Although I don't know statistics, I'm certainly aware that there have been several school shootings where female victims were specifically targeted. And I admit that I don't know of any similar instances for male victims. Although I have theories as to some of the possible reasons - and certainly some have been referred to in other threads on this same topic - I don't have any answers or solutions. It is definitely a problem.
However, Ann, in my opinion, your concern about
female victims causes you to lose sight of the big picture. You just wrote:
That means that Germany has been given a chance to mourn the victims as dead girls. I commend German media for acknowledging the loss of girls like this.
But for me, the big picture is that children are dying. Innocent children who, simply by being in school, are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Yes, I abhor violence against women. I also abhor violence perpetrated against men. I don't condone wife beatings OR husband beatings. And here, I think it's horrible that it's happened AT ALL. These are innocent
children. This sort of thing should not be happening at all. I don't think it any worse - or better - to find out that most of the victims were girls. We are supposed to protect our children. When we send our children to school every day and let them out of our watchful eye, we expect them to be safe. There are way too many instances where a parent has done this everyday, normal activity - sending their child off to school - and not having their child come home.
For me, at least, this is a more worrisome issue. Thank God that my child hasn't been a victim, nor do I personally know anyone who has suffered such a grievous loss in this way. Percentage-wise, I don't know what the numbers are. And I don't know how to stop it. I can scream stronger gun control, but certainly that alone isn't enough. I can scream that we have to more quickly identify the possible warning signs that the shooters may exhibit before going on the rampage, but that is probably next to impossible.
Children are dying. Sometimes it's school-related violence, sometimes it's gangs. Often it's illness. More often it's hunger.
Children. Boys and girls. Girls and boys. That's what bothers me the most.
Kathy
