Domestic

Two days ago an All Black1 who had been discharged without conviction after he assaulted his wife, because if he did that would make it harder to travel and he wouldn’t be able to play in the rugby world cup. One fan said:

Fan Craig Clapson, at the match with his son, said Sivivatu should be able to play. “I can’t condone wife beating, but from what I’ve read, it was basically a domestic that got a little out of hand and they’ve reconciled.”

Yesterday, the NZ Herald used the following headline: “‘We thought first shooting just domestic,’ authorities say” (it has now been taken down, but Audra wrote about it). [Note this appears to be just paper assholishness and not necessarily the opinion of the university or the police, although it wouldn’t surprise me]

‘Domestic’ is such a tidy way of saying ‘what men do to women who are in a relationship with them doesn’t matter.’

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World Socialist Website has an article: The Virginia Tech massacre–social roots of another American tragedy. Lenin’s Tomb covers some of the same ground

Do you want to guess what they don’t mention? Do you want to guess what they don’t think might be relevant?

It’s not actually that hard to include some feminist analysis, even if you’re a Marxist. It’s true that better minds than mine have been defeated in trying to understand reproductive labour within a Marxist economic framework. But looking at the history of school shootings, and some of the details that have come out about this one, you don’t have to rewrite any Capital to understand that maybe a deeply misogynist society might be playing a part.

Edited Updated to reflect more accurate information – bloody New Zealand Herald.

  1. Member of the NZ rugby team & God of masculinity in these parts []
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6 Responses to Domestic

  1. 1
    Dylan Thurston says:

    Caution: It’s not clear to me from the various media reports just what the relation between the shooter and the first two victims was–the “person of interest” (not currently under suspicion) seems to have been the (ex?) girlfriend of the first victim.

  2. 2
    ADS says:

    The rumors that she was his ex-girlfriend seem to have been based on the false lead that the police followed immediately after the first shooting. Right now, no one’s sure why he shot Emily Hilscher, since as far as anyone knows, they didn’t even know each other.

  3. 3
    Myca says:

    God, this is exactly what I was scared of, and it’s become too frighteningly easy to predict.

    On Monday, before we really even knew what was going on, I posted over at Feministe, “What do you want to bet this guy was a misogynist twit?”

    I’m sure it’s not universal (or at least I hope not) but it certainly seems like every time some guy goes off on an ultra-violent bender, it’s preceded by general hatred of women . . . to the point that it’s become a predictable part of things. Christ, that’s depressing.

    The other part I wanted to point out was that ‘domestic violence’ has become a way of saying ‘a pox on both their houses’. As in, “it’s nobody’s fault it’s just a domestic dispute.” Which is bullshit. It’s like how in high school they’d suspend both the bully and the kid he beat up for ‘being in a fight’ as if the victim and the attacker bear equal culpability.

    In fact, the Feministe folks posted a link to a UK paper that posted a picture of his supposed ex girlfriend with the headline ‘the girl who lead to the massacre?” NO, goddammit, SHE didn’t lead to anything. SHE is a fucking victim of this psychopath! This goes beyond equal culpability into the realm of ‘it’s all her fault’.

    AND, as others have pointed out, she may not even have been his ex. There may not have even been a relationship at all, and yet of course she gets blamed. Not the misogynist fuck with the gun, oh no, it’s her. She lead to the massacre.

    Grrrrrrrr.

  4. 4
    mousehounde says:

    Two days ago an All Black1 who had been discharged without conviction after he assaulted his wife, because if .

    Is there something missing from that line? “because if” what?

  5. 5
    Donna Darko says:

    It’s not clear to me from the various media reports just what the relation between the shooter and the first two victims was

    Emily was his stalkee.

  6. 6
    Maia says:

    Thanks for the comments I edited the post.

    For me, it was more the creepy fact that I’d written about how ‘domestic’ was used to dismiss violence against women yesterday, and then I saw the exact thing happen in the headlines today.