<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> ........Catt's Claws # 136 ... December 6, 1996......... ........ A Feminist Newsletter by Irene Stuber......... send comments to istuber@direclnx.net <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> IN MEMORIA On this day, December 6, 1989, at the University of Montreal's school of engineering, fourteen women were murdered in cold blood by a lone gunman. They were all shot because they were women. The killer shouted obscenities during his rampage, "You're all fucking feminists. You're women, you're going to be engineers. I hate feminists, I'm against feminism. That's why I'm here." He wounded nine other women and four men. Mark Lapine, 25, left a suicide note which listed women enemies. Dead: Genevieve Bergeron, age 21 \ Helene Colgan, age 23 / ) Nathalie Croteau, age 23 | / Barbara Daigneault, age 22 _|_ Anne-Marie Edward, age 21 | | Maud Haviernick, age 29 | | Barbara Maria Klucznik, age 31 | | Maryse Laganiere, age 25 | | Maryse Leclair, age 23 | | Anne-Marie Lemay, age 27 | | Sonia Pelletier, age 28 | Michele Richard, age 21 | Annie St-Arneault, age 23 Annie Turcotte, age 21 As you go about your day, your week, your year, never forget these women, never forget that violence against all women is endemic to the world in which we live and the ONLY way we can stop it is by making ourselves strong. We must never rest until we have made EVERY woman STRONG in herself to be safe from the threat and fear of being assaulted, raped, battered, mutilated, or murdered because she is a woman. On this day please remember the women of Montreal, and remember all of the women - including the millions of girl babies who die EVERY YEAR in India, China, and Africa because they are born female. Verily, if we women do not object to these murders, why should the men? . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . "Each year since the massacre, the Montreal (Canada) Men Against Sexism updates the following sad list culled from newspaper reports. Then they distribute it in the community as a poster, take it to journalists, use it to start discussions with men, etc. "This is the final tally this year. We hope that you can put this information to good use, in your community and on the Internet." - Martin Dufresne of the Montreal Men Against Sexism, (514) 563-4428 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patriarchy Kills WOMEN AND CHILDREN MURDERED BY MEN - IN QUEBEC ALONE - SINCE DEC. 6, 1989 (The date of the University of Montreal Massacre) Ada Burns, Aida El-Tomi, Albina Arbour Cloutier, Alexandra McBride, Alexandre Blanchette, Alexandre Riendeau, Alice Benoit, Alice Lepine-Reeves, Aline Dube, Almanda Huard, Aloma Potvin, Amanda Huard, Andrea Gagne, Andrea Halpin, Ann Lyons, Ann Tuyet Nguen, Anna Marden, Anna-Maria Codina-Leva, Anne Brissette, Anne-Marie Edward, Anne-Marie Lemay, Anne-Marie Sharpe, Annick Gravel, Annie Dominique-Normandin, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte, Antoinette Asselin, Ashley Pluviose, Barbara Daigneault, Barbara Maria Kluznick, Bee-Leei Meng, Beatrice Lavoie, Benoit Marceau, Bercuhi Leylekoglu, Berta Dimidjan, Berthe Hardy-Blanchette, Binh-Khieu-Thanh Tran, Bitha Mengo Munsi, Calliope Vournous, Carmen Lagueux, Carmie Jeannot, Carole Bienvenue, Carole Blanchette, Carole Boisvert, Carole Lachapelle, Carole Rajotte, Caroline Guimond, Caroline Landry, Caroline Poulin, Carrie Dolores Mancuso, Catherine Dansereau, Catherine Morin, Cathy Brooks, Cecile Roy, Celine Lemieux-Letendre, Celine Pearson, Celine Saint-Amant, Chantal Briere, Chantal Brochu, Chantal Lavoie, Charlene McFarlane, Chien Chin Wong, Christian Girard, Christiane Asselin, Christiane Maurice, Christina Deladurantaye, Christina Mitriou, Christina Palasanu, Christine Dallaire-Labelle, Christine De Grandmont, Christophe-Emmanuel Robinson, Christine Deslauriers, Christine Leclerc, Christine Tremblay, Cindy Faucher, Claire Lafreniere, Claire Samson, Claude Ferron, Claude Lecours, Claudette Archambault-Perron, Claudette Servant, Colette Julien, Daniel Desrochers, Danielle Andre, Danielle Boucher, Danielle Falardeau, Danielle Laplante, Danielle Provost, Danny Deschamps, Dany Fleurant, David Guillet, David Santerre, Deborah Ann Rothmann, Deilia Tautu, Delima Kopeau, Denise