Because that is the only thing the perpetrators of these types of crimes have in common: they are male and, in the case of mass shootings, are exclusively white men. The vast majority of violent crimes are committed by men.
Until we name the problem, we won't be able to address it. Gun control is only part of the solution. But, guns only make it easier for violent men to kill. Violent men kill women and children in a myriad of ways on a daily basis without guns. So, whilst gun control legislation is essential, male violence will not stop until we start holding men accountable for their violence.
We need to hold individual men accountable for domestic violence.
We need to hold individual men accountable for sexualised violence.
We need to hold individual men accountable for violence.
Then, we need to hold all men accountable for helping to perpetuate the myths that men are inherently violent or that there is always a cause for male violence.
We need to stop blaming victims for being victims of male violence.
We need to stop making excuses for male violence.
We need to hold individual men accountable for domestic violence.
We need to hold individual men accountable for sexualised violence.
We need to hold individual men accountable for violence.
Then, we need to hold all men accountable for helping to perpetuate the myths that men are inherently violent or that there is always a cause for male violence.
We need to stop blaming victims for being victims of male violence.
We need to stop making excuses for male violence.
If you haven't already read it, Crates & Ribbons has written an important piece on the issue of gender in the mass murder of 27 women and children in Newtown, Connecticut. Mother Jones has written a survey on mass shootings in the US. Aviva Shen's Timeline of Mass Shootings since Columbine is a list of male perpetrators. William Hamby's Connecticut shooting, white males and Mass Murder is based on Rachel Kalish and Michael Kimmel's Suicide by Mass Murder: Masculinity, Aggrieved Entitlement and Rampage School Shootings. All should be required reading today. Kathleen Barry's Unmaking War and Remaking Men and Susan Faludi's Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man and The Terror Dream are all searing indictments of the cult of hyper-masculinity.
We owe it to those who have lost their lives or whose families have been destroyed by male violence to name it.
We owe it to those who have lost their lives or whose families have been destroyed by male violence to hold individual men accountable for their crimes.
We owe it to those who have lost their lives or whose families have been destroyed by male violence to name it.
We owe it to those who have lost their lives or whose families have been destroyed by male violence to hold individual men accountable for their crimes.
These are the innocent victims of the Newtown mass shooting. Lest we forget:
Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Madeleine F. Hsu, 6
Catherine V. Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Aviele Richman, 6
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison N. Wyatt, 6
Adults:
Dawn Hochsprung, 47
Rachel Davino, 29
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Lauren Rousseau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto, 27
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