While a community mourns the loss of Caroline Nosal and reaches for answers, it is too easy to brand her alleged murderer as “crazy” and move on. The fact is the perpetrator felt entitled to a romantic relationship with Caroline and when he did not get what he wanted, he felt entitled to kill her. Violence against women is an epidemic in America, even in this progressive city.
 
Because we are a thoughtful citizenry it is imperative that we dig deeper and understand why this happened. Writing off a tragedy like this one as the result solely as a mental health issue is offensive to anyone who has ever struggled with this issue, makes a false generalization (which makes nobody safer), and fails to address the realities of gender-based violence.
 
I call on our community to recognize this tragedy as an instance of violence against women and to confront what that says about our community. Somehow in Madison in 2016, a woman’s safety, body, and life still don’t mean as much as a man’s. Changing this aspect of our community and preventing future tragedies requires all of us to think critically about what we each do to perpetuate this social norm. It requires us to recognize gender-based crimes for what they are and to not simply toss the mental health issue element around in our conversations as though it is the sole answer. It requires, in short, having uncomfortable but needed community and national conversations and to grow and evolve.
 
We are a community which is strong enough to recognize its weaknesses - and to change them.