A sixteen year old girl is dead

Because she had the audacity to refuse an invitation to prom. Maren Sanchez is dead, murdered by a sixteen year old classmate who flew into a rage when Sanchez declined to be his date.

Maren Sanchez is dead, and multiple media outlets have the goddamn audacity to call this a “dispute” over prom, as if Sanchez’s refusal makes her somehow culpable for the heinous and violent actions of her killer. As if this was a minor hallway tiff. As if this wasn’t about some young man thinking, “if I can’t have her, nobody can.” As if she was something to be had, as if she wasn’t a vibrant young woman with friends, family, dreams, and ambitions.

Maren Sanchez is dead because of male entitlement. Because we teach young men that they deserve the pretty girl as a prize for overcoming their life’s obstacles - we teach them this in just about every movie, book, and television show they consume: women are prizes, not people. Maren Sanchez’s murderer heard her refusal, and felt that stabbing was his best recourse.

Maren Sanchez is dead, and she likely will soon be just another name in the endless list of women murdered by men - while she and her murderer are barely more than children.