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
This article appears in Dec 24-30, 2009.
When I read Andrea’s response in the Coast to “Screaming Mad” entitled “Screaming Shame” my first reaction was to think “I’m glad someone has finally called Jean Steinberg out!”
It’s really great to have some young, active feminist out there, but having someone who is claiming all these ideas and events as their own is a fantastic way to push other young women away from becoming activists themselves… or forces already active feminists out of the community. Radical or otherwise, this is a community that we need to unite and realize that every single individual is just as important as the other.
I know Jean and she is an active and passionate young feminist who holds herself with dignity and grace whenever she speaks…I find the writers comments bitter and jaded and is probably one of the reason many young and not so young feminist shy away from the word – grown up and give space to the young to take the lead…a not so young but also passionate feminist
as well if you read the article then you will note that it is the writer not Jean who implies her ownership of the idea – she was motivated to scream….as I would hope so are we all – and in NS many of the vigils have been silent ones – and even many are the unreported ones….instead of attacking without cause – do something about it and stop trying to tear those who take action down…we get nowhere doing that.
I agree with Susan. The shaming and policing that goes on within the feminist community can make it very difficult and intimidating for young feminists to identify themselves publicly as such and help mobilize others in solidarity against violent oppression.
If someone makes a mistake or is misinterpreted as saying they have created something that they did not originally create, then it’s worth letting them know. We can learn and grow from our mistakes, so it’s important to be aware of them. But forcefully shaming young women who are working to bring much needed attention to misogynistic violence does not encourage us to educate ourselves or expand our awareness. It makes us afraid to speak.
Why would you want to silence young feminists more than they already are? Wouldn’t it be more productive to support young feminists and encourage communication around feminist activist history?