Sexist posters spark criminal investigation at Waterloo
Poster Caption: “The brightest Woman this Earth ever created was Marie Curie, The Mother of the Nuclear Bomb. You tell me if the plan of Women leading Men is still a good idea!”
“This poster was put over top posters for female election candidates at the University of Waterloo in early Februrary.”
Citation: Wallace, Alanna. “Sexist posters spark criminal investigation at Waterloo.” Canadian University Press Newswire February 25 2011.
A gutsy student
“I know for a fact that this was not easy for her given how truly frightening the University of Waterloo poster incident was, particularly for outspoken young women who insisted that their concerns be heard. These young women know well that little has changed since 1989 and that there are men who will kill for their "rights," as we remembered on Dec. 6.
For the most part, these women's concerns have been downplayed and ridiculed - similar to what D'Amato has done in her column. How disastrously shortsighted and inappropriate for her to have focused on a vulva patch on Miller's backpack instead of the real issue at hand - namely, we need more and more young, middle-aged and elderly women (and men) to speak up, to be counted, to be heard, so we never have to experience another Montreal massacre.”
Citation: Jakobsh, Doris R. “A gutsy student.” The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo) December 16 2011: A10.
Lessons of Montreal massacre must never be trivialized
“Marc Lepine did not commit his murders in a vacuum; his pathological hatred of women was nurtured by a misogynistic culture. While his actions were the product of mental illness, the surrounding culture - including his institutional culture** - helped to shape the terrible expression of his illness.
That the climate for women at the University of Waterloo has historically been a chilly one is well known. Last year, during the campaign of misogynistic flyers at Waterloo, women like Zoe Miller and I were very much aware of the violent extremes to which some misogynists are willing to go, and of the institutional similarities between Montreal Polytechnique and University of Waterloo.
Until the campaign ended, I wondered every day I came to work whether someone would show up to my classroom with a weapon in the hopes of punishing "feminists."”
Citation: Dea, Shannon. “Lessons of Montreal massacre must never be trivialized.” The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo) December 12 2011: A8
**R. Sims comments: Before describing the institutional culture at the Polytechnique in misogynist tones, a more cautious approach is needed. Heidi Rathjen, an eye-witness to Lepine’s murderous rampage, an engineering student, and the author of December 6: from the Montreal Massacre to gun control: the inside story had this to say about the Polytechnique: "’The atmosphere at school was totally egalitarian. It was a wonderful place for women. It was easy for people to think feminism was passé. Problem solved.’” Marc Lepine was an outsider, not admitted to the Polytechnique. It cannot be easily said that Lepine’s misogyny was fueled by the culture of the Polytechnique.
Citation: Porter, Catherine. “Lessons of the Montreal Massacre: Why women must fight to be what they want.” Toronto Star December 5 2009.
Campus sexism doesn’t equate with massacre
“Is the campus atmosphere at University of Waterloo in any way connected to his acts? I just don't see how.
But try telling that to some of the professors and students there, who have deluged me with angry mail since my column last week about the Montreal Massacre. In it, I criticized an undergraduate student named Zoe Miller, a women's studies major from University of Waterloo who spoke at a remembrance ceremony for the massacre victims.
I took issue with the fact that the occasion was used for Miller to speak about being harassed because she wore a "vulva patch" - a badge on her backpack designed to look like female genitalia. She also criticized the campus administration response when someone was putting up anti-female posters on campus earlier this year (a male student has since been charged).
I thought that talking about these matters on that night, particularly the vulva patch, was trivializing the dreadful events of 1989, and said so.
I can take criticism, no problem. But what worries me is the automatic connection that some people make between the campus environment and Lepine's particular acts against those particular women: as if some larger force than his own madness drove him to act.…
What happened to those young women in 1989 was a freakish outburst of psychotic rage. That's bad enough without trying to turn it into more.”
Citation: D’Amato, Luisa. Campus sexism doesn’t equate with massacre.” The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo) December 15 2011: B1.
R. Sims comments: “What happened to those young women in 1989 was a freakish outburst of psychotic rage. That's bad enough without trying to turn it into more.” In my opinion, this is the standard explanation given by a majority that dismiss the misogynistic nature of the attack. A hatred of women, of feminists, was at the centre of Lepine’s carnage. This is undeniable. Denying this fact, is not unlike denying the Holocaust. The real question lies in a kind of self-examination, one that we naturally hesitate to begin. Does the apparent physical superiority of men translate, through an evolutionary process, into a simmering contempt for women? Does a nascent contempt form a part of the soul of modern man? Did a kind of contempt for women make the men of the engineering class tacitly complicit in Lepine’s actions, as he separated them from their female colleagues? Perhaps these are some of the questions Sarto Blais pondered in the eight months following the massacre, before he took his own life.
R. Sims comments: “What happened to those young women in 1989 was a freakish outburst of psychotic rage. That's bad enough without trying to turn it into more.” In my opinion, this is the standard explanation given by a majority that dismiss the misogynistic nature of the attack. A hatred of women, of feminists, was at the centre of Lepine’s carnage. This is undeniable. Denying this fact, is not unlike denying the Holocaust. The real question lies in a kind of self-examination, one that we naturally hesitate to begin. Does the apparent physical superiority of men translate, through an evolutionary process, into a simmering contempt for women? Does a nascent contempt form a part of the soul of modern man? Did a kind of contempt for women make the men of the engineering class tacitly complicit in Lepine’s actions, as he separated them from their female colleagues? Perhaps these are some of the questions Sarto Blais pondered in the eight months following the massacre, before he took his own life.
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