Remembrance
Dec. 6th, 2007 01:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyToday is National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada. It marks the anniversary of the Montréal massacre at École Polytechnique in 1989.
These are the women that Marc Lepine murdered as he shouted, "I hate feminists":
Geneviève Bergeron, 21
Hélène Colgan, 23
Nathalie Croteau, 23
Barbara Daigneault, 22
Anne-Marie Edward, 21
Maud Haviernick, 29
Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31
Maryse Leclair, 23
Annie St.-Arneault, 23
Michèle Richard, 21
Maryse Laganière, 25
Anne-Marie Lemay, 22
Sonia Pelletier, 28
Annie Turcotte, aged 21
It's important to remember the lives and deaths of these women. But because I'm one of those uppity feminists, I'd also like to point out that the official National Day of Remembrance frames violence against women in a particular way that does not reflect the experience of most women. Most violence against women is not so dramatic as a deranged misogynist marching into a university and gunning down students. Most violence against women is silenced. It happens in the home, or in distant countries where female civilians are the victims of soldiers who bomb them from the safety of high tech airplanes. It happens in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where women are raped for the coltan in your cellphones and computers. It happens in Nicaragua, where women die because abortion is illegal. It happens in prisons, where 75% of women prisoners are jailed for minor offenses, a third of which are drug-related, where if they are jailed for violent offensives, it is usually against a partner who was previously abusive, and where First Nations women are disproportionately incarcerated.
And it happens in your own backyard, of course. Ten years ago, I worked in a shelter for abused women and children. One night, we got a call from a terrified woman. She wanted to leave her husband. She feared for her life. The worker told her how to get to the shelter and the services that were available for her, but the woman didn't leave immediately. Shortly after, she was dead, killed by the man she'd married.
Remember the women at École Polytechnique. But don't forget the violence done to so many others around the world every day.
Crossposted to PunkAssBlog.
These are the women that Marc Lepine murdered as he shouted, "I hate feminists":
Geneviève Bergeron, 21
Hélène Colgan, 23
Nathalie Croteau, 23
Barbara Daigneault, 22
Anne-Marie Edward, 21
Maud Haviernick, 29
Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31
Maryse Leclair, 23
Annie St.-Arneault, 23
Michèle Richard, 21
Maryse Laganière, 25
Anne-Marie Lemay, 22
Sonia Pelletier, 28
Annie Turcotte, aged 21
It's important to remember the lives and deaths of these women. But because I'm one of those uppity feminists, I'd also like to point out that the official National Day of Remembrance frames violence against women in a particular way that does not reflect the experience of most women. Most violence against women is not so dramatic as a deranged misogynist marching into a university and gunning down students. Most violence against women is silenced. It happens in the home, or in distant countries where female civilians are the victims of soldiers who bomb them from the safety of high tech airplanes. It happens in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where women are raped for the coltan in your cellphones and computers. It happens in Nicaragua, where women die because abortion is illegal. It happens in prisons, where 75% of women prisoners are jailed for minor offenses, a third of which are drug-related, where if they are jailed for violent offensives, it is usually against a partner who was previously abusive, and where First Nations women are disproportionately incarcerated.
And it happens in your own backyard, of course. Ten years ago, I worked in a shelter for abused women and children. One night, we got a call from a terrified woman. She wanted to leave her husband. She feared for her life. The worker told her how to get to the shelter and the services that were available for her, but the woman didn't leave immediately. Shortly after, she was dead, killed by the man she'd married.
Remember the women at École Polytechnique. But don't forget the violence done to so many others around the world every day.
Crossposted to PunkAssBlog.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 07:26 pm (UTC)I don't know if you're a fan of feministing.com, but they had a post about it. Yours is a hundred times more worth reading, but theirs will probably get a lot more readers; maybe you could comment there or something.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 07:43 pm (UTC)Very thought provoking.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 12:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-07 02:03 am (UTC)crossposting
Date: 2007-12-07 01:38 am (UTC)Let me know if you're interested in getting a user account there.
Which reminds me I really should make some posts there myself.
Re: crossposting
Date: 2007-12-07 02:03 am (UTC)