Gendercide-the montreal massacre, 6 Dec 1989

[niyad]

Marc Lépine

Marc Lépine (né Gamil Rodrigue Liass Gharbi) (October 26, 1964 – December 6, 1989) was a 25-year-old from Montreal, Canada who murdered fourteen women and wounded ten women and four men[1] at the École Polytechnique, an engineering school affiliated with the Université de Montréal, in the "École Polytechnique massacre", also known as the "Montreal Massacre".[2][3]

Lépine was born in Montreal, the son of a Canadian nurse and an Algerian businessman. His father was abusive and contemptuous of women. After his parents separated when he was seven, his mother returned to nursing to support her children. Lépine and his younger sister lived with other families, seeing their mother on weekends. Lépine was considered bright but withdrawn and having difficulties with peer and family relationships. He changed his name to Marc Lépine at the age of 14 giving as the reason his hatred of his father. Lépine's application to the Canadian Forces was rejected, and in 1982 he began a science program at a college, switching to a more technical program after one year. In 1986, he dropped out of the course in his final term, and was subsequently fired from his job at a hospital due to his poor attitude. He began a computer programming course in 1988, and again abandoned it before completion. Lépine twice applied for admission to the École Polytechnique, but lacked two required compulsory courses.

After several months of planning, Lépine entered the École Polytechnique de Montréal, on the afternoon of December 6, 1989. He had long complained about women working in non-traditional jobs, and after separating men and women in a classroom, he shot the women, claiming that he was fighting feminism. He then moved into other parts of the building, targeting women as he went, before killing himself. His suicide note blamed feminists for ruining his life.

Lépine's actions have been variously ascribed to psychiatric diagnoses such as personality disorder, psychosis, or attachment disorder, or societal factors such as poverty, isolation, powerlessness, and violence in the media. The massacre is regarded by criminologists as an example of a hate crime against women, and by feminists and government officials as misogynist attack and an example of the larger issue of violence against women.

. . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_L%C3%A9pine

[Brickbat]

1. The dead.

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

[niyad]

2. thank you, I was just editing to put in the list

[polly7]

3. I remember it so well.

The Fifth Estate did a great documentary on it that I can't seem to find a link to.

An interview by Barbara Frum:

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Digital+Archives/CBC+Programs/Television/The+Journal/ID/1601289220/?sort=MostPopular

The Montreal Massacre was a mass shooting at École Polytechnique de Montréal on Dec. 6, 1989 where Marc Lépine killed 14 women and himself. Many report hearing him say, “I hate feminists,” before he opened fire in a classroom.

Pelletier presented the CBC’s Fifth Estate documentary she produced on the tragic events at St. Thomas University on Nov. 21.

“… Trying to move to allow women to have absolutely the same rights and privileges as men is more complicated than we like to think, and I think there are daily examples of that … The power structures haven’t moved that much. Essentially, that’s what Lépine was saying. He was warning us, not to allow women to go there. And we’re not there yet. So in a way, it’s still relevant. We still have a fight on our hands,” Pelletier said.

She listed the lack of women holding CEO positions at giant corporations as an example of the distance feminism has yet to reach. She also said there were advances made in correlation with the events that Canadian society has now taken a step back on.

http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/26384/montreal-massacre-relevant-francine-pelletier/

[niyad]

4. do you mean one of these:

The event has also been commemorated through references in television, theatre, and popular music. A play about the shootings by Adam Kelly called The Anorak was named as one of the best plays of 2004 by the Montreal Gazette.[82] A movie entitled Polytechnique, directed by Denis Villeneuve was released in 2009, and sparked controversy over the desirability of reliving the tragedy in a commercial film.[83][84]

[polly7]

5. No, but thanks very much for those.

"Pelletier, 2012 Irving Chair in Journalism at STU, had a personal interest in Lépine after she discovered she was one of the 19 feminists on the annex of his suicide note that he spared due to a “lack of time.”

http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/26384/montreal-massacre-relevant-francine-pelletier/

Pelletier produced the Fifth Estate documentary 'Legacy of Pain'. It was excellent, but so sad. I remember she interviewed family members of people who were connected to it in some way (not with Lepine) and had committed suicide in the years following.

[smirkymonkey]

6. K&R!

Anyone who doesn't think misogyny exists only needs to look at this case.

[niyad]

7. this was the first comment in one of the canadian articles today, supposedly written by a woman

(fortunately, a good many people took this poster to task)

Alicia
Dec. 6, 2012
11:35 AM

As a woman, I am sick of the constant whining over this terrible crime. The was not the act of all men against women, it was the act of ONE deranged man. Enough already. Stop behaving as if more crimes of this type are just slumbering beneath the covers, waiting to come out and destroy all women. "crimes against women" is a political term used by the femnazi lobby to gain power to themselves, it has nothing to do with reality and they do not represent me or the majority of women. This nonsense makes victims of us all, regardless of gender.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadians-remember-victims-of-montreal-massacre-1.1068553#ixzz2EKzelGfj