#NiUnaMenos: Not One Woman Less, Not One More Death!

Abstract

On October 19, hundreds of thousands of women across Argentina [3] braved a torrential downpour to participate in two extraordinary protests: an unprecedented women’s strike and a massive demonstration against femicide (femicidio)—that is, the killing of cis-gender and transwomen because of their gender. Reacting in rage and sorrow to the October 9, 2016, murder of Lucía Pérez [4], a 16-year-old high school student from the city of Mar de Plata who had been abducted, drugged, and gang-raped so viciously that she died of her injuries, Argentine feminist organizers relied on social media to organize the strike and orchestrate the protest in less than a week. Dubbing the demonstrations “Black Wednesday,” the protests were notable not only for their rapid organization and widespread diffusion, but also for their framing of gendered violence as inextricably linked to gendered structures of power— a point that was exemplified in the signs, slogans, and speeches that accompanied the demonstrators on city streets across Argentina. “Not even one woman less! We want us all alive!,” thousands marched and sang, drummed and yelled.