Women still live under the threat of violence

The massacre at L’École Polytechnique was a profound shock for Canadians and remains so, 25 years later. The violence was shocking. The deaths of 14 women were shocking. But it wasn’t news to women, on Dec. 6, 1989, that they could be separated out and have their humanity denied to their faces, just for being women.

Twenty- five years before the Montreal Massacre, a married woman in Quebec couldn’t enter into a contract — just because she was a woman. A First Nations woman lost her Indian status by marrying a non- status man — just because she was a woman.

Twenty- five years before that, a woman couldn’t vote in a Quebec election — just because she was a woman. If she was a federal public servant and got married, she’d lose her job — just because she was a woman.

Twenty- five years before that, a woman couldn’t divorce her husband using the same grounds he could use to divorce her — just because she was a woman.

That history was the context in which Lépine acted. He was targeting women, who, in his twisted world view, were complicit in changing history. He was acting because of “the feminists who have always ruined my life,” the women who thought they could take over what he saw as a naturally male sphere.

We have seen over and over again that a disturbed individual can terrorize civilians in service of a political cause . The fact that Lépine was undoubtedly a deeply troubled young man acting on his own does not negate the fact that his act was meant to terrorize feminists.

That anger did not die with Lépine. Anita Sarkeesian had to cancel a speech at Utah State University recently after threats of a “Montreal Massacre style attack.”

Canada is witnessing a breaking down of the stigma about talking about sexual violence. That is some small sign of hope that the world is a better place than it was in 1989. But we would be naive to hope that we have moved beyond antifeminist violence and threats.