Weeknote 15: When Wellbeing Kills: The Tragic Knife Attack in a Children's Yoga Class

*Starkeeper Morton is CEO aka Keeper of The Haven in Stonehaven amongst many other things

I began my day looking at the faces of eight open, curious, and brave girls, sitting on their yoga mats, all looking forward to their yoga class, valuing their self-care and wellbeing. At the same time, I knew that the day before, in the same country, girls of a similar age had begun their day in the exact same way and were now either traumatised, in the hospital, or dead.

Today is a hard day to be a kids' yoga teacher, and I have a lot of big feelings around this, many questions and no answers.?

I see, hear, and experience misogyny every day ESPECIALLY around wellbeing and the work I do. I have no doubt you do too. Whether or not you are aware of it is another story. Whether or not we do anything about it is another matter.

Why did the knife-man specifically target a kids' class? Why a yoga class? Why predominantly a class of girls and women? Why are the perpetrators always male?

In the past 5 years violence against women and girls has increased by 37% and been declared a NATIONAL EMERGENCY. Read more here.

Earlier this month, the council proposed that the newly revamped leisure center be renamed the "Stonehaven Wellbeing Center." The local online paper reported, "This was not greeted with enthusiasm."

At first, the wellbeing suggestion was flippantly made fun of by one male community councillor:

"I don’t think wellbeing is going to cut it. You have a pool, you have a gym. I’m going there because I want to stop eating yum-yums and get fit."

And then by another male community councillor:

"If I was in a town and I pulled up information and I saw the name wellbeing, I would think that was yoga and that is not for me."

It was agreed the name would remain the same.

No opinion from a female. Or girls in the community. No other opinions sought at all. No pushback from the other community councillors or the council itself. And that was the decision made from two white males' perspectives.

This tragedy forces us to confront the uncomfortable reality of the tolerated misogyny that women and girls face, even in spaces meant for peace and wellbeing. One is an example of misogyny microaggression and another misogyny macroaggression - to the EXTREME.

We must ask ourselves why society allows misogyny to persist - no matter how small or inconsequential and what we can do to create safer environments for everyone. It’s not just about renaming a leisure center; it’s about fundamentally changing the way we think about and value wellbeing, safety, and equality.