Scrutable

Posted: **Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:40 pm**

Women's charities are weighing in on how terrible the plan to put police in clubs is. Their arguments include:

- it “feels like an increase in police intrusion into social spaces”. "It feels like a real scattergun approach, which certainly looks like an attempt to distract from the rightful criticisms of the last week" (Good Night Out Campaign)

- "the idea that putting plainclothes police officers in nightclubs is going to solve this problem doesn’t recognise that women get abused, assaulted, intimidated in all sorts of places,” She called for misogyny to be made a hate crime “so that existing crimes like sexual harassment, abuse and intimidation can be reported and recorded as such, so we can build up patterns of where the problems are to help the police with the way in which they investigate these issues”.(Labour MP Stella Creasy)

- -lainclothes officers were “not a deterrent to harassment and assault”... things that were beneficial were “nightclubs having CCTV in all areas, offering lids on drinks to help prevent drink spiking, and public transport infrastructure which will support women getting home safely,” she said. “That isn’t even thinking about more cultural shifts that need to happen.” (It Happens Here Oxford)

- these measures “don’t really address the underlying causes of sexual violence.” (Prof Zara Quigg, Reader in Behavioural Epidemiology at the Public Health Institute, Liverpool John Moores University)

- “Many women will now be quite rightly asking: ‘But who will protect me from the plainclothes officer?’" (Centre for Women's Justice)

Posted: **Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:47 pm**

bagpuss wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:47 pm I was sexually assaulted on a commuter train on the way home from work. In daylight - before 6pm. CCTV present (the camera in my carriage was broken though, wouldn't you just know it?). Lots of other people. No-one noticed. A plain clothes police officer could have been sitting across the aisle and looking right at me and they wouldn't have noticed a thing. f.cks' sake, I didn't notice it at first - I thought it was just a normal "man takes up more than his share of the seat and gets in my personal space because he just doesn't think about anyone else" type thing. Turns out his fingertips (his arms were folded) were brushing against my breast deliberately and his thigh was pressing against mine deliberately. How do I know? Because he held out his mobile phone where I could see it. "You're beautiful" was written on the screen. I did nothing, said nothing, I was trapped against the window, had no way out, couldn't get out without either squeezing past him or climbing over the seat in front of me onto someone's head. I was like a rabbit in the headlights, didn't know what to do or say. I just ignored him, curled up more into the corner away from him. When it was nearly my stop I stood up to get off. He didn't move except to move his legs slightly sideways so that I would have to squeeze past him to get off. At that point I finally found my voice and my anger. I told him to get up and move so that I could get out without having to pass him and before I turned to walk towards the door, I turned to him and said "You're disgusting. How dare you". A few other people on the train vaguely glanced my way. Not a look of sympathy or "sh.t, what did I miss, hope she's OK" but looks of irritation at my having the cheek to create a mild disturbance. That was it, I just got off the train.

I did nothing about it that night, never even occurred to me to report it to the police until I mentioned it on a forum the next day and I was urged to do so. I reported it to the British Transport Police and I have to say that my experience of the police was not a bad one. I was treated with kindness and respect and taken seriously. They checked the CCTV from the train but found the camera in that carriage was out. And that was that.

Obviously, I was asking for it. Dressed in trousers and a non revealing top. Sitting quietly in a corner on a train reading a book. In my late 30s, overweight, no make up. Positively flaunting myself, I was. Really should change my behaviour to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I'm really sorry to hear this, bagpuss, sorry that you went through that. It sounds ghastly and I can't imagine what it must've felt like to be trapped like that.

Posted: **Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:11 pm**

One thing I would absolutely love to see is an end to the policing of women's clothing. We honestly cannot win. At the beginning of every school year we get stories of girls sent home because their skirts are too short. But it turns out skirts can be too long as well. If anyone can give me an evidence-based explanation of how skirt length affects a pupil's ability to learn I'd love to see it. The only reason I can see for these restrictions is to prepare girls for a lifetime of having their clothing scrutinised to a level that no man will ever experience or understand.

