Prof. Myrna Dawson wrote about the importance of labelling misogynistic acts — including killings — for what they are in an April 27 Policy Options article.

A professor in U of G’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Dawson wrote that misogyny — a word not typically used in everyday conversations — is becoming a part of our everyday lives. She wrote about how misogyny has been used to describe the fatal van attack carried out in Toronto earlier this week and noted that police say most of the victims were women.

She also wrote about how the term misogyny has begun to slowly enter mainstream vernacular with increasing attention paid to the killing of women because they are women.

Dawson studies trends and characteristics of lethal and non-lethal violence, especially intimate partner violence, as well as social and legal responses to violent victimization.