Charron, Denise Martel, Diana Tautu, Diane Francis, Diane Gelinas, Diane Labelle, Diane Paquette, Dolores Lijoi, Donald Desruisseaux, Dora Psyrris, Dorine Mallette, Dylan Lebel, Elaine Cormier, Elise Leboeuf, Elizabeth Bernachez-Larocque, Emmanuella Corso, Eric Arpin, Eric Beauvais, Eric Labonne, Eva Paradis, Evette Brown-Alliman, Fabiana Mitchell, Fanny Kingstone, Florence Bouchard, France Bazinet, France Lacharite, France Legault, France Roy, Francine Gouin, Francine Lefebvre, Francine Turcotte-Berard, Francine Villeneuve, Francois Wistaff, Francoise Barnes-Carriere, Francoise Beaulne, Francoise Lirette, Gaetane Saint-Pierre, Gemma Dessureault, Genevieve Bergeron, Genevieve Prieur-Santerre, Georgette Forget, Germaine Desilets, Germaine Hebert, Gertrude Paquin, Ghislaine Dube, Ghislaine Gagnon, Ginette Boucher, Ginette Dufresne, Ginette Gaudette, Ginette Lamirande-Grenon, Ginette Legault, Ginette Vincent, Guylaine Gent, Guylaine Leblond, Hend El-Tomi, Helene Colgan, Helene Dufresne, Helene Farman, Helene Hurtubise, Helene Langlais, Helene Plante, Hortensia Diaz, Huguette Demers-Paradis, Ian Lambert-Tourangeau, Ida Rudy Kramer, Immaculee-Barbara Pierre, Isabelle Bacon, Isabelle Bolduc, Isabelle Brouillette-Venne, Isabelle Denis, Isabelle Rolin, Isabelle Villeneuve, Jacinthe Dufour, Jacqueline Bernard, Jacqueline Dansereau, Jacqueline Fortin, Jane Grefford, Janette Daigneault, Janie Lefebvre, Jeanet Grenier-Lajoie, Jean-Francois Leclerc, Jean-Marc Harper, Jean-Phillipe Rossignol, Jeanne Francoeur, Jeannine Boissonneault-Durand, Jerome Langlois, Jerome Leclerc, Jessica Charbonneau, Jessica Chiasson-Huard, Jessica Lemire-Gagnon, Joan Williams, Joanna Simolenska-Powada, Joanne Beaudoin, Jocelyn Toope, Jocelyne Bourbonnais-Delorme, Jocelyne Montreuil, Jocelyne Parent, Jocelyne Plante, Jocelyne Poirier, Joëlle Tremblay, Johanne Godbout, Johanne Patenaude, Johanne Plante, Johanne Renaud, Johanne Saint-Eloi, Johanne Valade, Joleil Campeau, Jonathan Beaudin, Jonathan Couture, Jonathan Gilbert, Josee Mathieu, Josee Paquin, Josee Pitre, Josee Tremblay, Josephine Sberna, Josiane Jeannot, Joyce Bond, Judy Clark, Julie Beauvais, Julie Gendron, Julie Labonne, Justin Langlois, Kamalmatie Mulidhar-Janack, Karen Margaret Ann Lewis, Karine Page, Kevin Stringer, Laurina Andrianzen, Leila El-Tomi, Leonie Hanscom-Dube, Lijuan Wang, Linda Borden, Linda Lafrance, Lise Beaudoin, Lise Belisle, Lise Bourgeois, Lise Brisebois, Lise Cossette, Lise Papineau, Lise Raymond, Lise Roberge-Beaudoin, Lise Verreault-Belanger, Lisette Boucher, Lorraine Bourgeois, Lorraine Keogh, Louanna Charles, Louise Campbell, Louise De Prater, Louise Dubreuil, Louise Ellis, Louise Fleury, Louise Heroux, Louise Gagnon, Louise Lessard-Piche, Louise Macenat, Louise Pageau, Louise Plante-Ouellet, Louise Prieur-Santerre, Louisette Laflamme, Lucette Mageau-Casey, Lucie Brousseau, Lucille Morin, Lyanne Breau, Lyne Saint-Onge, Lynn Labonte, Manon Hamel, Manon Leblanc, Manon Paquin, Manon Trottier, Marc Falardeau, Marguerite Paris-Beauregard, Maria Gallo-Dube, Marie Lemay, Marie-Anne Bouffard, Marie-Berthe Marcotte, Marie-Chantale Desjardins, Marie-Claude Cote, Marie-Eve Lariviere, Marie-Jimcia Augustin, Marie-Josee Champagne, Marie-Paule Foucault, Marie-Pier Gauthier, Marielle Michaud, Marielle Villeneuve, Mariette Giroux, Marthe Beaulieu, Martine Auger, Maryse Charron, Maryse Laganiere, Maryse Leclair, Maud Haviernick, Maxime Raymond, Melanie Cabay, Michael Paquette, Michael-Stephane Jolin, Michel Perreault, Michele Richard, Micheline Ange Charest, Micheline Denis, Micheline Dufault, Micheline Gregoire-Denis, Micheline Lacharite, Micheline Lapierre, Micheline Leblanc, Micheline Sevigny, Mikaela Tautu, Mina Brascoupe-Jerome, Ming Hung Ha, Minnie Kenuajuak, Mireille Bruneau, Moira Fortin, Monique Saint-Germain, Monique Stocker, Monique Woods, Mylene Marceau, Myriam Valois, Nancy Guimond, Nancy Martins, Nancy West, Nathalie Beauregard, Nathalie Croteau, Nathalie Dallaire, Nathalie Dumont, Nathalie Jolicoeur, Nathalie Levesque, Nelly Bobishe, Nicky Robinson, Nicole Bloomer, Nicole Desgagnes, Nicole Francois, Nicole Morrissette, Nicole Sassoon, Nicole Tremblay, Nora Guite-Bujold, Nuran Demirel Keser, Odette Dugas, Odette Pinard, Olivette Dupont-Baril, Pascal Poulin, Pascale Lemaire, Patricia Shandroo, Paula