That wrestler that died

Last night, I decided to check out the LJ Pics generator and saw a few RIPs to a wrestler - Chris Ben-something or other. I figured he'd had a heart attack or something. But today, I learned that he had some kind of emotional issues, and actually killed his wife and kid and then took himself out. Why don't these men just kill themselves first? Why do they need to take their adult female partners out with them?

I'll tell you why - its because for thousands of years, society has taught men that their wives are their property, and not full, independent human beings. Yes, I think this guy was mentally disturbed, but his wife wasn't [necessarily]. But now she is dead because of HIS mental illness. He could have just killed himself, but because he assumed that his wife was a part of him, he had to kill her too. Of course, the other possibility is that he was abusive in the first place, and killed her accidentally, then saw what he did and killed himself to avoid accountability (granted, he's dead, the ultimate accountability).

On an individual level, all domestic violence is a mental health issue, but when combined with a patriarchal society that teaches men that they hold dominion over the female adults with whom they live, it becomes about sexism.