Posted: **Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:19 pm**

Fishnut wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:11 pm One thing I would absolutely love to see is an end to the policing of women's clothing. We honestly cannot win. At the beginning of every school year we get stories of girls sent home because their skirts are too short. But it turns out skirts can be too long as well. If anyone can give me an evidence-based explanation of how skirt length affects a pupil's ability to learn I'd love to see it. The only reason I can see for these restrictions is to prepare girls for a lifetime of having their clothing scrutinised to a level that no man will ever experience or understand.

Well they all need to be the same length so they look smart when they’re trooping the colour.

Posted: **Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:36 pm**

Fishnut wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:11 pm But it turns out skirts can be too long as well.

Arguably that's the parents policing a "too short" skirt just as much as it is the school policing a "too long" skirt. But anyway, yes, it's ridiculous.

Fishnut wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:11 pm If anyone can give me an evidence-based explanation of how skirt length affects a pupil's ability to learn I'd love to see it.

I'm pretty sure no one's going to give you that. I think the best you're going to get is one of these:

1. We have a uniform, so pupils should wear the uniform. To which the obvious response is, why do you have a uniform? My mother had a theory that uniforms help to reduce class inequality as the richer kids can't as easily show off their wealth by wearing visibly expensive clothes. This theory strikes me as mostly bogus, but I am fashion-challenged anyway, so YMMV.

2. Short skirts, revealing tops, etc., disrupt learning for pupils generally because they distract adjacent boys. To which the obvious response is, why don't you teach the boys to behave themselves? That would be a much more useful life lesson than "if what a girl wears causes a boy to misbehave then it's the girl's fault".

Posted: **Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:55 pm**

bolo wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:36 pm 1. We have a uniform, so pupils should wear the uniform. To which the obvious response is, why do you have a uniform? My mother had a theory that uniforms help to reduce class inequality as the richer kids can't as easily show off their wealth by wearing visibly expensive clothes. This theory strikes me as mostly bogus, but I am fashion-challenged anyway, so YMMV.

As someone who went to a school with a strictly enforced school uniform and a lot of rich kids the idea that you can reduce class inequality through uniforms is laughable (though weirdly one I believed for a very long time, despite the evidence in front of my own eyes). It was very clear who the rich kids were. They were the ones with mobile phones (this was when having one was a big deal), who got given cars on their 17th birthday, who got to do all the foreign school trips. Kids know who's got money and who doesn't.

bolo wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:36 pm 2. Short skirts, revealing tops, etc., disrupt learning for pupils generally because they distract adjacent boys. To which the obvious response is, why don't you teach the boys to behave themselves? That would be a much more useful life lesson than "if what a girl wears causes a boy to misbehave then it's the girl's fault".

Quite. It's the start of the lifelong lesson that girls are responsible for boy's actions and boys are responsible for nothing.

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:47 am**

Sciolus wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 7:38 pm
Boris Johnson wrote:I think the fundamental issue that we have to address as a country, and as a society and as a government is that ... women in particular must feel that when they make serious complaints about violence, about assault, that they are properly heard.

We are going to make sure that that happens.

I expect that Boris means literally what he says - that the goal is to make women feel that they are taken seriously (i.e. while actually being ignored).

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:21 am**

I haven't individually responded to everyone's disclosures of assaults, harassment, complicity, and tangled uncertainty because I haven't been able to find the right words to do so. But perhaps I can't at least say that all your stories are heard and they are sitting in me. I hear you, I believe you, and i respect you for surviving and learning.

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:56 am**

I just read this https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/ ... o-misogyny
and thought it was very interesting, if somewhat lacking in specifics of what to do about it. I would be interested if anyone has any thoughts on this

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:57 am**

jimbob wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 2:25 pm
Tessa K wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 12:50 pm I just remembered, I wrote this just over a year ago about three incidents, one of which happened to me. Small stuff compared with many women's experiences and I could have written a lot more but it was the fact they happened so close together that prompted me.

https://tessera2009.blogspot.com/2019/1 ... d-man.html
Mind if I tweet a link to that?

