"You're all a bunch of feminists"

categorization and the politics of terror in the montreal massacre

Peter Eglin

Stephen Hester

pp. 253-272

in: Human Studies 22, 1999.

Abstract

Following Sacks's model membership categorization analysis (MCA) of a suicidal person's conclusion 'I have no one to turn to,' the paper examines in MCA terms a political actor's twin conclusions that murder-suicide is a rational course of action. The case in question is the killer's reasoning in the Montreal Massacre as revealed in his reported announcement at the scene (notably 'You're all a bunch of feminists. I hate feminists') and recovered suicide letter (for example, 'For why persevere to exist if it is only to please the government').