Sean Hobbs Staff Writer
On May 23, a man killed six people at UCSB in Isla Vista, California, in a rampage fueled by his sense of entitlement. Many will claim this man was mentally ill, that all this could have been prevented if he had had treatment. However, the idea that people with mental illness are always the ones to commit violent crimes is anything but true.
Studies done in universities around the United States have shown that people with mental illnesses are much more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators. Mass shooters, like the UCSB killer, have meticulously planned when and how they plan to attack their victims.
The UCSB killer was not mentally ill. He was an example of the culture that the United States has created around the autonomy of women.
In his 141-page manifesto, the UCSB shooter makes it clear that he believes women, as a whole, owe him attention, admiration, and sex. He blames women for the fact that he is a virgin and that he feels ignored, and specifically states that he will make them pay.
This sense of entitlement to women’s bodies is not an uncommon occurrence. Hours after the shooting, another man opened fire on three women because they refused to have sex with him. A few weeks ago, a high school girl was stabbed to death for refusing an invitation to prom. Rapists and abusers often make the claim that they only did it because they felt it was owed to them.
The UCSB killer is not an oddity. He is a common situation taken to it’s most extreme. At his base level, the UCSB killer is exactly like every self-described “nice guy” who wonders why the minor attention he pays to women doesn’t entitle him to sex. The only difference between them is whether or not he has a weapon.
Mass shootings always spark up conversations about mental health and the failing state of our country’s medicine, but that is not what causes these events. These attacks, which are all too common in the United States, are the result of the messages society teaches men about women. They can be prevented, but not unless the country is willing to take a good look at itself.
