The Issue: The New York Times yesterday reported that "Chief Flinchum said that initially officials thought that the shooting {at Virginia Tech} was "domestic," suggesting that it was between individuals who knew each other, and isolated to the dormitory." This statement makes clear the assumption that "domestic" violence is isolated and not the concern of the larger body of society. In most instances of gendered assumptions on the part of the state it is women and children who pay the *direct* price, here is a case where those gendered assumptions prevented a quicker intervention that may have save many lives.
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