When you hear the words "School Shooting" or "Massacre" do you ever imagine a woman as being the "gunman" or the person doing the terrorizing? When we hear that a shooting has happened, especially before the shooter is identified, do we ever imagine it is a woman?
After the world's most recent massacre in Finland, which left 8 women and 2 men dead... is there even a slight bit of surprise that the killer is male? I mean even a little bit? If a woman shot and killed people at this rate wouldn't it seem surprising? Imagine if a teenage girl and her 2 closest girlfriends shot up a High School, would we question things in different ways?
My note is only a response to the reality that we are normalized to men's violence. Be persistent and do not allow the discussion of masculinity and gender to fall out of these conversations. When tragedies like Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois, or now in Finland happen there is more we can do than sit and feel bad about the 'violence in the world,' as if it is abstract and by no means connected to a societal valorization of male violence.
After the world's most recent massacre in Finland, which left 8 women and 2 men dead... is there even a slight bit of surprise that the killer is male? I mean even a little bit? If a woman shot and killed people at this rate wouldn't it seem surprising? Imagine if a teenage girl and her 2 closest girlfriends shot up a High School, would we question things in different ways?
My note is only a response to the reality that we are normalized to men's violence. Be persistent and do not allow the discussion of masculinity and gender to fall out of these conversations. When tragedies like Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois, or now in Finland happen there is more we can do than sit and feel bad about the 'violence in the world,' as if it is abstract and by no means connected to a societal valorization of male violence.