Anger over daring to mention serial killing of women

[BainsBane]

I have an interest in serial killing in Juarez, Mexico, where well over 400 women have been raped and murdered since 1993. Their murders have gone uninvestigated and the killers continue to act with impunity. I posted a thread about that here.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023021983

Amazingly, some have gotten angry that I or anyone else dares to mention these murders. Clearly those lives are insignificant because men also are killed. It's pretty shocking when members here agree with corrupt Mexican police officials that women's lives aren't worth considering.

[niyad]

1. I didn't even have to go to the link to know who those posters would be. despicable.

[duhneece]

2. What? Someone on DU didn't like your reminding us of these murders?

I graduated from HS in El Paso, spent a lot of time in Juarez, live 100 miles north of there now and have a major interest...along with Eve Ensler and others. Let's stay in touch. I attended a 'Caravan for Peace' rally in El Paso not too long ago.

[BainsBane]

3. Yep

Look at the thread. It's truly shocking.

[redqueen]

18. Come on, now... it isn't shocking at all. It's actually, sadly, quite predictable.

I read your OP but avoided the responses. DU is becoming like every other site in that respect now.

When it comes to women's and feminist issues, the same advice women share about YouTube or news sites applies: "Don't read the comments."

[BainsBane]

19. So sad, so true.

[redqueen]

20. I got a shock today... I thought we had at least made it clear that blaming victims is wrong...

apparently I was very much mistaken.

Fucking ugh.

[BainsBane]

21. What thread was that?

[redqueen]

22. I warn you, there is some sickening, triggering bullshit there.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3044334

Seriously sickening.

[BainsBane]

30. Okay, I read a few

sent a couple of alerts to administrators that will result in nothing since misogyny is seen as a legitimate view point around here.

Sometimes I just can't help hoping that hell exists.

[nomorenomore08]

4. I just don't get what makes these guys feel so damn persecuted. It's really over the top.

Yes, in Juarez as most everywhere else, men are statistically several times more likely than women to be murdered. But to throw that "argument" into a discussion of these particular murders, which quite obviously target young women, almost seems like a deliberate attempt to minimize and/or deflect.

One poster said something to the effect of men being considered "worthless meatshields." Which is odd considering that that's precisely the attitude toward women implied by not only the Juarez murders, but the official response to them.

[BainsBane]

5. I wonder if that is the same poster who said

the behavior of 95% of women under 35 is disgusting? So consider the source.

[nomorenomore08]

6. He does seem awfully conservative by DU standards. He's got that false persecution complex down cold

nt

[Squinch]

7. Check those numbers. I looked at Wikipedia and they say 4000 (!) women killed and 400 more missing:

"Between the years of 1993 and 2003 in Juárez there had been over 4000 feminicides which have attracted wide attention. Bodies were often dumped in ditches or vacant lots.[36] Grassroots organizations in the region reported an additional 400 women as missing. Despite pressure to catch the killers and a roundup of some suspects, few believe the true culprits were found"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_Ju%C3%A1rez

As far as the anger that your post engendered, I have only this to say: fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly. Some here gotta take offense when their knees jerk.

[BainsBane]

8. Wow

Do you want to post that in the thread or should I?

Edit: I'll edit the OP to include it.

[Squinch]

9. I think that's best.

[ismnotwasm]

10. There are some weird nasty responses

I've posted before, I had a friend, a sex worker, who was a victim of a serial killer. For many years I was fascinated by the topic, read true crime books and Internet sites. I asked another nurse why this might be so. She said "becase you're potential victim" (referring to being a nurse) in other words, a kind of archetype of a woman

I don't think you need to be anything but female to be a 'potential' victim. But being poor, from a country seeped in misogyny or sex trafficking or a sex worker certainly increases the threat. When one 'kind' of woman is valued as lesser, or a 'type' all of us are

[BainsBane]

11. I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend

How awful. That must have been terribly frightening for everyone who knew her.

I have to admit to having a fascination for fictional serial killer stores, as long as the killer is caught in the end. I tried to watch one told from the perspective of the killer and I had to turn it off after ten minutes.