Go ahead.

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:09 am**

Fishnut wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:55 pm
bolo wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:36 pm 1. We have a uniform, so pupils should wear the uniform. To which the obvious response is, why do you have a uniform? My mother had a theory that uniforms help to reduce class inequality as the richer kids can't as easily show off their wealth by wearing visibly expensive clothes. This theory strikes me as mostly bogus, but I am fashion-challenged anyway, so YMMV.
As someone who went to a school with a strictly enforced school uniform and a lot of rich kids the idea that you can reduce class inequality through uniforms is laughable (though weirdly one I believed for a very long time, despite the evidence in front of my own eyes). It was very clear who the rich kids were. They were the ones with mobile phones (this was when having one was a big deal), who got given cars on their 17th birthday, who got to do all the foreign school trips. Kids know who's got money and who doesn't.

bolo wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:36 pm 2. Short skirts, revealing tops, etc., disrupt learning for pupils generally because they distract adjacent boys. To which the obvious response is, why don't you teach the boys to behave themselves? That would be a much more useful life lesson than "if what a girl wears causes a boy to misbehave then it's the girl's fault".
Quite. It's the start of the lifelong lesson that girls are responsible for boy's actions and boys are responsible for nothing.

It was very clear at my school who had money because they were the ones whose uniforms fit them properly and weren't second hand. Their summer dresses were clearly tailor made. This was a girls' school so there was no chance of us distracting boys. However, as soon as we were outside the school we used to roll our skirts over at the top to make them shorter. I still see schoolgirls doing that now. It was also very clear on the one or two days a year we were allowed to wear our own clothes and of course in the sixth form when we didn't have to wear a uniform.

Forcing women to police their behaviour and clothing because men can't be expected to is the thinking behind Muslim women's all-concealing clothes too. It's insulting to some men and licenses other to behave as badly as they like because it's their instincts, which can't be controlled. And then they say men are more rational than women.

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:20 am**

Here's a handy list of the men who are the problem that a friend posted on FB.

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:51 am**

Tessa K wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:20 am Here's a handy list of the men who are the problem that a friend posted on FB.

That is excellent

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:32 am**

There's been another mass shooting in the US. This time Atlanta, Georgia where a 21-year old white man attacked three Asian massage parlours.

Though the exact motive behind the shootings is not yet known, police were asked at a press conference whether the attacks could be connected to a broader rise in hate crimes against Asian-Americans in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.

If this is about racism, why am I posting about it here, you ask. Well, because of who was killed:

The attacks collectively killed eight people, including six Asian-American women, one white man and one white woman.

Seven out of the eight victims were women. Even if it is primarily a racist attack, the fact he went after places employing women should not be ignored. Fortunately, because the attacker is white, he was taken into police custody rather than shot and killed so we may get to find out his motivations.

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:54 am**

I'd be entirely unsurprised if the primary motivation in this attack was that the place was a massage parlor and the victims were female masseuses rather than that they were Asian-American.

There's a long running low to medium level of (not unsubstantiated) rumor/news stories here about massage parlors being fronts for sex work. And the incel/misogynist hatred of women who do sex work is definitely a possible motive.

With the role of pizzagate and Proud Boys in QAnon and violence, I'd maybe rank that as at least a likely as basic racism, although it can be both, of course.

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:00 am**

dyqik wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:54 am I'd be entirely unsurprised if the primary motivation in this attack was that the place was a massage parlor and the victims were female masseuses rather than that they were Asian-American.

There's a long running low to medium level of (not unsubstantiated) rumor/news stories here about massage parlors being fronts for sex work. And the incel/misogynist hatred of women who do sex work is definitely a possible motive.

Judging by the reviews online there was sex work going on at this establishment. There is prejudice shown, even by UK commenters on Facebook against them because of that.

