Thoughts on the Montréal Massacre
December 6, 2014 § 12 Comments
Twenty-five years ago today, on 6 December 1989, a deranged young man wandered into the École Polytechnique in Montréal and opened fire. He was angry at women, he was angry at feminists whom he blamed for ruining his life. So he targeted women studying at an engineering school. He killed fourteen of them:
- Geneviève Bergeron
- Hélène Colgan
- Nathalie Croteau
- Barbara Daigneault
- Anne-Marie Edward
- Maud Haviernick
- Maryse Laganière
- Maryse Leclair
- Anne-Marie Lemay
- Sonia Pelletier
- Michèle Richard
- Annie St-Arneault
- Annie Turcotte
- Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
Today, I’ve seen patently stupid media articles in Canada praising us for being so much better today than we were then. Bullshit. We’re not. I’m not even going to list all the misogyny and other bullshit I see around me on a daily basis. I’ve noted much of it on this blog.
I’m sick of. I’m sick of misogyny. I’m sick of men’s violence towards women. It’s time to man up, it’s time to end this.
Matthew Barlow 
They say that Islam teaches men to treat women as inferior. So who teaches us who are supposedly intelligent WASPs that it is OK? In Australia we a guilty as anyone.
This is worth reading. http://www.theage.com.au/national/naked-city–looking-the-other-way-on-family-violence-has-to-stop-20141128-11ufib.html
Well, the Greeks sure as hell didn’t need the gods or religion to be misogynists. It’s so deeply embedded in our culture as to be almost unnoticeable until someone points it out.
As for that article, a similar one could be written for Canada, US, UK, France, Spain, etc. And, yes, we all turn our heads the other way. The university I teach at has a new campaign urging people to be ‘active bystanders’ so as to prevent this kind of shit from happening. It’d be nice if it worked.
Yes in Victoria there is a TV campaign along the lines of being an active Bystander. It is state wide.
Good. That’s what we need.
Catherine Porter in today’s Toronto Star shares your vantage point and received some horrible feedback. We’re fooling ourselves if we think things have changed. We may have taken a step or two sideways in twenty years, but not forward.
I cannot think of many cultures today, where women are equal to men.
Sigh. Of course Porter received negative feedback, she’s a woman. If I say this, whatever the venue and format, I don’t get that, I don’t get threats of sexualised violence. And that negative feedback against her proves the point. So, yeah, we’re no better today. I really do think it’s worse now.
It’s demoralizing and quite telling of society’s progress/regress in reading comments. Honestly, I avoid them, unless they relate to something I’ve written. Be it racism, misogyny, guns, right-wing nut jobs, posers, etc, it’s a bloody minefield.
No kidding. That post I wrote about Racist Discourse in America got a lot of those kinds of comments, the ones I allowed to be posted, hoping they’d be hung on their own petards, were only a small sampling of the idiocy I got in response.
You might have heard about this last week.
When the two sisters tried to protect themselves, the other passengers did nothing. Some even sniggered! Sickening, isn’t it?
http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/women/INDIA-Sisters-beat-MOLESTER-ON-BUS/-/1950830/2542560/-/13rd5a6z/-/index.html
And this, which happened about 3 months ago.
http://www.outlookindia.com/blogs/post/Meerut-Bystanders-And-A-Braveheart/3361/31
I did see those. Ugh. And it just keeps happening over and over again, in India, in the US, Canada, Britain, France, everywhere.
Good article. I did not remember this, maybe its echo in France has not been that important (and that is a shame too).
We have had celebrations last week about the 40th anniversary of abortion legalization in France, and this also has been a huge thing, a right women have gained against men’s violence and prejudice.
I believe that I, as a man, as a catholic, as a father, need to stand and say that we need equal rights and respect.
Yes, sir, we need to stand up, we need to fight back. I was raised by women of the 60s generation and older, who taught me that to be a man is to fight for the rights of all.
As for the Montréal Massacre, I doubt it had much resonance outside of Canada. I remember it vividly, but I’m not sure many people here in the States, where I live now, know much about it.