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Misogynistic murder is not inevitable
But we must thwart the American gun lobby and stop tolerating violence against women
...
But whether they used guns or other weapons, the trails they left behind suggest that the men who committed these murders blamed women for their problems. Yet these tragedies were greeted with the same crushing defeatism: We’ve seen this before, we’ll see it again and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Why do we feel so disempowered? For two reasons: the outsize influence of the American gun lobby and our deep cultural tolerance of misogyny....
Men who kill women — and those whose hostility toward women inspires them to kill men and women alike — aren’t all disturbed loner-losers or frustrated virgins (though many spree killers are). Most run-of-the-mill women-killers are husbands, fathers or boyfriends. They have stable, respectable, even high-profile jobs: lawyer, doctor, police officer, professional athlete, soldier. What do they have in common? A bitter sense of having been thwarted as men and a desire to vent their rage and pain on those weaker than they are.
Every time we tell a woman she is overreacting, sympathize with the man (regardless of his guilt) when a woman seeks to hold him accountable for violence, or make excuses for male brutality — she provoked him; she wasn’t a virgin anyway; he didn’t mean it; he’s a good father/brother/son; he won’t do it again — we’re allowing misogyny to flourish.
Most mass murderers do not go from zero to 60. Rodger made escalating assaults on women (splashing coffee on them, attempting to shove them off a ledge) before his killing spree. Both Cho and Justin-Jinich’s murderer harassed women before they killed anyone. When such acts go unnoticed and unpunished — because we expect men to harass women, and it’s not outrageous or even noteworthy when they do — they can become stepping-stones to more conspicuous and less socially acceptable acts of violence.
...
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/5/elliot-rodger-culturalmisogynymurderwomen.html
...
But whether they used guns or other weapons, the trails they left behind suggest that the men who committed these murders blamed women for their problems. Yet these tragedies were greeted with the same crushing defeatism: We’ve seen this before, we’ll see it again and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Why do we feel so disempowered? For two reasons: the outsize influence of the American gun lobby and our deep cultural tolerance of misogyny....
Men who kill women — and those whose hostility toward women inspires them to kill men and women alike — aren’t all disturbed loner-losers or frustrated virgins (though many spree killers are). Most run-of-the-mill women-killers are husbands, fathers or boyfriends. They have stable, respectable, even high-profile jobs: lawyer, doctor, police officer, professional athlete, soldier. What do they have in common? A bitter sense of having been thwarted as men and a desire to vent their rage and pain on those weaker than they are.
Every time we tell a woman she is overreacting, sympathize with the man (regardless of his guilt) when a woman seeks to hold him accountable for violence, or make excuses for male brutality — she provoked him; she wasn’t a virgin anyway; he didn’t mean it; he’s a good father/brother/son; he won’t do it again — we’re allowing misogyny to flourish.
Most mass murderers do not go from zero to 60. Rodger made escalating assaults on women (splashing coffee on them, attempting to shove them off a ledge) before his killing spree. Both Cho and Justin-Jinich’s murderer harassed women before they killed anyone. When such acts go unnoticed and unpunished — because we expect men to harass women, and it’s not outrageous or even noteworthy when they do — they can become stepping-stones to more conspicuous and less socially acceptable acts of violence.
...
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/5/elliot-rodger-culturalmisogynymurderwomen.html