Militarism, Occupation and the New Women’s Resistance

Abstract

This chapter explores women’s subjective experience of a military occupation. Women suffer victimising experiences and find alternative expressions for political dissent without internalising such victimisation. The chapter further unravels the relational agency of young writers, which directly speaks to the feminist notions of liberation. A stronger reassertion of resistance politics after 2008 and a violent state response reinforced many patriarchal beliefs. The public discussion in Kashmir was refocussing on sexual violence as a war tactic. It was argued that street protests were unsafe for women. Although, sexual violence is routinely perpetrated against Kashmiri men too, the bidding was to curtail the supposed extra freedom of women. The protesters adopted new strategies in the wake of escalating violence in the streets. A new generation of Kashmiri women across class, caste, and regional barriers expressed the anguish of living through military occupation.