I am writing in response to an article that was published a couple of weeks ago by Lezlie Lowe regarding a vigil being held at the Spring Garden Road library ("Screaming mad," News, December 3).
Jean Steinberg, despite her claims, did not invent, create or otherwise in any way contribute toward the notion of having a moment of screaming in lieu of a moment of silence. In fact, this widely used and common feminist response to violence is at least 20 years old---I personally participated in such events in the early '90s, while attending university. I will not speak for its history prior to that, but I am sure some research would yield that information.
The scream is not even unique to Halifax---I participated in one in 2006 that was held by V-Day Dalhousie and the Dalhousie Women's Centre. Ms. Steinberg's claims are nothing more than narcicissm veiled as activism and I personally was very offended by her, this article, and the misinformation it promotes. Women who use the pain of others---violence against women---to serve themselves, in my opinion, is worse than the actual violence.
The only thing that made me want to scream was this woman's lies, told on the backs of women eveywhere. Shame on you, Coast. —Andrea MacIntosh, Halifax