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The Murder of Amie Harwick and Domestic Violence Culture in America
By: Emily J. Sullivan
The murder of Amie Harwick is a jolting reminder that domestic violence, specifically intimate partner violence toward women, is a deadly issue that continually slips below the public’s radar. That is, with the exception of those fighting the issue behind the scenes, professionals and champions like Harwick herself.
Harwick was a perfect contradiction where stereotypes are concerned — a doctor of human sexuality and a Playboy model.
She exemplified female sexual empowerment, independence and strength, unabashed ambition, revolt against shame. She demolished the long-perpetuated notion that a women’s intellect and sex appeal are mutually exclusive and never shied away from simultaneously embracing her brains and beauty.
Amie Harwick was bold , accomplished, stereotype-smashing— and she was murdered.
The sun set on Valentine’s Day 2020 and Amie Harwick returned home to her 1927 tudor style mini-manor in the Hollywood Hills. When February 14 ended and the new day began, the amorous haze associated with both the day and the woman vanished, a dark and empty void was left in its place.
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When jarring sounds of a woman’s screams alerted neighbors in an otherwise untroubled cul de sac, the police were called to the 2000 block of Mounds Street but their arrival came too late. Harwick was found on the ground below her third-story terrace, unresponsive with fatal blunt force injuries to her head and chest.
She was rushed to the hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.
Two weeks prior to her death, Harwick, who was 38, attended a professional event with colleagues and friends, the Starry Porn Awards. Harwick was a therapist with a doctorate in human sexuality. She treated victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse, counseled couples struggling with sexual insecurities and addiction and also led support groups for sex workers and people in the adult entertainment industry.
Gareth Pursehouse, her ex-boyfriend from over a decade ago coincidentally attended the event as a freelance photographer, one of his jobs, along…
