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Original poster

On Dec. 6, 1989, 14 women were murdered in an anti-fem­in­ist attack at the École Poly­tech­nique de Montréal

32 replies

IwantToRetire · 07/12/2025 00:58

On Dec. 6, 1989, 14 women were murdered in an anti-fem­in­ist attack at the École Poly­tech­nique de Montréal in what is still the second dead­li­est mass shoot­ing in Canada. Another 10 women and four men were injured in the shoot­ing.

Shooter Marc Lépine, armed with a leg­ally-obtained Ruger Mini-14, semi-auto­matic rifle and a hunt­ing knife, entered a mech­an­ical engin­eer­ing class at the École Poly­tech­nique and ordered women to one side of the classroom while also instruct­ing the men to leave.

He claimed to be fight­ing fem­in­ism, shoot­ing nine women, killing six, in the first room before mov­ing through cor­ridors, the cafet­eria and another classroom all while tar­get­ing more women. The attack las­ted just under 20 minutes, killing eight more women before the 25-year-old turned the gun on him­self.

Lépine blamed uniden­ti­fied women for sev­eral fail­ures in his life and said he would kill some women in revenge.

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/medicine-hat-news/20251204/281857239850230

The Montreal Massacre is one of the 16 Days of Action Against Violence Against Women https://www.womensgrid.org.uk/?p=28070

Which are the 16 Days and Why? – womensgrid

https://www.womensgrid.org.uk/?p=28070

OP posts:
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FuckRealityBringMeABook · 08/12/2025 06:51

RunMeOver · 07/12/2025 09:17

Also of course it was committed by a white native Canadian, not a brown immigrant. So plenty of people have less motivation to care about it.

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.

FuckRealityBringMeABook · 08/12/2025 06:47

IwantToRetire · 07/12/2025 01:25

I am not sure it was that widely reported in the UK at the time. 36 years ago. And no social media to amplify the story.

And although the 16 Days of Action has been going for sometime, again not something that is part of most people's awareness.

But a shocking reminder.

Show quote history

It was, I remember it being from the news at the time.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 08/12/2025 04:13

Absolutely @moto748e

moto748e · 08/12/2025 00:50

There has been for a few millennia. But beyond that, what's worrying is the direction of travel in the last ten years or so.

Original poster
IwantToRetire · 08/12/2025 00:23

MarieDeGournay · 07/12/2025 12:41

I wasn't arguing with you Ereshkigalangcleg, my post happened to appear where it did.

The motives of the killer were probably complex, blatant woman-hating being the obvious one.

I'd see him as an early example of the men's rights campaigners who see feminism as an attack on the proper, natural order of men-in-charge. Elements of incel as well probably.

He targeted women who had stepped very far outside traditional feminine roles by studying engineering, and he specifically named feminists as his target.

I think that's it.

Prior to 1970s Women's Liberation, even allowing for the Suffragettes, men still thought of themselves as superior.

So without saying it is what we know call incel, it has the same background of men hating women who dont know their place.

so feminism was the enemy for encouraging women to aspire to have the same rights and career opportunities as men already had.

And worse still women aspiring to a job that was very much seen as a traditional male job.

But with all these lone shooters, including the ones male politicians say are terrorists (women are too inferior to warrant being attacked as an act of terrorism) have also some form of mental distress or whatever name you want to give it, that drives them to actually kill.

So although they articulate some arguement or political grievance, the reality is about feeling their male status is being challenged or demonstrating that as man they can kill women who displease them.

And still, society as a whole wont discuss this. That there is a problem with men.

OP posts:
Ereshkigalangcleg · 07/12/2025 12:52

Ah ok thanks Marie. Yes, I imagine it was multi factorial.

MarieDeGournay · 07/12/2025 12:41

I wasn't arguing with you Ereshkigalangcleg, my post happened to appear where it did.

The motives of the killer were probably complex, blatant woman-hating being the obvious one.

I'd see him as an early example of the men's rights campaigners who see feminism as an attack on the proper, natural order of men-in-charge. Elements of incel as well probably.

He targeted women who had stepped very far outside traditional feminine roles by studying engineering, and he specifically named feminists as his target.

PrizedPickledPopcorn · 07/12/2025 12:40

It’s the same theme, of women having something he can’t have.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 07/12/2025 12:32

I’m responding to the positive claim that he wasn’t an incel type as we understand it today. I don’t think anyone can definitively rule that out, which doesn’t have any bearing on the misogyny or the violence of what happened in 1989, and I’m a bit surprised that that’s being implied tbh. It’s certainly not what I’m saying.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 07/12/2025 12:26

Yes, I know that. I’m not sure it rules out other motives. I’m not trying to diminish the misogyny and killing in any way, just being realistic about what motivates men.

MarieDeGournay · 07/12/2025 12:23

Hatred of feminism was the killer's motivation, he said so in his suicide note.

