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In 2022 there was a horrific case in Ireland where a young teacher in her twenties named Aisling Murphy was murdered by a complete stranger while out jogging. It dominated news headlines for weeks, and all the usual bromides made the rounds on Irish social media: demands to "stop victim blaming" (I don't recall seeing anyone, ever, suggesting that Murphy was in any way to blame for her murder); accusing all Irish men for being complicit in her death, either for making jokes about sexual assault, or for not calling out their male friends when they did so.
Then they arrested and charged a recent Slovakian immigrant with her murder, and the feminists got real quiet about it, of course.
A few months later, there was an even more horrific story in which a mother set her car on fire with her and her two young children inside: she survived, they didn't. This didn't get half the attention as the previous case. I couldn't help but wondering - why is it that I would be castigated if I said "if you're a mother and you've ever said 'ugh, my boys are driving me up the wall, I could just kill them', you're complicit in the deaths of these two children"? Oh no, it's really a mental health issue, actually the system failed her and she felt she had no choice but to attempt a murder-suicide, someone else should have noticed the warning signs beforehand. It's all so tiresome.
Edit: misremembered the perpetrator as Romanian, he was actually Slovakian. Misremembered the sexes of the two children. Amended.
It's just hypoagency at play. Women aren't considered as responsible as men. This is how you end up with craziness like 'No jail for women' and the like.
Also Feminism is one of the big original Motte and Bailey ideologies. 'Feminism is the radical idea that men and women have equal rights' in theory vs being a pro-advocacy group for women in practice.
The entire "women can never be held responsible for anything" side of the feminist movement is one of the things holding back women the most. If you're ideologically committed to the idea that women are helpless childlike victims who are only capable of reacting and adapting to Male Power, the idea that are capable of leadership and independent agency becomes less tenable.
I entirely agree and feel it is a somewhat departure from the feminism of my childhood, when women wanted to be equal to men also in burdens and responsibility. However I dont necessarily think thats what is going on in this case from Ireland. People generally have a stronger reaction to crime that strikes randomly, and its hard to protect oneself against. Someone murdering their own children, while absolutely horrific, is less likely to make your children less safe.
However that is exactly why Im puzzled this case does not get more attention in the UK. You are rarely more vulnerable than when you or your family need hospital care and you have no choice but to 100% trust the providers. The thought that a intensive care nurse is not just grossly negligent, but is deliberately doing harm is something else...
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