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Author
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Topic: Feminism / Homolka
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April
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7882
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posted 10 May 2005 01:33 PM
I was just wondering if ant feminists cared to comment on the case of Homolka, who is to be released soon. One the one hand, she is a female, but on the other hand, she has proven herself to be extremely dangerous to vulnerable females, inculding teenagers and her own sister, all abused and murdered. I know that a hot topic among 3rd wavers is how to be inclusive of the transgendered and others, but what I am wondering is how feminism will react to Homolka. Can she reform and express remorse? Is she mentally ill? Will she herself be murdered by vigilante justice? What is feminism's role in all of this? The issues are complex - please feel free to discuss. [ 10 May 2005: Message edited by: April ]
From: Montreal | Registered: Jan 2005
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anne cameron
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8045
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posted 10 May 2005 09:10 PM
I'm not sure what "feminism" has to do with any part of this question. This person helped slaughter two young women. She brokered a good deal for herself. She has done nothing while behind bars to indicate any attempt toward rehabilitation, hasn't taken any courses or therapy. She will get out. Those young women are still dead. Nothing I have read has given me any reason to suspect or hope that this sick person has reformed or is even truly repentant or apologetic. Of course, inherent in all this is the question of Would the slags who pretend to be media in this nation even report to us if she had?I do not support the death penalty. There are too many Canadians who have spent years in prison and then new DNA technology has proven they were not guilty. In too many of these cases the police fudged evidence, even fabricated and manufactured it. Those people would be dead if we had a death penalty and instead they have been freed. So whatever she did or does, whatever she is or is not, I do not want Homulka put to death. At the same time I do believe there are psychopaths and sociopaths who do not belong anywhere near the rest of us. Clifford Olson is one. Karla Homulka is another. But she worked a better deal from the system for herself than Clifford did for himself. Still, we have any number of remote islands to which to send people where they can live in physical comfort, have food delivered to them, have a garden, watch TV, whatever, and never be close enough to any children again to have any chance to re-offend. I am not talking "Devil's Island". That was barbaric. But I do think some people just flatout do not deserve to breathe the same air as our children and grandchildren. Until I have reason to think differently of her, Homulka, for me, remains a dangerous predatory beast.
From: tahsis, british columbia | Registered: Jan 2005
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Stargazer
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6061
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posted 10 May 2005 09:23 PM
Someone else can answer this. I think this has been gone over in another thread. Also, Homolka earned a University degree while in jail. That's hardly considered doing nothing. Regardless, sometimes its best for some people to let raw emotion guide rational thought. Seems to me if some people shouldn't breathe the same air as yout relatives, then you do in fact advocate for the death penalty.
From: Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist. | Registered: Jun 2004
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bigcitygal
Volunteer Moderator
Babbler # 8938
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posted 10 May 2005 10:03 PM
The issue of Karla Homolka isn't one of feminism. First of all, she was guilty of the crimes she was tried for.I don't believe she and PB are "monsters" who are somehow different from you and me. They did horrible, awful, despicable things, and I daresay we probably only know the tip of the iceberg of what they did to many young women. The highly flawed rules of our society state that an amount of time separated from the general population, with your freedoms highly reduced, somehow is equivalent to the crime(s) committed. Notwithstanding a deal with the Crown of course. I don't agree with those rules, but I also don't believe if she was in jail for 10 more years it would make this any better, as we'd just be delaying this process, and this discussion, for another decade. I don't believe in the death penalty, not just because the not-guilty ones may be put to death by the state (altho that is a big reason) but because statistically the death penalty is no deterrent to vicious crimes considered deserving of the death penalty. And if we kill a killer because we are angry or we hate and despise the killer, that is not the kind of "civilized" society that I want to be a part of. I don't actually have a solution to this quandry, and meanwhile she will be out and about in society in a matter of months. And Charlie, she got a deal so that the Crown could get PB solid and locked. Sure it's related to her being a woman, and being his partner/wife at the time. My take is, just because something's about gender doesn't mean it's about feminism.
From: It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent - Q | Registered: Apr 2005
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voice of the damned
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6943
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posted 11 May 2005 12:00 AM
quote:
As much as the idea of Homolka coming to live in my neighbourhood disgusts me, I think there should be some sort of critical analysis about the case to heopefully prevent violence.
I have a gut feeling that Homolka's actions were prompted by her association with Paul Bernardo. Not that that makes her any less guilty, since she still could have chosen not to participate in the crimes. However, I wouldn't expect her to go back to her old and bad ways upon release from prison. Like I say, it's just a gut feeling. Does anyone have any stats on the number of violent female sex offendors who operate on their own, without being sidekicks to a male? From my very cursory attention to the issue, I'd wager the number is miniscule.
