Alleged DV Homicide in Colombus

From the Ledger-Enquirer:

An investigation into the Wednesday death of 90-year-old Annie Morgan has led to the arrest of her husband on a murder charge, Columbus police said on Saturday.

....

The charge stems from an 8 p.m. Wednesday call for paramedics at the couple’s apartment for a person stricken by a possible cardiac arrest. After paramedics arrived, they noticed a possible stab wound to the victim’s chest.

She was taken to The Medical Center where Deputy Coroner Charles Newton pronounced her dead at 8:45 p.m.

On Thursday, Annie Morgan’s body was sent to the crime lab in Atlanta for an autopsy that determined the woman’s aorta was punctured by an unknown sharp object, possibly a letter opener.

Statements from her husband weren’t consistent with the investigation, police Lt. John McMichael said.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Morgan family.

Mass DV-Related Shotting in Norcross

A mass shooting at a Norcross, GA spa is now suspected to be DV-related. From CNN:

The shooting deaths of five people at a suburban Atlanta spa Tuesday night was a murder-suicide triggered by a domestic dispute, police said Wednesday.

A man shot himself to death after killing his two sisters and their husbands at the Su Jung Health Spa in Norcross, Georgia, according to a police statement.

The man had been asked to leave the business earlier in the day, but returned at 8:40 p.m. and began shooting with a semiautomatic pistol, police said.

The names of the dead, all in their early 50s to mid-60s, have not been made public.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families.

Police: Man Shot and Killed by Coworker's Ex

Another example of how domestic violence is not just a private, family matter:

Joshua McColley found his former girlfriend cowering in the back of the Pizza Hut and aimed a .38-caliber revolver at her, police said.

She begged him not to hurt her: McColley had already shot her co-worker and left him in a pool of blood behind the store's front counter. He obliged her plea and turned the gun on himself.

In the end, her life was the only one spared.

McColley, 23, fatally shot himself at the south DeKalb County pizza store Saturday morning, and Pizza Hut employee Samuel Wallace died from his injuries Monday, according to DeKalb police.

Wallace, 34, was shot twice following a brief confrontation with McColley and was "unconscious and unresponsive" when emergency responders arrived at the store. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he later died.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Wallace family.

Alleged DV Murder in Emmanuel County

From My Swainsboro News:

On Sunday, Feb. 12, at approximately 8 p.m., the Emanuel County Sheriff’s Office and Emanuel County Emergency Medical Services were dispatched to 40 Ebenezer Church Road in Emanuel County in reference to a female suffering from gunshot wounds.

According to Sheriff J. Tyson Stephens, deputies arrived and arrested George Walter Kirkland, 46, in connection with the shooting. Sherry Kirkland, 49, the wife of George Walter Kirkland, was located within the residence and pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel.

Investigators from the sheriff’s office and crime scene specialists from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were called in to investigate the death. Sherry Kirkland’s body was transported to the GBI Crime Lab for autopsy. George Walter Kirkland is currently charged with murder and remains in the Emanuel County Sheriff’s Detention Center without bond.

Anyone with information related to this case is asked to call Investigator Ashley Riner at the sheriff’s office (478) 237-7526 or the GBI at (478) 374-6988.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kirkland family.

Covington Man Wanted for Ex's Murder

From the AJC:

A man wanted in the drive-by slaying of his former girlfriend turned himself in to Covington police Saturday, authorities said.

Hannibal Wayne McMullen, 47, was charged with murder in the death early Friday of Ketitra Techelle Jones, who had filed for a temporary order of protection against the man.

Police said McMullen turned himself in around 5 p.m. Saturday. Police along with family and friends of McMullen had been in touch with him via cell phone and text messaging since late Friday, urging him to surrender.

The fatal shooting occurred on Washington Street near Carroll Street in Covington. Witnesses told police they heard and saw shots being fired from a blue Toyota Corolla and into a silver Dodge Ram truck driven by Jones.

Both vehicles were traveling northeast toward Covington’s town square. After the shooting, Jones’ truck crashed into an awning at the Pure Station on Washington Street near Carroll Street, police said. She was fatally wounded.

McMullen, who owns a detail shop in Covington, was identified as the suspect and was considered armed and dangerous.

Police said Jones and McMullen had been in a relationship that ended several months ago. Channel 2 Action News reported that Jones had sought an order of protection against McMullen.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Jones family.

Benevolent Sexism

Readers, have you ever gotten a "compliment" that seemed intended to genuinely be a compliment that nonetheless didn't feel quite so good? Scientific American actually recently examined that topic in a great article on benevolent sexism.

In 1996, Peter Glick and Susan Fiske wrote a paper on the concept of ambivalent sexism, noting that despite common beliefs, there are actually two different kinds of sexist attitudes and behavior. Hostile sexism is what most people think of when they picture “sexism” – angry, explicitly negative attitudes towards women. However, the authors note, there is also something called benevolent sexism:

We define benevolent sexism as a set of interrelated attitudes toward women that are sexist in terms of viewing women stereotypically and in restricted roles but that are subjectively positive in feeling tone (for the perceiver) and also tend to elicit behaviors typically categorized as prosocial (e.g., helping) or intimacy-seeking (e.g., self-disclosure) (Glick & Fiske, 1996, p. 491).

[Benevolent sexism is] a subjectively positive orientation of protection, idealization, and affection directed toward women that, like hostile sexism, serves to justify women’s subordinate status to men (Glick et al., 2000, p. 763).

Essentially, there’s now a formal name for all of those comments and stereotypes that can somehow feel both nice and wrong at the same time, such as the belief that women are “delicate flowers” that need to be protected by men, or the notion that women have the special gift of being “more kind and caring” than their male counterparts. And yes, it might sound complimentary, but it still counts as sexism.

Benevolent sexism also still counts as a problem and still contributes to society treating women as second-class citizens. Check out the full article here for all of the ways how.

Rape Culture Refresher Course

If you've read our blog for any length of time, you are familiar with the term "rape culture". If you don't know the term, or need a refresher, the blog Racialicious has a great breakdown that starts as a conversation about "Don't' get raped" vs. "Don't rape" as prevention strategies, goes through "Not saying no does not equal yes" and ends with violence in movies, books, and music in a full illustration of the permeation of rape into our culture. It is well worth a read.