The death of Kasia Lenhardt - A case of feminicidal suicide and hatred against women

Kasia Lenhardt was a German model with Polish roots. In January this year, the 25-year-old was found dead in her Berlin apartment. She left behind a 6-year old son. During the post-mortem examination, Kasia´s death was ruled a suicide and the officials were therefore ready to finish the examination and close this chapter. However, now, almost a year after her death more and more voices are rising that blame infamous soccer player Boateng for her death.

The relationship between Kasia and Boateng came to an end only a week before her death. It was a turbulent relationship characterized by outbursts of anger and domestic violence on the part of Boateng and after it ended Kasia fell victim to many online attacks on behalf of his fans and followers.

Boateng had started the relationship with Kasia when he was still with another woman, with whom he also had kids. While still dating Kasia, she was already harassed by some and titled a “homewrecker” for what she had done. And when their relationship ended, the online attacks increased beyond description. Kasia fell victim to not only social networks, but also to Boateng, who gave several interviews with different newspapers, and his ex-partner with whom he started dating again. During these days Kasia remained silent.

In the end, the misogynistic hatred online and in real life towards her increased, and Kasia saw no other way out than to take her own life.

In retrospect, we know that Kasia could neither say something nor defend herself because Boateng had her sign a contract after the breakup. Upon signing this document she agreed not to comment on anything regarding their past relationship or Boateng himself. It was as if she was gagged. And while Kasia was contractually obligated to remain silent Boateng exploited every detail of their relationship and spread lies and half-truths about her. Boateng wanted to keep his image clean and to do so he dragged her reputation through the mud.

I have followed this case closely and found out that Kasia was bombarded with hateful messages and articles on the internet written by strangers, newspapers, and also from Boateng's girlfriend, her family, and other acquaintances. And what stuns, infuriates, and hurts me the most about this case is that only Kasia was portrayed as the evil woman, the seductress, and the homewrecker who "wrecked" Boateng's family and relationship. What about Boateng himself? He, a man in a relationship with children, decided to cheat on his partner with Kasia. It was him who made the first move on Kasia. 

Nevertheless, only Kasia was blamed for all that had happened, and still, today trolls ridicule and mock her now that she is dead.

Through this case, the amount of misogyny online and in the society that reigns it comes to light. As in a modern witch hunt, women continue to be persecuted, insulted, and belittled, especially by men. The image of the female seductress and homewrecker is an image many people still have in their heads and the men who practice the same kind of adultery, and in many cases even worse, aren´t equally blamed for it in the slightest. Numerous liberal newspapers and writers who started reporting on the harassment of Kasia were also massively attacked on the Internet by men (surprise!), who assumed that female authors were behind the articles that tried to paint a more realistic picture of Kasia Lenhardt and the circumstances that led to her death.

Specific terms are needed to make clear that this kind of suicide is a structural phenomenon of patriarchal violence. Terms that do not hide this reality but reveal it are imperative. 

The problem begins at home when boys are allowed to go out as they please and girls are kept at home. It continues with the fact that men are praised for having many sexual partners and women are slut-shamed for it. The peak of toxicity is reached when women are murdered by their own family members for "breaking family honor" by simply living their own life or when, as in Kasia's case, women are the only ones forced to face hatred, misogyny, and simply horrible consequences, when a male person did equally wrong.

Kasia's death was suicide, yes. But Boateng, the man behind the witch hunt, should be prosecuted and sentenced for what he did.

RIP Kasia.

I originally wrote this text in Spanish for my Spanish class on 14.12.2021. I was, however, so convinced by the message it portrayed that I chose to translate it into English to share it with the English-speaking world.