The first cue that a problem exists is denial.
That’s why someone attending Alcoholics Anonymous begins with, “Hi, I’m Susan, and I’m an alcoholic.”
Until a person, a society, a culture, can admit to a problem, its cure is a long ways off.
So it’s been curious to read the hundreds of thousands of messages posted via social media regarding the murders Friday evening in Southern California.
By a wide margin, most see the murders as hate crimes.
Before the slayings the alleged perpetrator, Elliot Rodger, had posted several YouTube videos as well as a 140-page manifesto, “My Twisted World,” in which he vowed to take retribution against women. Their crime? Refusing his advances.
“I do not know why you girls aren’t attracted to me. But I will punish you all for it,” Rodger, 22, is quoted as saying in the YouTube post.
In the rampage Friday, six were killed and 13 injured, before he committed suicide.
THE “YES All Women” hashtag began in the aftermath of the slayings. It refers to women’s rights, including not being treated as a sex object.
We are not an enlightened society when it comes to sexual discrimination. Women navigate a world of real or implied threats, income disparities, harassment, and outright misogyny.
The “Yes All Women” tweets are a fascinating read.
To wit:
• “Women serving in the military shouldn’t fear getting raped by their colleagues more than they fear the enemy.”
• “Since we’re teaching women how not to get raped, we should teach men how to not rape.”
