Better late then never. A migraine effectively stopped me from going to the vigil and from posting this earlier.
Remember them:
Genevieve Bergeron
Nathalie Croteau
Anne-Marie Edward
Maryse Laganiere
Anne-Marie Lemay
Michele Richard
Annie Turcotte
Helene Colgan
Barbara Daigneault
Maud Haviernick
Maryse LeClair
Sonia Pelletier
Annie St-Arneault
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
The 14 women killed in December 1989 at l'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal. Killed because they had supposedly taken the place of the gunman who claimed that feminists had ruined his life. The women were engineering students: engineering, along with geology and physics are the trifecta of male dominated sciences, i.e. they are the worst sciences for women today, back then I'msure it was just as bad or worse. (Women only made up 20% of the student population, but it was their fault that he wasn't admitted. Yeah, right.)
I wear my white ribbon year round, as it is used in Canada to signify remebrance of this fateful day, and to shine light onto violence against women.
Thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteTL
Didn't we get migraines the same day at least once before? I wonder if it's a weather system causing this one.
ReplyDeleteInto post-migraine insommnia now...
TL
Germaine Greer stated that women have no idea how much men hate them. It gets clearer.
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I have migraine syndrome (many symptoms apart from the head pain) very not good. I think it's where the expression "sick as a dog comes from"
Thank you for posting this....I had just finished my engineering degree 6 months before these women were killed. Back then as women, we made up 3-5% of the population in engineering in the university I attended.
ReplyDeleteI had never considered myself a feminist prior to this incident - looking back, it's hard for me to believe I could have ever been that unaware of some of the issues women are faced with daily. This summer I met a young lady (in the swing dance community) who voiced her opinion that there really is no need for feminists anymore as all our issues have been dealt with.....my response suprised even me (poor thing didn't know what hit her).
Glad to see people are still dedicated to making improvements and changes - also nice to see that these 14 women will not be forgotten, amongst many other women who have sacrificed or been sacrificed.
LJ
TL: we have had migraines on the same day before. Do you think they were really implanted alien fetuses instead of real migraines? *wink wink*
ReplyDeleteWow LJ, I know exactly what you're talking about, it's happened to me before, and in the swing scene with young women who I just assumed would understand that everything is not equal in the world.
And remembering the women, I am amazed when people don't know who they are (generally college students I talk to) and is the reason I refused to write the gunman's name. He deserves nothing.
Thanks for not posting the man's name, that is a very good point. It's the women who should be remembered, and their loved ones.
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