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Oct. 18th, 2006 06:42 pmHere's a Bob Herbert (New York Times) column about the recent (or is it?) trend of targeting girls. Some good excerpts:
In the widespread coverage that followed these crimes, very little was made of the fact that only girls were targeted. Imagine if a gunman had gone into a school, separated the kids up on the basis of race or religion, and then shot only the black kids. Or only the white kids. Or only the Jews.
There would have been thunderous outrage. The country would have first recoiled in horror, and then mobilized in an effort to eradicate that kind of murderous bigotry. There would have been calls for action and reflection. And the attack would have been seen for what it really was: a hate crime.
I've been saying for a long time that rape should be a hate crime. Yes, it can be committed against a man...just like non-blacks have been lynched. But it's almost always used against women, as an instrument of terror, of punishment, just like other hate crimes are. I just get so...tired of always being considered the target. I remember a few years ago hearing about some fucking crazy guy who flipped out on a subway platform and wanted to kill someone, wanted to push someone into the train. Whom did he push? Whom did he kill? A woman, of course. (Notice every one of that fucker's crimes was against a woman. Yes, he was mentally ill--but he didn't seek out victims randomly. No, he either targeted them deliberately, or he only felt free enough to attack women.) Another TWO guys, one in '99, one in 2000, walking down the sidewalk, wants to bash some random person's head in with a brick. Whom do they target? A woman. Of course. It's always a woman.
I get so tired of endemic, systemic misogyny. I get tired of hearing "bitch" used as a putdown...to other men, because the worst insult is for a man to be compared to a woman. That scene in 8 Mile where Papa Doc is calling Rabbit "bitch" over and over makes me cringe. I hate that the c-word is used as an insult for both sexes right now...for the same reason, because the worst insult for a man is to be compared to a woman. I remember back in Virginia working a special event at a theater, a lawyer's presentation, overhearing a guy, a lawyer (I mention this only because you'd THINK this guy would've known better), talk to his colleague about the Pee Wee football team he was coaching--and how "I told them they were playing like a bunch of 14 year old girls menstruating for the first time." I just died inside, hearing that. Like, are we THAT nasty and pathetic? Why would you say that to children? (Yes, you'd better believe I popped my head up and said to his face "I was a girl athlete and I played better than almost any other guy on my 8th grade soccer team--in fact, I made Select. And I'd been menstruating for a couple of years by that point." You should've SEEN the look on his face.) I hate that almost every religion puts women down, and tries to force us into servitude to men, to wear ridiculous outfits that hamper our freedom, and have more children than some of us want, and not be allowed to be priests or lead prayer.
I'm glad that column called attention to the fact that violence against females is so damn common in this culture, there was barely any comment on it (although here's a Christian Science Monitor article on this trend, written right after the Amish murders), on the fact that in both of those school shootings, girls were targeted. Which was also the case in the Jonesboro school murders in '98--every single victim was a girl or a woman. The CSM article also talks about the 1989 Montreal massacre of 14 female engineering students--and that murderer came right out and SAID it, said he hated women and feminists and they were taking jobs away from men.
I'm just so sick of it.
In the widespread coverage that followed these crimes, very little was made of the fact that only girls were targeted. Imagine if a gunman had gone into a school, separated the kids up on the basis of race or religion, and then shot only the black kids. Or only the white kids. Or only the Jews.
There would have been thunderous outrage. The country would have first recoiled in horror, and then mobilized in an effort to eradicate that kind of murderous bigotry. There would have been calls for action and reflection. And the attack would have been seen for what it really was: a hate crime.
I've been saying for a long time that rape should be a hate crime. Yes, it can be committed against a man...just like non-blacks have been lynched. But it's almost always used against women, as an instrument of terror, of punishment, just like other hate crimes are. I just get so...tired of always being considered the target. I remember a few years ago hearing about some fucking crazy guy who flipped out on a subway platform and wanted to kill someone, wanted to push someone into the train. Whom did he push? Whom did he kill? A woman, of course. (Notice every one of that fucker's crimes was against a woman. Yes, he was mentally ill--but he didn't seek out victims randomly. No, he either targeted them deliberately, or he only felt free enough to attack women.) Another TWO guys, one in '99, one in 2000, walking down the sidewalk, wants to bash some random person's head in with a brick. Whom do they target? A woman. Of course. It's always a woman.
I get so tired of endemic, systemic misogyny. I get tired of hearing "bitch" used as a putdown...to other men, because the worst insult is for a man to be compared to a woman. That scene in 8 Mile where Papa Doc is calling Rabbit "bitch" over and over makes me cringe. I hate that the c-word is used as an insult for both sexes right now...for the same reason, because the worst insult for a man is to be compared to a woman. I remember back in Virginia working a special event at a theater, a lawyer's presentation, overhearing a guy, a lawyer (I mention this only because you'd THINK this guy would've known better), talk to his colleague about the Pee Wee football team he was coaching--and how "I told them they were playing like a bunch of 14 year old girls menstruating for the first time." I just died inside, hearing that. Like, are we THAT nasty and pathetic? Why would you say that to children? (Yes, you'd better believe I popped my head up and said to his face "I was a girl athlete and I played better than almost any other guy on my 8th grade soccer team--in fact, I made Select. And I'd been menstruating for a couple of years by that point." You should've SEEN the look on his face.) I hate that almost every religion puts women down, and tries to force us into servitude to men, to wear ridiculous outfits that hamper our freedom, and have more children than some of us want, and not be allowed to be priests or lead prayer.
I'm glad that column called attention to the fact that violence against females is so damn common in this culture, there was barely any comment on it (although here's a Christian Science Monitor article on this trend, written right after the Amish murders), on the fact that in both of those school shootings, girls were targeted. Which was also the case in the Jonesboro school murders in '98--every single victim was a girl or a woman. The CSM article also talks about the 1989 Montreal massacre of 14 female engineering students--and that murderer came right out and SAID it, said he hated women and feminists and they were taking jobs away from men.
I'm just so sick of it.