Laviolette, Pauline Berthiaume-Bouthillette, Pauline Boulet-Bellegarde, Pierre-Luc Rioux, Pierrette Garceau, Pierrette Pelletier, Pierrette Plouffe-Guenette, Pierrette Vaillancourt-Peladeau, Priscilla Decarie-Rondeau, Reine Lauziere-Page, Rhea Landry-Carufel, Rita Tookalook, Rollande Asselin-Beaucage, Rollande Vincent-Rinfret, Rose Lagace, Rosilda Houle, Samara Foucault, Samuel Shawn, Sandra Gaudet, Santino d'Intino, Sarah Dutil-Coculuzzi, Scott MacCormack, Shanmatie Dookie, Solange Lelievre, Sonia Pelletier, Sonia Raymond, Sophie Gervais, Stephane Guimond, Stephane Houle, Stephanie Pierpaolie, Steven Valentine, Suzanne Bedard, Suzanne Bergeron, Suzanne Grondin, Suzanne Jodoin, Suzanne Lecours, Sylvie Chauvin, Sylvie Lefebvre, Sylvie Mireault, Sylvie Samson, Sylvie Theoret, Sylvie Viau, Talin Leylekoglu, Tara Manning, Teresinha Ng, Theresa Luca, Therese Briere, Therese Labelle, Therese Riel, Tina Laposta, Tobbie Turbide, Tricia Shelen Pillingy, Vicky Michaud, Victoire Cossette, Victoria Debes Ghazal, Virginia Pacuraru, Viviane Simoneau, Widad El-Tomi, Wildrine Julien, Yanne Cornu-Poirier, Yolande Perron, Youlia Ermenlieva, Yvette Charbonneau-Bonneau, Yvette Groleau-Gariepy, Yvette Latulippe, Yvette Martin-Chouinard, Yvonne Duchesne and Yvrose Guilloux, as of December 1, 1996. "Men kill women and children as a proprietary, vengeful and terrorist act. They do so with the support of a sexist society and judicial system. As pro-feminist men, we try to reveal and to end this continuing massacre, which will go on as long as we do not end sexism and sexist violence, along with all of men's alibis for them." --Montreal Men Against Sexism . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . And this list is from a Canadian city which has a much lower crime rate than most American small towns ... Can you imagine what this list would be if it were compiled for YOUR city? New York? Los Angeles? Pittsburgh? Miami? Dallas? May we invite the men who read this list to contact Martin and find out how to start a Men Against Sexism group in your city/town. Don't you think it's time the good men of America stand up and be counted as decent human beings - instead of watching the meanest of you gathering in stadiums to promise each other they will keep their dirty secrets secret while perpetuating the patriarchal right to own, beat, and kill their wives and children because they consider them personal possessions given to them for their use by their sick god. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Suzanne Edward, the mother of Anne-Marie Edward who was one of the 14 young women shot dead in the massacre at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal on Dec. 6, 1989, teamed with other women to get a federal law in Canada that imposes gun control. It took Suzanne Edward and her co-fighters 6 years of hard work to make this law finally become reality. Had this law been in effect six years ago, Anne-Marie and the other 13 women murdered by a gunman in the middle of the day would probably still be with us. NOTE: This is a message from last year and we have not had the opportunity to have it updated. Would some of our Canadian readers let us know? The Dec. 6 tragedy still hasn't gotten a proper commemoration site in Montreal; but in Vancouver a Women's Monument has been designed (by Toronto artist Beth Alber) and will be put into place in Thornton Park, as a national (international?) symbol of remembrance, healing and change. It will consist of 14 benches made of pink granite from Quebec, the province of the massacre, arranged in a 300 foot circle. On each of the benches the 14 women's names will be inscribed (Suzanne Edward also mentioned today that in reports of the massacre it has mostly been the name of the murderer that got remembered instead of the 14 women who have thus been reduced to a merely statistical fact). On the surface of each bench there will be a slight indentation where rainwater will gather symbolizing a pool of tears. Clay tiles with donors' names will surround the benches, affirming the support for a world without violence. Seven of the benches will bear the Monument's dedication in seven different languages which will read as follows: We, their sisters and brothers, remember, and work for a better world. In memory