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By Stacy Dunn Brody Morrison attended a Montreal Massacre memorial service for the first time Dec. 4. The 22-year-old UPEI English major said he couldn't help but feel an indescribable guilt about men's violence towards women. Morrison said violence against women directly and indirectly affects him. "Any crime against women is a crime against men," he said. "I think men should realize (violence) can happen to them as well." Andy Robb, a 50-something UPEI professor, agreed with Morrison. "It's encouraging," Robb said, regarding the presence of men at the service."They don't see it as a women's issue." Robb attended the first memorial service at UPEI's Chaplaincy Centre, soon after the gunfire slayings of 14 engineering students, who were killed just because they were female, at L'Ecole Polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989. Like Robb, Prof. Don Mazer participated in the initial service. Mazer said men need to address issues of violence against women because violence is too prevalent in people's lives. This reasoning led him to develop a men's psychology course a few years ago. Bill Ramsay echoed the sentiment that violence against women is a universal issue. "It's not a women's issue when I have a wife and two daughters," Ramsay said, concerning his reason for being there. The 56-year-old husband and father strongly voiced his support for his wife and daughters' rights. "I have all the hopes in the world for them." During the service, workers from the women's shelter, Anderson House, said people must change their perception of why a man abuses a woman. "Why does he do this?" Cindy Banks asked. She challenged everyone to ask this question rather than asking,"Why doesn't the woman leave?" Ruth Freeman, coordinator of UPEI Women's Centre and organizer of the commemorative service, put men's recognition of violence against women into perspective. "Do you have a solution to a problem if you exclude 50 per cent of the population who (predominantly) cause the problem?" Freeman asked before the service. "Since most of the violence is done by men, they need to be part of the solution."
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