It's Still Sexism, And It's Still Disgusting

Hopefully the last post I'll make inspired by my recent cult documentary fascination. 

I stumbled across this documentary that was not really about a cult at all, but rather about a brutal murder that happened in a small town in Northern Italy which may have had some "Satanic" influences, probably popping up in my searches since the word "cult" and "Satanism" go hand in hand for many. However I decided to watch it, since it happened in Italy, it obviously made very big news in its day but I had never heard anything about it. 

So, what is the gist of it?

A nun is brutally murdered in a small town in Northern Italy - oh my, who could do such a terrible thing to such an undeserving victim no less? Turns out it was the absolute last person, or I should say people, you would ever expect. Three teenage girls, bound together by blood ritual, friendship and boredom, decided to savagely kill an innocent woman.

Here is where the documentary turns south in my opinion, into a hatchet job that did not do the Italian justice system any favors whatsoever.

Impossible! Cries the town. Three sweet, innocent little girls could never do such a thing! There must have been a ring leader! There must have been someone pulling the strings! And they decide to blame..... Marylin Manson. I shit you not. How fucking embarassing. 

Disclaimer: I do not like Marylin Manson. I don't particularly enjoy his music, and while I understand it was done for publicity purposes I still think you cross a line into sick when you name yourself after Charles Manson. However I have seen him in interviews before: he's a smart guy, he knows his stuff and I can respect that he fills a niche for the disenfranchised youth he represents. Having said all that, he is an entertainer. He writes songs, and however twisted some of his lyrics may be, no song is going to turn an innocent little girl into a cold hearted psychopathic murderer.

Yes Carabinieri, there probably was a ring leader in that trio as there usually is in cases like this, and you want to know who it probably was? One of the fucking teenagers. Probably not the one who expresses remorse in the end, but it almost certainly was one of them. True, there are far fewer sociopaths among women than there are among men, but that does not mean that they do not exist, and I'd bet my lunch money one of those three girls was a narcissistic sociopath. 

It profoundly disgusted and embarrassed me that the justice system in my own country could be so obtuse as to not conisder this, but desperately scrambled to find some outside, patriarchal source to blame. If it had been three Tunisian teenage boys to commit the murder, would they ever have considered blaming their actions on the music they listened to?! Fuck no. And I'll tell you something else, they damned well wouldn't have gotten a meagre 8 year prison sentence for something so heinous. 

Sexism is sexism is sexism, no matter how you slice it, it disgusts me and it needs to be addressed. I wish my country was better than this, and I can only hope we're steadily improving.