Stepping out, speaking up: Resisting sexual violence through narratives

Abstract

This text focuses on the sexual violence that is often meted out to women who engage in political activism. Participants of a 2007 resistance movement in eastern India agitating against government land acquisition were disciplined severely by state-sponsored terror squads. Even though much of the struggle was covered by local and national media, the widespread rape and sexual violence against women was largely neglected. Government-affiliated women's organizations preferred to downplay the horrible experiences of the women. The only act of resistance to this silencing was by the victims who spoke out to independent citizens' groups and human rights activists.

Citation

Moitra Goel, K. (2010), "Stepping out, speaking up: Resisting sexual violence through narratives", Denzin, N.K. (Ed.) Studies in Symbolic Interaction (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 34), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 261-268. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-2396(2010)0000034017