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:45 am**

Tessa K wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:57 am
jimbob wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 2:25 pm
Tessa K wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 12:50 pm I just remembered, I wrote this just over a year ago about three incidents, one of which happened to me. Small stuff compared with many women's experiences and I could have written a lot more but it was the fact they happened so close together that prompted me.

https://tessera2009.blogspot.com/2019/1 ... d-man.html
Mind if I tweet a link to that?
Go ahead.

https://twitter.com/ParkinJim/status/13 ... 98536?s=20

A blogpost by an online friend about her experiences of sexual harassment three times in one day - and the sad thing that the only notable thing to her was that they occurred so close together.

https://tessera2009.blogspot.com/2019/1 ... d-man.html

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:39 pm**

Sisters Uncut's statement on the "cops in clubs" idea is also worth a read (there are links to back up their claims in the original):

Our Response to Boris’ Statement: No More Police Powers

Monday, March 15, 2021

Last night Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters that he was “deeply concerned” and “committed to reviewing” the violence that has recently been enacted onto women and gender non-conforming people at the hands of the police.

If Boris is serious about ending violence against women, he will halt the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

As the actions of police at peaceful vigils this weekend show, police abuse the powers that they already have – and yet the government plans to give them more powers in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

The death of Sarah Everard must be seen in context of the structures of violence against women in this country, which include the police who brutally manhandled grieving women on Saturday, and the routine failures of the police to investigate rape cases as well as their own record of domestic abuse against women.

Under the Conservative Party, deaths from domestic violence have reached a 5-year high with 173 people killed in 2018 – up from 32 in 2017. 3 people a week are now killed by a partner, ex-partner or family member. Spending on domestic violence refuges has been cut by nearly a quarter (24%) since 2010. Only 1.4% of all reported sexual violence is prosecuted.

The police are institutionally violent against women. Handing them more powers will increase violence against women.

The current ‘tough on crime’ approach does nothing to improve the lives of victims of violence, and it protects police officers from accountability. In 2019, a Bureau of Investigative Journalism report found that police are treated differently in abuse cases. For police, 3.9% in England and Wales ended in a conviction, compared with 6.2% among the general population.

Evidence from charity Women in Prison shows Black, Asian and minority ethnic women are more likely to be overpoliced, criminalised and receive disproportionately harsher treatment if this Bill passes.

The powers introduced by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will also empower police to decide where, when and how citizens are allowed to protest and have their voices heard by those in power. It will also increase penalties for those breaching police conditions on protests. The right to protest is essential for all people, and especially survivors of violence, to hold powerful institutions accountable.

This bill must be stopped.

Boris we don’t want your concern, we don’t want more reviews, and most importantly we don’t want any more laws. Too many people have already died at the hands of the police and the current government, and we need radical change.

STATS:

From April 2015 to April 2018, there were almost 700 reports of domestic abuse against police officers
In sis years (2012-2018) there were 1,500 allegations of sexual misconduct against police officers
Only 1.4% of sexual violence offences are prosecuted
Between the start of 2012 and 2 June 2018, a total of 562 officers were accused of sexual assault and only 43 faced subsequent proceedings,
In 2018/19 there were almost 60,000 reports of rape to the police, but less than 1,800 men charged, and less than 1,000 convictions.
Evidence shows that more police means more violence for black women
In 2019, a Bureau of Investigative Journalism report found that police are treated differently in abuse cases. For police, 3.9% in England and Wales ended in a conviction, compared with 6.2% among the general population.
Prosecutors have been urged to drop “weak cases”
Only one in every 18 members of the Met accused of sexual assault are subject to formal action
There have been 415 referrals for officers that abused their position to sexually assault someone in three years (2015-2017)
https://twitter.com/sistersuncut/status ... 61666?s=21

https://www.sistersuncut.org/2021/03/15 ... re-police/

As a lot of you have been saying - thanks for so many excellent posts - the issues facing women are societal, and much of it isn't illegal. The police do seem to be part of the problem - a bunch of men trying to solve issues with violence, who inevitably end up victimising the most vulnerable. I can't imagine that anybody who's been listening thinks more undercover policing of public spaces is the right answer, and in tandem with removing the right to protest looks pretty sinister.

