Naming the Nameless

Calgary doesn’t get too many Law and Order type homicides- typically murders in Calgary are straight-forward gang or drug related. Then there are the murders we don’t hear about, the nameless prostitutes or homeless women whose killers are often never found. Sex worker victims are more likely to be killed by someone who is related to their profession. Half of female victims in other professions are killed by “someone with whom they had had an intimate relationship”, namely boyfriends or husbands.*

For me, and likely for most of you, this statistics are horrifying and instill a visceral sort of fear. These nameless women who are killed by the people they trusted most are on the front lines of the battle against patriarchy and the way our culture treats their murders speaks volumes about the misogyny feminists are often told doesn’t exist.

I started thinking about this subject again with the death of Jasmine Fiore whose accused killer is minor Calgarian celebrity. Not familiar with her name? That’s because we only know her as “model”.

From CBC:
“Fugitive Calgarian charged in model’s killing”

The Globe and Mail:
“Search for model killer suspect shifts to Canada”

The National Post:
“Reality-TV star charged with U.S. model’s murder armed and in Canada: police”

Jasmine was married to her killer for a short period of time. Aside from that and the brutal details of her murder we don’t know much about her. Only after some digging did I find an article on the Examiner.com mentioning she was a singer in a band called “Machines of Joy.” Her Wikipedia entry briefly indicates she was making plans to open her own gym.

Did she have family? What was she passionate about? I suspect we’ll never know, because hearing from the mother of murder victim is not sexy or entertaining. However, judging by the Google results that come up under her name, digging out her old Playboy photos is. And if you’re too embarrassed to log on to playboy.com, the Ottawa Sun has helpfully put up a slide-show.

RIP Jasmine.

*Homicide stats from Statistics Canada

 

Untitled

God, I can’t even think about what to say. How did we get here? This man had a wife. He had four children. He was murdered by a movement that calls itself “pro-life.” I am done with that word. These people are terrorists.

RIP Dr. Tiller

More thoughts on Dr Tiller’s death here

 

From Eve to Dawn: the Passing of a Feminist

It’s always so tough to hear about the passing of another feminist, like you’ve lost someone you’re connected to as comrades and fellow soldiers. Like you always kind of thought you’d meet up some day and have so much to talk about. Marilyn French was one of those women, a person I always wanted to hear more from and know more about. A real survivor of the second wave battleground. It would have been nice to share battle scars, and have her laugh at how superficial mine were.

I think French is one of those feminists who have been deemed “unsafe”, aka “man haters”. Like Andrea Dworkin her writing had a strident tone and caused people to wring their hands and worry about hurting men’s feelings. And maybe her writing did, I don’t know. But I do know reading The Woman’s Room in university was like stepping through a looking glass. It was like entering a world that was both familiar and strange. It was off-putting and terrifying at times but it was something I needed to read. No woman wants to see the phrase “all men are rapists” or read about someone else’s repressed life, but I think for women particularly of my generation, we need the reminder. We need to remember that it once was-and in many places still is- permissible for a man to rape his wife. We need to remember that only a few decades ago we were held back from pursuing careers and having intellectual lives. We need to see where we’ve been to figure out where we’re going.

The world will miss you, Marilyn.

 

Choice and Violence

Thursday night Arcelie Laoagan was walking to a local train station on her way back from work. Somewhere near the Franklin LRT station she was murdered, and some asshole took away someone’s wife and the mother of five children. She was trying to save up enough money to bring her family to Canada. The nature and cause of her murder is still under investigation. As are several frightening incidents of sexual assault that have happened in Calgary over the last few months. There are people out there who believe they have every right to take someone’s dignity, bodily autonomy, and perhaps even their lives because this someone is a woman. Because we live a world where violence against women is increasing along with flagrant denial of its existence.

And, because we live in a world where the authorities who are supposed to protect women can only say this: “… the homicide may have been a random attack and renewed their warnings to women to take precautions while walking at night.” How on earth can someone imply this woman was murdered because she had not taken precautions? Should she have known better than to have a job, to take public transit, to leave her house? That sentence petrified me.

I did originally have a blog entry exclusively about reproductive rights, but felt this story needed to be told more. But I also think there is a connection between this horrific violence, the blaming of victims and the denial of reproductive rights. I in no way intend to appropriate Archelie’s story for the purposes of pro-choice discussion, however I feel it needs to be said- in the end it all comes down to choice. Choice is the only defence women have in the face of this complex patriarchical system, and having choice taken away from you is violence. Taking away someone’s right to be alive, someone’s right to be alone at night, someone’s right to have or not have a child- this is patriarchy. This is what feminism is up against.

Rest in Peace Arcelie.