and in grief for all the women who have been murdered by men. For women of all countries, all classes, all ages, all colours. The "murdered by men" part has spurred harsh reactions on the part of conservative men in power; on of them, MP Ted White (Reform Party, North Vancouver) lobbied against the project receiving a grant from the federal Human Resources Development Ministry. He called the monument "tasteless" and "offensive" (The Globe and Mail, November 23, 1994). As a consequence, the grant was denied. The Women's Monument will, despite the financial difficulties it has been facing, eventually be put in place. Any contribution, no matter how small, will be appreciated. If anyone out there on this list feels she/he can make a contribution to this important monument, please direct it to: The Women's Monument, Capilano College Women's Centre, 2055 Purcell Way, North Vancouver, BC, V7J 3H5, Phone: (604) 986-1911, local 2078, fax: (604) 984-1718. (All donations of CAN $ 10 and over will receive a tax receipt). Much of the above was written by Agata Schwartz and I no longer have her address, email or postal. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . For some reason (sic!) the ancient methods of human fertility control has been suppressed, in fact so suppressed that women don't even use logic to combat the absence of such knowledge. We know, for example, that the basic break in woman-to-woman information (oral tradition) occurred during the burning of the witches, i.e., the murdering of women who held knowledge and power, the herbalists, and the midwives during the 14th into the 16th centuries. But the information was recorded in manuscripts and books that were not destroyed - that have always been there and have only been unearthed recently by MEN scholars. What we don't understand is why feminist scholars of today don't attempt to further unearth the old knowledge and disseminate it to modern women. We'll let their past inability to find such knowledge pass by. As John Riddle wrote in an article in Archaeology magazine in 1994, "In ancient times, contrary to what historians have been telling us for the past several centuries, many women practiced birth-control with little interference from religious or political authorities. The knowledge of the plants that allowed them to do so and the lapse of that knowledge by the time of the Renaissance is a story that is only now emerging with clarity." For example, Soranus in the 2nd century A.D. suggested avoiding intercourse during a woman's fertile period, inducing sneezing to expel sperm, wiping out the vagina and drinking something cold. He also suggested smearing the cervix with a mixture of olive oil, astringents, and gums of certain trees such as juniper, cedar or balsam, to close the cervix before intercourse. Many of the things suggested by Soranus for use as vaginal suppositories have been found to have spermicidal by modern chemists. To read more about ancient anti-fertility methods, read John M. Riddle's _Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to Renaissance_, and _The Control of Late Ancient and Medieval Population_ by Josiah C. Russell. We recommend women buying copies of the books to be put away for the just-in-case future. The religious right is aiming at the presidency in the year 2000, the Supreme Court by 2005 so that their concept of male supremacism over women lives and bodies can prevail. ....................... * ........................ Women's rights are young and tender and we must protect them from the plagues of holy hypocrisy and newts. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >>> Send your ideas, comments, and news to istuber@cswnet.com for inclusion in the Catt's Claws feminist newsletter which will be emailed up to three times a week. This is NOT an interactive discussion net but an exchange of information. Catt's Claws is NOT sponsored by any organization. We are accepting *limited* donations (only what can be spared) to help offset the online costs of posting Catt's Claws. Copyright 1996, Irene Stuber. PO Box 6185, Hot Springs, AR 71902, email istuber@direclynx.net<<<< To receive Catt's Claws by email, write and in the body of the note We thank Jennifer Gagliardi for handling the madding subscription list through her listserv.