The Misogyny of Gun Violence
by Hannah Denyer
When we introduced our DVAF (Domestic Violence Action Fund) campaign in 2017, we did so with the intention of envisioning a world free from domestic violence. To be able to even conceive of such a universe, we first need to confront the reality that gender-based violence is so pervasive that it is often the silent and ignored root of other kinds of violence. Including mass shootings.
In August alone, 53 people were killed by mass shootings.
2 mass shootings in 24 hours. 3 in one week.
All men. All white.
Parkland, Poway, Sutherland Springs, Orlando, Christchurch.
There is an epidemic of white men who feel so threatened by marginalized folks that they are making the choice to buy guns and kill masses of innocent people. And we can no longer ignore it.
In the US, an average of 52 women are shot to death every month by intimate partners and many more are injured - and this number is rising. Since 210, firearm involved intimate partner homicides have increased by 26%. Since 1982, there have been 110 mass shootings in the US---only three of those were carried out by women. 92% of all women killed with guns in high-income countries in 2015 were from the US. 61% of teen girls are killed by their current or former partner with a gun. 54% of mass shootings are related to domestic violence. And 80% of children killed in mass shootings were killed in incidents connected to intimate partner violence.
It is possible to prevent these unnecessary deaths and trauma. Gun control is an integral part of the solution but so is creating a cultural shift where the empowerment of marginalized populations is not weaponized to stoke the fears of misogynists and white nationalists. Take our own Los Angeles County, which celebrated the news last month that there was finally a drop in homicide rates, a goal that has been dreamt about by community members and city officials for years. Yet while people were applauding this accomplishment, the fact is that simultaneously the rate that women are being killed has increased and intimate partner violence continues not to be prioritized and efforts to lower the crime rate often exclude a gender lens.
If we are going to build a world free from violence, we must face the fact that racism is connected to sexism is connected to homophobia is connected to ableism. That homelessness is connected to gender-based violence. That gang violence is connected to gender-based violence. That gun violence is connected to domestic and gender-based violence.
Crisis agencies, like Peace Over Violence, that have whole departments dedicated to violence prevention are critical in the fight against domestic terrorism. A violence free world is only possible if we focus on changing the culture away from toxic gender norms. We cannot do this alone.
DVAF demands of us to truly interrogate how different forms of violence are linked. It is a call that asks us not talk about issues in silos but to always connect the dots and work together to build a violence free Los Angeles and a violence free world. This has been Peace Over Violence's theory of change for almost 50 years.
Join us.
***Continue the conversation on Monday, October 28: DVAM Community Forum: “As homicides drop in L.A., more women are being killed — often by intimate partners.” with LA Times journalists Nicole Santa Cruz and Iris Lee and moderator Mala Muñoz from Locatora Radio.***