From: Asia | Registered: Sep 2004
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girlincrisis
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1236
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posted 11 May 2005 12:49 AM
Homolka has plenty to do with feminism. She used 'battered wife syndrome' as a plea in her trial. I find this to be a very interesting issue...there have been ongoing feminist debates about the social tensions and anxieties around 'women who kill'. The legal system has been slow to deal with this, in part because there are so many social stereotypes about women, most of which do not include murder and sexual assualt. For so long women have been imagined as innocent, vulnerable, essentially pure and good beings...well, I guess that's more an ideal from the Victorian era...maybe there's a connection there.
I actually watched a documentary news special about her a little while ago and they talked to various doctors and psychologists about her mental status at the time of the trial and during the course of her relationship with Bernardo. It's unfortunate that the justice system at that time was unable to distinguish between a woman who has been terrorized and abused for many years and is justifiably fighting back, and someone who freely partook in inexcusable acts against not only other women, but her own sister. I think for me that was the clincher--I mean, that happened before they were even married. I just don't believe that he had that much control over her...
So, I'm not sure I really answered your question...it was more just some of my own musings on the topic, but I definitely think it is a feminist issue.
From: van city | Registered: Aug 2001
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Mr. Magoo
guilty-pleasure
Babbler # 3469
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posted 11 May 2005 01:12 AM
quote:
... islands to which to send people where they can live in physical comfort, have food delivered to them, have a garden, watch TV, whatever
Is this offer only available to serial killers? Will the fishing be any good, and will I... er, they be allowed to raise some chickens and putter away all day in the garden with nary a care in the world, other than maybe aphids?
From: ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø, | Registered: Dec 2002
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nuclearfreezone
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 9059
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posted 11 May 2005 02:49 AM
So Karla Homolka earned a degree while behind bars for murder. At the taxpayers' expense no less. Lovely!So, what about the other several thousand Canadian girls/women who are bright enough to go to college/university but lack the funds? Do they have to end up behind bars to get their education paid? I truly resent the fact that my tax dollar went to educate this trollop/witch/murderess who does not deserve to walk the face of the earth. She should have been in a chain gang and the money spent on her education should have gone to some honest, law-abiding, Canadian student (male or female) who had the smarts but not the funds to attend university. She got a deal because she's a woman. So what that she's a woman. How many single mothers never, ever get a break in this country. As Mr. Magoo pointed out: a far-off island with a garden and nary a care in the world? Wow! Where do I sign up? I say Devil's Island, chains, and nothing but bread and water for the rest of her natural life. And if Karla Homolka came to a shelter for protection where I happened to be staying with my kids -- I'd leave. In ancient societies people like this were kicked out of that society never to return. Once someone has crossed the line and committed such a heinous crime they have no rights at all. I know I probably sound barbaric but you have to remember what they did to these two girls. They were used, abused, and then thrown away like so much offal. One of the girls was chopped into pieces. There is no place in Canadian society for the likes of Karla Homolka.
From: B.C. | Registered: Apr 2005
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MasterDebator
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8643
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posted 11 May 2005 03:31 AM
quote:
Originally posted by girlincrisis:
Homolka has plenty to do with feminism. She used 'battered wife syndrome' as a plea in her trial.
This is a point I hadn't remembered, thanks for bringing it up. There are many who are questioning the "battered woman's defence", thinking it gives too wide a opening for women to use violence against their husbands or partners. I cannot agree. Battering is real, and the reactions to it are, if not fully "justifed" at least perfectly understandable.
From: Goose Country Road, Prince George, BC | Registered: Mar 2005
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FabFabian
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7496
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posted 11 May 2005 03:55 AM
I don't know if anyone else remembers, but I recall seeing her full scale picture on the Sun one day with her eyes black. What a great little victim she was. If those two hadn't been found out when they did, they would have racked up a huge body count like Fred and Rosmary West in England. Paul and Karla were a narcissistic, sociopathic coupling made in hell.I wasn't paying much attention when it happened a couple of weeks ago, but what was the reasoning behind the courts/gov't going after her for her sister's murder? That just doesn't seem right to me.
From: Toronto | Registered: Nov 2004
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remind
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6289
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posted 11 May 2005 03:56 AM
quote:
Originally posted by nuclearfreezone:
I truly resent the fact that my tax dollar went to educate this trollop/witch/murderess who does not deserve to walk the face of the earth.
Nice that you resent it, but your invectives used, really are offensive. I know "trollops" and "witches", who are not murderesses.  Christ why do people deal out that generalized labeling? Women, who have sex and/or are wicca are murderesses, or potential murderess, I suppose.
From: "watching the tide roll away" | Registered: Jun 2004
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remind
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6289
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posted 11 May 2005 04:27 AM
The Lords name in vain? Give me a break, you defamed women who are not "demure, modest and male dominated" and wicca, as murderers or potential murderers, and you want me to care whether you find the word Christ offensive. Not in this lifetime, perhaps my next one I will.BTW The word Christ does not mean Lord. Never has, never will. [ 11 May 2005: Message edited by: remind ]
From: "watching the tide roll away" | Registered: Jun 2004
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