Often, these hastey political responses seem designed to solve the most recent case that served as a flashpoint. But I haven't got a clue what this is meant to help with.

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:56 pm**

On Woman's Hour today one of the guests was Susannah Fish, former Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police force. She said that even she would be reluctant to report any sexual assault on her to the police. She also spoke about how officers used to think that having sex with victims and witnesses of crimes was a perk of the job. She made it a crime but faced huge opposition trying to do it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000t47g

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:26 pm**

Jackson Katz in the Guardian. wrote:I keep hearing people saying: “Not all men!” To which I would say: if you have the impulse to say “not all men”, don’t. It’s silly, and it’s not a good look. Because, yes, although men are more likely to die violently than women, and, yes, not all men are violent, there’s no doubt that the overwhelming majority of violence that happens between the genders happens by men against women. And the vast majority of violence that men suffer is at the hands of other men. So men and women have a common enemy, which is male violence.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... 1615965011

Basically we're f.cked for at least a generation because most schools (A sample of schools that I have attended, taught at, or my children have been to, N=20 or so.) cannot deal effectively with male on male violence and bullying let alone nuanced education about how to treat the other sex. Particularly public schools, N=1 in my sample. Sure there will be a shiney anti bullying policy and PSHE policy tucked away in a filing cabinet, but does it ever see the light of day? Only at Ofsted time.
Given that the current government is Eton and Oxford, I don't see that changing, climbing on others and bullying your way to the top is seen as a virtue to them.

I did my best as a teacher, teaching consent was always my first priority. So when one of the pupils at the last school taught at, was sentenced last month to 8 years for two counts of rape, one against a minor and declined to plead guilty, forcing a week long trial, I don't feel too good about it.

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:26 pm**

Tessa K wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:56 pm On Woman's Hour today one of the guests was Susannah Fish, former Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police force. She said that even she would be reluctant to report any sexual assault on her to the police. She also spoke about how officers used to think that having sex with victims and witnesses of crimes was a perk of the job. She made it a crime but faced huge opposition trying to do it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000t47g

WHAT. THE. f.ck.???????

I know that in many US states they allow sex between officers and detainees as long as they claim it's consensual (totally ignoring the power differential). And of course, given that rape prosecution and conviction statistics are even worse than the UK, even if it's non-consensual it doesn't mean anything will be done.

But somehow in my rose-tinted-glass naivety I'd assumed that the UK would be somewhat better and recognise that sex between officers and members of the public who have occasion to interact with the police would be, if not against the rules, then at least actively frowned on and discouraged. Perk of the job

FFS

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:12 pm**

Fishnut wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:26 pm
Tessa K wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:56 pm On Woman's Hour today one of the guests was Susannah Fish, former Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police force. She said that even she would be reluctant to report any sexual assault on her to the police. She also spoke about how officers used to think that having sex with victims and witnesses of crimes was a perk of the job. She made it a crime but faced huge opposition trying to do it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000t47g
WHAT. THE. f.ck.???????

I know that in many US states they allow sex between officers and detainees as long as they claim it's consensual (totally ignoring the power differential). And of course, given that rape prosecution and conviction statistics are even worse than the UK, even if it's non-consensual it doesn't mean anything will be done.

But somehow in my rose-tinted-glass naivety I'd assumed that the UK would be somewhat better and recognise that sex between officers and members of the public who have occasion to interact with the police would be, if not against the rules, then at least actively frowned on and discouraged. Perk of the job FFS

If you listen to the broadcast you'll hear the disbelief in the interviewer's voice!

