The Montreal Massacre
23 years ago today.
The murderer, 25-year-old Marc Lépine, had been denied admission to École Polytechnique in Montreal, and he blamed it on women "taking men's jobs." On December 6, 1989, he burst into an École Polytechnique classroom, Mini-14 rifle in hand, and ordered all the men from the room. Then he screamed, "You're all a bunch of feminists, and I hate feminists!" and opened fire, killing 14 women and wounding another nine women and four men before killing himself.
The names of the women who died:
• Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student
• Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
• Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
• Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
• Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
• Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
• Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique’s finance department
• Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
• Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
• Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
• Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
• Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
• Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student
• Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student
Nathalie Provost, who survived, protested, "I'm not feminist, I have never fought against men." Lépine shot her anyway. Take note, Chill Girls™. I don't blame Provost for saying whatever she could think of to try to save herself. I do blame you for throwing other women under the bus to make men like you better. They might tolerate you more, but that's not liking, let alone respect.
After the shootings, there was the usual rush by the media media to deny the existence of misogyny: He was crazy, it was society, it was the guns, blah blah fucking blah. Just like what happened after the Amish girls were shot, after George Sodini - and, right now, after the murder of Kasandra Perkins by Jovan Belcher. So many dudes want to talk about traumatic head injuries and steroids, or trot out their favorite racist canards. Few to none want to talk about the culture of toxic masculinity in Western society.
The date had slipped my mind, so I appreciate the reminder from PZ Myers, despite his having linked to an article on the subject by transphobic shitbag Julie Bindel. And I agree thoroughly with his last paragraph:[T]hese anonymous monsters on the internet who shriek affrontedly about women and feminists and moan that any feminist allies are ‘manginas’ - to me, every one of them has the name Marc Lépine, and is just hiding it in shame and fear and hatred and cowardice.
Predictably, the thread has been flooded with trolls wringing their hands about how "vulgar" the above comment is, and about how Myers is "equat[ing] internet dissent with this disgusting act." Because frothing with hate about women is totes dissent from the status quo. Also FREA SPEACH11!! Because hate speech never leads to hate crimes.
As I said... denial.
ETA: 2009 interview with Nathalie Provost, who is now a mechanical engineer. And a feminist.
Unlocked.
This entry was originally posted at http://ms-daisy-cutter.dreamwidth.org/1932621.html. Please comment there using either your DW account or OpenID.
The murderer, 25-year-old Marc Lépine, had been denied admission to École Polytechnique in Montreal, and he blamed it on women "taking men's jobs." On December 6, 1989, he burst into an École Polytechnique classroom, Mini-14 rifle in hand, and ordered all the men from the room. Then he screamed, "You're all a bunch of feminists, and I hate feminists!" and opened fire, killing 14 women and wounding another nine women and four men before killing himself.
The names of the women who died:
• Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student
• Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
• Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
• Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
• Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
• Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
• Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique’s finance department
• Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
• Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
• Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
• Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
• Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
• Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student
• Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student
Nathalie Provost, who survived, protested, "I'm not feminist, I have never fought against men." Lépine shot her anyway. Take note, Chill Girls™. I don't blame Provost for saying whatever she could think of to try to save herself. I do blame you for throwing other women under the bus to make men like you better. They might tolerate you more, but that's not liking, let alone respect.
After the shootings, there was the usual rush by the media media to deny the existence of misogyny: He was crazy, it was society, it was the guns, blah blah fucking blah. Just like what happened after the Amish girls were shot, after George Sodini - and, right now, after the murder of Kasandra Perkins by Jovan Belcher. So many dudes want to talk about traumatic head injuries and steroids, or trot out their favorite racist canards. Few to none want to talk about the culture of toxic masculinity in Western society.
The date had slipped my mind, so I appreciate the reminder from PZ Myers, despite his having linked to an article on the subject by transphobic shitbag Julie Bindel. And I agree thoroughly with his last paragraph:[T]hese anonymous monsters on the internet who shriek affrontedly about women and feminists and moan that any feminist allies are ‘manginas’ - to me, every one of them has the name Marc Lépine, and is just hiding it in shame and fear and hatred and cowardice.
Predictably, the thread has been flooded with trolls wringing their hands about how "vulgar" the above comment is, and about how Myers is "equat[ing] internet dissent with this disgusting act." Because frothing with hate about women is totes dissent from the status quo. Also FREA SPEACH11!! Because hate speech never leads to hate crimes.
As I said... denial.
ETA: 2009 interview with Nathalie Provost, who is now a mechanical engineer. And a feminist.
Unlocked.
This entry was originally posted at http://ms-daisy-cutter.dreamwidth.org/1932621.html. Please comment there using either your DW account or OpenID.