndrome (MWWS) is the disproportionate media coverage upper-class white women receive compared to non-white and poor women in missing person cases and other violent crimes. It primarily relates to media coverage in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
Where did MWWS come from?
PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill is credited with coining the syndrome name in 2004 based on research of media coverage performed by sociologists. Eventually, netizens shortened the name to the MWWS acronym, and it became more prominent online, especially on social media.
MWWS Examples
Prominent MWWS instances include Laci Peterson (2002), Jessica Lynch (2003), Natalee Holloway (2005), Mollie Tibbetts (2018), and Gabby Petito (2021). In these cases, the victims received widespread coverage among news outlets, talk shows, and editorials.
MWWS Controversy
MWWS is a polarizing term for those who think it's an example of "race-baiting." Frequently it falls along political lines where conservatives have criticized the syndrome claim, and liberals have embraced it. For example, many conservatives on Twitter heavily criticized Joy Reid in September 2021 when she claimed that Gabby Petito's disappearance coverage was an example of MWWS. She highlighted the MWWS by comparing Petito's coverage with Daniel Robinson's coverage, a person of color who had been missing for three months and received very little coverage.