We paint her face and make her dance...
In memory of:
Geneviève Bergeron, 21
Hélène Colgan, 23
Nathalie Croteau, 23
Barbara Daigneault, 22
Anne-Marie Edward, 21
Maud Haviernick, 29
Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31
Maryse Laganière, 25
Maryse Leclair, 23
Anne-Marie Lemay, 27
Sonia Pelletier, 23
Michèle Richard, 21
Annie St-Arneault, 23
Annie Turcotte, 21
*********************************************************
The Montreal Massacre is often dismissed as one-off occurrence: Far too many people think about it as a manifestation of Marc Lepine's pathology. Few think to consider that, in fact, it might be a manifestation of the pathology of society as a whole. This might sound horrible, but I think the only reason that it gained as much publicity as it did was because it was a public happening. Usually, victims/survivors of gender violence tend to be relegated to some obscure corner in the newspaper, reduced to a statistic. And that is only when incidents are reported at all.
December 6th was just a microcosm of what takes place every day in every society. The victims need to be thought about not as "Lepine's victims" but as victims of a discriminatory society that not only underestimates but also ignores the insiduous nature of gender violence.
The events of December 6th are a fatal symptom of what's wrong with today's world. It is so hard for me to feel anything but hurt and fear that people can hate so viciously on the premise of such superficialities as sex/gender. Gender violence is not acknowledged enough. Rape is sensationalised, sexual harassment trivialised, relationship abuse ignored - it takes an event as drastic as this to get people to smell the coffee.
The Montreal Massacre needs to be remembered for more than just the tragedy of the day. It was NOT merely the culimination of arbirtary motivations of some "psychopath." It CAN happen again, because even today, the word 'feminist' carries a lot of baggage with it. We all know that feminism doesn't equal "anti-male-ism," but most people - men and women alike - have a hard time understanding that.
Lastly, while it deals most specifically with sexism, for me, it is a grim reminder of the fatal power of all the "isms."
Geneviève Bergeron, 21
Hélène Colgan, 23
Nathalie Croteau, 23
Barbara Daigneault, 22
Anne-Marie Edward, 21
Maud Haviernick, 29
Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31
Maryse Laganière, 25
Maryse Leclair, 23
Anne-Marie Lemay, 27
Sonia Pelletier, 23
Michèle Richard, 21
Annie St-Arneault, 23
Annie Turcotte, 21
*********************************************************
The Montreal Massacre is often dismissed as one-off occurrence: Far too many people think about it as a manifestation of Marc Lepine's pathology. Few think to consider that, in fact, it might be a manifestation of the pathology of society as a whole. This might sound horrible, but I think the only reason that it gained as much publicity as it did was because it was a public happening. Usually, victims/survivors of gender violence tend to be relegated to some obscure corner in the newspaper, reduced to a statistic. And that is only when incidents are reported at all.
December 6th was just a microcosm of what takes place every day in every society. The victims need to be thought about not as "Lepine's victims" but as victims of a discriminatory society that not only underestimates but also ignores the insiduous nature of gender violence.
The events of December 6th are a fatal symptom of what's wrong with today's world. It is so hard for me to feel anything but hurt and fear that people can hate so viciously on the premise of such superficialities as sex/gender. Gender violence is not acknowledged enough. Rape is sensationalised, sexual harassment trivialised, relationship abuse ignored - it takes an event as drastic as this to get people to smell the coffee.
The Montreal Massacre needs to be remembered for more than just the tragedy of the day. It was NOT merely the culimination of arbirtary motivations of some "psychopath." It CAN happen again, because even today, the word 'feminist' carries a lot of baggage with it. We all know that feminism doesn't equal "anti-male-ism," but most people - men and women alike - have a hard time understanding that.
Lastly, while it deals most specifically with sexism, for me, it is a grim reminder of the fatal power of all the "isms."
posted by Auri @ 10:21 PM
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