Should Dec. 6 Be About Violence Against Women?
Should Dec. 6 Be About Violence Against Women?
Looking at all the information and news stories that are out there on this issue, I think it's interesting how much people emphasize the violence and assault side of the issue based on the events of the day. In fact, I have to admit that I didn't really think about the other side of the issue either when I first heard about the Montreal Massacre. It wasn't until a few years ago, when I read an item in the Plumber's Faucet (our Engineering paper) that I really thought about it.What is the other side of the issue? It is this:
The Montreal Massacre is also about a woman's right to choose her profession.Yes, it is an equality and sexism issue too. Marc Lepine killed those women because he thought they had no right to be in Engineering. To him, feminists (i.e., all women who wish to have equal status with men in the workplace) are the bane of existence. He did not like what they stood for, or the perceived threat they had on society. He wanted to make a statement about this, and he did. These fourteen women who were killed, and the many more who were injured by his rampage were not just women, but women in Engineering, a profession traditionally dominated by men.
"So?" I can hear you asking, "what difference does it make?" It makes a great deal of difference. This incident is not just about women as victims. This is about women who wanted to make a difference, who wanted to stand up for their rights to be treated not just as women but as human beings. Of course, this doesn't mean that deciding to become a woman in engineering is a political choice, because it isn't. It is a calling, like every other career choice we make. At the same time, those of us women who are called to engineering and other male-dominated professions should get the respect that is accorded to men of the same fields.
This is not a gripefest about why we can't all be treated the same, like "one of the guys". I can accept the fact that women and men are not the same. Each sex has its general strengths and weaknesses. Their capabilities must be taken into consideration, yes, but this does not mean that either sex is superior to the other. The very least we all deserve is equal respect regardless of appearance, gender, etc.
This is the whole point WHY we should commemorate Dec. 6 every year. It's not just about being a victim of violence anymore. We are only victims when we let ourselves be perceived as victims. This is about having the freedom to choose what we want to do and who we want to be without punishment.
May 31, 1997
Does December 6 Make Any Sense?
According to the government organizations, the Ontario Women's Directorate, 68-83% of women who are sexually assaulted know their attackers. About 60% of all attacks happen in private homes. It has been estimated that 1 in 10 women have experienced domestic violence.In light of this reality, does it make sense to choose December 6 as the national day of action against violence against women? If we consider it an isolated incident, then no, it doesn't make any sense.
Marc Lepine walked into Ecole Polytechnique with a gun and a hate-on for women. He came to the campus with a list of 19 prominent feminists, and when he realized that they would be too hard to track down, he settled for symbols: any women engineering students. He killed 14 and wounded 13. He didn't know any of them, he'd never seen them before, and few people would disagree that Lepine's action was psychopathic.
It doesn't really seem to fit.
But we need to look at the context. Women and men who see the connectiveness believe that the massacre wasn't an isolated event. Imagine molten lava flowing everywhere, just under the earth's crust. The destructive fire is patriarchy, and violence is all the little and big eruptions that break thought the calm surface. Some of them are only seen by the person who happens to be standing on the fault. Some, like the killing of 14 women at Ecole Polytechnique, are the occasional volcanoes that make it to the newspapers and TV stations.
If patriarchy, sexism and misogyny (women-hating) didn't exist, then we could say that Lepine's action was an isolated incident. Because we live in a culture with a history of women having less power (political, economic, physical, and social), and in whose laws sexism has been supported for years, we cannot say that the Montreal Massacre is unrelated to the instances of violence against women and children that happen (and don't get reported) every day. That is way December 6th is an appropriate day for remembering and for fighting the violence.
--Author unknown--
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