In memory of the Women who Died on Dec.6th, 1989 in the Montreal Masacre and in Honour of all Women who die as a Result of Violence Against Women

Judy Small wrote:

The massacre of 14 women by a deranged young man at the University of Montreal in early December 1989 shocked people all over the world. I believe until we begin to ask questions like this we cannot hope to find the answers:


It was a cold December afternoon, the line stretched round the block
And some of them were weeping and some of them were still in shock
Seven thousand came that day to pay their last respects
To 14 women slaughtered for no reason but their sex

And the cameras and the mikes were there to record the grief and fear
Of the ordinary people who worked and studied here
And a woman in her fifties in a gentle quiet tone
Summed up her sisters' outrage at the murder of their own

She said "I wonder why, as I try to make sense of this
Why is it always men who resort to the gun, the sword and the fist?
Why does gunman sound so familiar while gunwoman doesn't quite ring true?

What is it about men that makes them do the things they do?"

And the man behind her in the line he started getting steamed
He said "It wasn't because he was a man, this guy was crazy, mad, obscene!"

"Yes he was crazy" the woman replied, "but women go crazy too
And I've never heard of a woman shooting 14 men, have you?"

And all the other times came flooding back to me again
A hundred news reports of men killing family, strangers, friends
And yes I can remember one or two where a woman's hand held the gun
But exceptions only prove the rule and the questions remain

And don't you wonder why, as I try to make sense of this
Why is it always men who resort to the gun, the sword and the fist?
Why does gunman sound so familiar while gunwoman doesn't quite ring true?

What is it about men that makes them do the things they do?

And I know there are men of conscience who aren't like that at all
Who would never raise a fist in anger and who reject the macho role
And if you were to ask them about the violence that men do
I know they'd say they hate male violence too

And so we wonder why as we try to make sense of this
Why is it always men who resort to the gun, the sword and the fist?
Why does gunman sound so familiar while gunwoman doesn't quite ring true?

What is it about men that makes them do the things they do?
What is it about men that makes them do the things they do?