Lépine blamed feminists for ruining his life and claimed women wanted the privileges of men.
'It was him giving us his reasons for killing', said Pelletier.
'He was aiming at feminists in the sense that he was aiming at the progress that had happened in society through women.'
Polytechnique murderer Marc Lépine had her on his kill list. She never forgot the moment she found out | Radio-Canada.ca

Ereshkigalangcleg · 07/12/2025 12:18

Sexual motivations are often key even when they don’t appear to be.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 07/12/2025 12:17

ErrolTheDragon · 07/12/2025 09:25

I don’t think that’s a necessary condition for misogynistic violence, do you?Confused It doesn’t seem to have been the prime motivation in this case.

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It’s not a necessary condition, no, but it does seem to often be a factor, which I personally find relevant. It was just a question 🙄 I take it you don’t actually know either way though, so as the pp said it may well be an early “incel” incident. It’s a pattern.

ErrolTheDragon · 07/12/2025 12:11

snowbear22 · 07/12/2025 12:05

Marc Lépine was born as Gamil Rodrigue Liass Gharbi and legally changed his name when he was 14 years old.
He took on his mother's pre-marital surname, Lépine, due to a profound hatred of his abusive, Algerian father.

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Yes.
unfortunately he didn’t reject his father’s abusive misogyny.

snowbear22 · 07/12/2025 12:05

ErrolTheDragon · 07/12/2025 09:33

His father was Algerian. Canada has many people of mixed heritage, I’m not sure the dynamics are quite the same there, and at that point in time (just before the first Gulf War)as they might be now.

Show quote history

Marc Lépine was born as Gamil Rodrigue Liass Gharbi and legally changed his name when he was 14 years old.
He took on his mother's pre-marital surname, Lépine, due to a profound hatred of his abusive, Algerian father.

MarieDeGournay · 07/12/2025 11:59

Thank you for reminding us of this anti-feminist, anti-women massacre, OP, and thank you to ErrolTheDragon for naming the 14.

The killer had a list of many more feminists he wanted to kill but did have enough time.

One of the many women who were injured but not fatally was a woman who later became a Liberal MP, and a campaigner for gun control; I don't know if she also became an equally energetic campaigner against male violence against women, and supporter of women's rights in contemporary Canada...

But I accept that as a survivor of such a horrific massacre, she has the right to determine for herself where she puts her campaigning energy.

His motive for the killing isn't in doubt: he shouted 'I hate feminists'.

ErrolTheDragon · 07/12/2025 09:33

RunMeOver · 07/12/2025 09:17

Also of course it was committed by a white native Canadian, not a brown immigrant. So plenty of people have less motivation to care about it.

Show quote history

His father was Algerian. Canada has many people of mixed heritage, I’m not sure the dynamics are quite the same there, and at that point in time (just before the first Gulf War)as they might be now.

ErrolTheDragon · 07/12/2025 09:25

Ereshkigalangcleg · 07/12/2025 09:16

Do we know he wasn’t a sexual inadequate?

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I don’t think that’s a necessary condition for misogynistic violence, do you?Confused It doesn’t seem to have been the prime motivation in this case.

RunMeOver · 07/12/2025 09:17

IwantToRetire · 07/12/2025 01:25

I am not sure it was that widely reported in the UK at the time. 36 years ago. And no social media to amplify the story.

And although the 16 Days of Action has been going for sometime, again not something that is part of most people's awareness.

But a shocking reminder.

Show quote history

Also of course it was committed by a white native Canadian, not a brown immigrant. So plenty of people have less motivation to care about it.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 07/12/2025 09:16

ErrolTheDragon · 07/12/2025 09:01

It wasn’t ‘incel’ exactly - that’s about sexual inadequacy and entitlement. But related - men treating women as not fully human, definitely not equal things, and blaming women for their own failures.

Show quote history

Do we know he wasn’t a sexual inadequate?

ErrolTheDragon · 07/12/2025 09:16
  • Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968; aged 21), civil engineering student
  • Hélène Colgan (born 1966; aged 23), mechanical engineering student
  • Nathalie Croteau (born 1966; aged 23), mechanical engineering student
  • Barbara Daigneault (born 1967; aged 22), mechanical engineering student
  • Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968; aged 21), chemical engineering student
  • Maud Haviernick (born 1960; aged 29), materials engineering student
  • Maryse Laganière (born 1964; aged 25), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department
  • Maryse Leclair (born 1966; aged 23), materials engineering student
  • Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967; aged 22), mechanical engineering student
  • Sonia Pelletier (born 1961; aged 28), mechanical engineering student
  • Michèle Richard (born 1968; aged 21), materials engineering student
  • Annie St-Arneault (born 1966; aged 23), mechanical engineering student
  • Annie Turcotte (born 1969; aged 20), materials engineering student
  • Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958; aged 31), nursing student
Flowers

10 other women and 4 men injured.

SuePerfluous · 07/12/2025 09:15

Horrific. We mustn't forget. Thank you for the thread.

Helleofabore · 07/12/2025 09:13

It is good to remember those killed and injured in this attack. Thank you for the reminder.

ErrolTheDragon · 07/12/2025 09:01

PrizedPickledPopcorn · 07/12/2025 08:16

I learned about this appalling crime here a few years ago. Must be one of the earliest incel crimes, I would think.

It wasn’t ‘incel’ exactly - that’s about sexual inadequacy and entitlement. But related - men treating women as not fully human, definitely not equal things, and blaming women for their own failures.

fabricstash · 07/12/2025 08:27

❤️