[ismnotwasm]

12. The Guy was caught

Robert Hansen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Christian Hansen (born February 15, 1939) is an American serial killer. Between 1980 and 1983, Hansen murdered between 17 and 21 women near Anchorage, Alaska. He was convicted in 1983 and is currently serving 461 years in Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, Alaska.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hansen
My friend;

Sue Luna, 23 (acknowledged, body found with Hansen's help)

They made a movie, which I've never seen. He hunted women like animal prey.

After all these years, I still remember her last words to me, nothing profound---"when I get back I'm going to buy Brianna (daughter) a swing set"

And "See you later"

[BainsBane]

13. Awful

All those women. I have seen fictional stories based on his general MO. I suppose that's where they got the idea. What a monster.

[nomorenomore08]

14. How disgusting that some women are considered so disposable.

No wonder we get guys like Peter Sutcliffe (the "Yorkshire Ripper&quot claiming God told him to kill prostitutes.

[MadrasT]

15. Classic attempt to derail with whataboutery

It is impossible to discuss an issue affecting women without folks showing up and saying "But whatabout MEN" to change the focus of the conversation

[BainsBane]

16. It's illogical

No one responds to a post about Zimmeran and says "what about women" or "what about all the other murders in Florida." They deal with that particular crime. Somehow when it comes to a crime against women, they refuse to do that. It's astounding.

[Nay]

23. As you surely have realized, Men's Rights a*****es are not logical. IMHO, their posts should

NEVER be responded to in any way, and should be left to swing in the wind.

[ismnotwasm]

24. They post for the purpose of started or causing trouble and distention

Since they have NO logical base for their arguments, derailing and polarizing discussions is what they're best at.

[Nay]

25. Oh, most certainly. My point was that we can stop that cold by not replying AT ALL to any

such posts. Let's let them sink without a response, and continue on with relevant discussion of an OP. I realize it's sometimes hard to let that MRA crap alone, but really, it's the only way. There are 5 or 6 posters who post that flamebait MRA shit, we know who they are, and they should truly be shunned in every thread they try to disrupt.

[ismnotwasm]

27. That what I try to do, but I get into it every once in a while

I agree, those conversations are nothing but trouble


One particular poster, who is a trouble making shit, is getting his OP's more or less ignored because of the Snowden situation. Which I find funny as hell.

Another poster, given the discussions over race, I'm starting to think is a racist and a sexist which equals troll on a democratic board. Or should.

[Nay]

28. I know who you're talking about -- and I never, ever respond to anything he says. It's the

only way. Those kind of people are only around to mix it up with you, and deserve to be shunned. I am always sorry to see that other people do respond, and get into it with them, only to find that it is useless. IOW, don't feed the tr*lls.

I have never had anyone on ignore, nor have I ever been on ignore, because up until the last year or so I have never felt the need. People who were obvious trolls were tombstoned, and we got on with rational discourse. This seems to be no longer the case at DU, for some reason, so I'll have to act as an individual to get rid of some of these people. I think it's sad that obvious baiters and trollers aren't dismissed forthwith from the community. I've been on plenty of juries, but I find the jury system insufficient.

[LanternWaste]

17. One may only presume that if the nasty responders are ethically consistent...

One may only presume that if the nasty responders are ethically consistent, they will of course offer resounding counters to the genocide in Darfur by implying it should be downplayed as genocides happen all over the world. However, that's predicated on the presumption of honesty and sincerity on thier part and, as things stand in the here and now, I'm not too keen on presuming that.

[Warpy]

26. It looks like a bunch of knee jerk jerks

and gunloons of various types were all upset at the article suggesting that the sweet flower of US manhood packing heat and bored with paper targets would ever sully itself by thrill killing in Mexico.

It turned into quite a flame war. My best advice is to hit "ignore" when those jerks invade a thread. The lack of a reply discourages them and they go back to their MRAs and the gungeon. Or they can follow the link and start an argument with the author of the article.

The murder of 400 women under 35 in a medium sized city is a big deal. It's obvious young women are being targeted by someone. While there could be a thrill killer or three crossing the border, something else is obviously going on, too, and the ingrained hatred of women is part of that.

The Mexican authorities might catch a clue when rich daughters are being slaughtered along with poor ones.

[BainsBane]

29. indeed