The Sodini Killings

You probably have already heard about the kilings that took place by the hand of George Sodini in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania on Tuesday night.

Sodini, a 48-year-old man entered an LA Fitness center at 7:45 pm, turned off the lights in an aerobics classroom, and opened fire on a class of 20 women, killing 3 and injuring 9 before killing himself. 

One of the most disturbing parts of this attack was the fact that Sodini had a blog, where he wrote in detail about his misogynistic musings, sexual frustrations and even his plans to kill.

Gawker analyzes Sodini as just another killer seeking attention. As an internet developer by profession, Sodini knew that people would google his name after the killings, and knew where to lead them and how to control their perceptions of him. At the bottom of the blog, Sodini wrote:

"This should not be taken off the web. It is obviously my view and opinion.

Reproduce this as you wish, in its entirity.

 **Copy this to usenet/newsgroups where my voice will speak forever!**

 Don't modify it, you can correct my spelling errors, I used WordPad.

Unless the names are required legally to be blotted out, then fine. Thanks."

The fact that this guy had a blog is obviously disturbing on so many levels. The casual tone of the blog, for one. The extreme hatred of women expressed through it. And even the underlying thought of, "This guy's thoughts were public information since November 5, 2008...could we have stopped this?"

But it's even more than that. Bob Herbert summed up my thoughts pretty well: 

"We have become so accustomed to living in a society saturated with misogyny that the barbaric treatment of women and girls has come to be more or less expected. We profess to being shocked at one or another of these outlandish crimes, but the shock wears off quickly in an environment in which the rape, murder and humiliation of females is not only a staple of the news, but an important cornerstone of the nation’s entertainment...One of the striking things about mass killings in the U.S. is how consistently we find that the killers were riddled with shame and sexual humiliation, which they inevitably blamed on women and girls. The answer to their feelings of inadequacy was to get their hands on a gun (or guns) and begin blowing people away."

George Sodini's actions were beyond horrible. But to me it feels like America is collectively shrugging and sighing and saying, "Well, it's not like it's the first time." 

And that's exactly the point. 

We are so used to violence against women that this killing has just been added to a list. We just think that this is the way it is. And then people still have the nerve to say that we don't need feminism and that sexism is over. We solved that problem back in the 1960's and '70's. 

Really? REALLY? We've solved it? So why were three women killed and nine women injured this week for no other reason than that they were women? 

How many more innocent lives are we going to lose before people realize that sexism and misogyny are not only REAL in our society, but are KILLING people?