Misogyny before, during and after

Although I have not followed the recent spree shooting in Oakland California this week, I am completely appalled at the misogny in some of the media reports.

From the BBC:

Oakland gunman ‘targeted school official’

The man suspected of shooting seven people dead and injuring three more at a university in Oakland had been teased over his poor English, police say.

One L Goh, 43, felt “disrespected” and “isolated”, and was expelled from the school for behavioural problems, Police Chief Howard Jordan said on Tuesday.

He was allegedly looking for a female official when the shooting took place on Monday at Oikos University.

The former student surrendered at a supermarket in nearby Alameda city.

“They disrespected him, laughed at him,” Mr Jordan said. “They made fun of his lack of English-speaking skills. It made him feel isolated compared to the other students.”

The police chief added that Mr Goh dragged the university secretary into a classroom, told people to line up, and began shooting when some people did not co-operate.

‘Chaotic, calculated’

The suspect arrived at the university at about 10:30 (17:30 GMT) on Monday with the “the intent of locating an administrator. He then went through the entire building systematically and randomly shooting people,” Mr Jordan told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Tuesday.

“We’ve learned that the suspect was upset with the administration at the school. He was also upset that students in the past, when he attended the school, mistreated him, disrespected him, and things of that nature.

“He was having, we believe, some behavioural problems at the school and was asked to leave several months ago.”

Mr Jordan described the suspect as a “chaotic, calculated and determined gentleman”, adding that it was the gunman’s intention to kill people.

Five people died at the scene, and two died later at the hospital. Three wounded victims have been released from hospital.

According to the police chief, the victims ranged in age from 21 to 40.

Among the dead were six women and one man, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Some are believed to have been foreigners – from Korea, Nigeria, Nepal and the Philippines. Officials have not released the names of the victims.

Local media have described the gunman as an American man of Korean origin, who does not have a criminal record.

Mr Goh has some outstanding debts and minor traffic offences in Virginia, where he used to live.

He appears to have been planning the attack for weeks, police say.

He is currently being held without bail on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and carjacking, and is expected to be formally charged in court on Wednesday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Police say they are still looking for the weapon used during the attack, using a robot to search a nearby estuary. Mr Jordan has described it as a semi-automatic handgun that was purchased legally.

A memorial service is scheduled for 18:00 local time on Tuesday evening.

The attack comes after an Ohio high school student opened fire on fellow students in February, killing three and injuring six.

Firstly this:

He was allegedly looking for a female official when the shooting took place on Monday at Oikos University.

So what are they saying, that it is this woman’s fault for not being there and being shot, so he had to take it out on other ‘people’? How about blaming the gunman?

The Police Chief interviewed gives his insight:

“They disrespected him, laughed at him,” Mr Jordan said. “They made fun of his lack of English-speaking skills. It made him feel isolated compared to the other students.”

Really? Considering this was a mixed campus of all different backgrounds (victims from Korea, Nigeria, Nepal and the Philippines) so I really doubt the Police Chief’s hypothesis of laughing at his English. Also, this is another bit of attempted victim-blaming, that the victims somehow brought it upon themselves by their behaviour.

Another report, from the SFGate says:

An unusual portrait emerged of Goh, with his nursing instructor saying that he was consumed by an inability to get along with women before he left the school a few months ago. The teacher, Romie Delariman of San Leandro, said Goh didn’t fit in at a college where women make up the vast majority of the nursing faculty and student body.

Delariman said Goh – a former construction worker with a string of debts but no criminal record that would keep him from buying a gun – was a good and eager student. But he added, “He just can’t deal with women. … I always advised him, ‘You go to school to learn, not to make friends.’ ”

The instructor said Goh was also “mentally unstable” and paranoid. He sometimes spoke of violence, saying he had picked fights with people on the street and had carried a gun with him for protection, Delariman said.

[…]

Jordan said Goh had been expelled from the university several months ago, possibly for “behavioral problems” or for not being able to control his anger.

“We do know he was upset at several students due to how he was treated at the school,” Jordan said.

Delariman said it was his understanding that Goh had quit the school. He disputed accounts that Goh had been picked on due to his imperfect English.

“He can’t get along with people,” Delariman said. “If you say, ‘How are you?’ he’ll say, ‘Why? Don’t I look OK? Did I do something to you?’ “

There it is, he could not ‘get along with’ women. Mentally unstable, paranoid, anger issues and violent tendancies (although I believe he was expelled rather than left). Given the female-dominated nature of nursing, not ‘getting along’ with women is a faily major issue. However, I would posit it was more than that, that Goh either frightened and/or forced his intentions on his female classmates, which would have been why he was expelled from the college.

It is worth pointing out that they only male victim among the dead was the man whose vehicle was carjacked during Goh’s getaway:

Goh killed his only male victim – Tshering Rinzing Bhutia, 38, of San Francisco – while carjacking his Honda Accord, police said.

So there we have it. A male, with an antisocial personality disorder (and particularly misogynist attitudes towards females) goes on a spree shooting to ‘punish’ as many females that he could. The officials like the Police Chief, add their own misogyny to the mix by trying to infer it was the behaviour of the victims that caused these events. Then the media faithfully relay the misogyny, but at the same time also disguise it.

Related link:
Coverage of One Goh Murders Invisibilizes Male Violence Against Females – Again