The segment on handbags was more interesting than I expected

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:50 pm**

El Pollo Diablo wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:47 pm
bagpuss wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:47 pm I was sexually assaulted on a commuter train on the way home from work. In daylight - before 6pm. CCTV present (the camera in my carriage was broken though, wouldn't you just know it?). Lots of other people. No-one noticed. A plain clothes police officer could have been sitting across the aisle and looking right at me and they wouldn't have noticed a thing. f.cks' sake, I didn't notice it at first - I thought it was just a normal "man takes up more than his share of the seat and gets in my personal space because he just doesn't think about anyone else" type thing. Turns out his fingertips (his arms were folded) were brushing against my breast deliberately and his thigh was pressing against mine deliberately. How do I know? Because he held out his mobile phone where I could see it. "You're beautiful" was written on the screen. I did nothing, said nothing, I was trapped against the window, had no way out, couldn't get out without either squeezing past him or climbing over the seat in front of me onto someone's head. I was like a rabbit in the headlights, didn't know what to do or say. I just ignored him, curled up more into the corner away from him. When it was nearly my stop I stood up to get off. He didn't move except to move his legs slightly sideways so that I would have to squeeze past him to get off. At that point I finally found my voice and my anger. I told him to get up and move so that I could get out without having to pass him and before I turned to walk towards the door, I turned to him and said "You're disgusting. How dare you". A few other people on the train vaguely glanced my way. Not a look of sympathy or "sh.t, what did I miss, hope she's OK" but looks of irritation at my having the cheek to create a mild disturbance. That was it, I just got off the train.

I did nothing about it that night, never even occurred to me to report it to the police until I mentioned it on a forum the next day and I was urged to do so. I reported it to the British Transport Police and I have to say that my experience of the police was not a bad one. I was treated with kindness and respect and taken seriously. They checked the CCTV from the train but found the camera in that carriage was out. And that was that.

Obviously, I was asking for it. Dressed in trousers and a non revealing top. Sitting quietly in a corner on a train reading a book. In my late 30s, overweight, no make up. Positively flaunting myself, I was. Really should change my behaviour to make sure it doesn't happen again.
I'm really sorry to hear this, bagpuss, sorry that you went through that. It sounds ghastly and I can't imagine what it must've felt like to be trapped like that.

Thanks EPD. It was a bit rubbish but mostly I just feel angry with myself for not doing anything at the time and then angry with myself for being angry with myself!

I posted it mainly to point out that CCTV and lighting and people in bars watching out for incidents is just not a solution. There was CCTV (albeit not working CCTV so no hope of identifying him and I never saw him again), there was plenty of light and it's unlikely that anyone could have seen what was happening.

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 6:57 pm**

Fishnut wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:32 am There's been another mass shooting in the US. This time Atlanta, Georgia where a 21-year old white man attacked three Asian massage parlours.
Though the exact motive behind the shootings is not yet known, police were asked at a press conference whether the attacks could be connected to a broader rise in hate crimes against Asian-Americans in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.
If this is about racism, why am I posting about it here, you ask. Well, because of who was killed:
The attacks collectively killed eight people, including six Asian-American women, one white man and one white woman.
Seven out of the eight victims were women. Even if it is primarily a racist attack, the fact he went after places employing women should not be ignored. Fortunately, because the attacker is white, he was taken into police custody rather than shot and killed so we may get to find out his motivations.

He had a bad day:

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1372203730481864713

Posted: **Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:07 pm**

egbert26 wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 6:57 pm
Fishnut wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:32 am There's been another mass shooting in the US. This time Atlanta, Georgia where a 21-year old white man attacked three Asian massage parlours.
Though the exact motive behind the shootings is not yet known, police were asked at a press conference whether the attacks could be connected to a broader rise in hate crimes against Asian-Americans in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.
If this is about racism, why am I posting about it here, you ask. Well, because of who was killed:
The attacks collectively killed eight people, including six Asian-American women, one white man and one white woman.
Seven out of the eight victims were women. Even if it is primarily a racist attack, the fact he went after places employing women should not be ignored. Fortunately, because the attacker is white, he was taken into police custody rather than shot and killed so we may get to find out his motivations.
He had a bad day:

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1372203730481864713

Not as bad a day as the one the people he killed were having.

It really is remarkable how these stories are framed. Time and time again we see the police and press accepting and repeating the excuses of men who murder women.

Scrutable

Male violence and harassment of women

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