South Asian Women Writers Breaking the Tradition of Silence

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• Violence
  • Violence against women
    • (Female) Child sexual abuse
    • Rape
    • Intimate partner violence
  • Consequences of violence against women
• Silence
  • Silence a cultural construction?
  • Agents of silence
  • Speaking and its consequences

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This paper aims to analyze how five South Asian women writers address various forms of male violence against women in their novels. The paper will examine their aesthetic perspective and representation of this issue, and their contribution to breaking the silence on gender-based violence. The main objectives of the paper include:

• To explore how literary texts can mirror social gender-biased reality.
• To examine how these texts approach and illustrate the phenomenon of gender-based violence and its implications.
• To analyze the impact of silence on male violence against women and investigate the causes, mechanisms, and factors that contribute to its propagation.
• To explore the possibilities and consequences of disrupting the silence on male violence.
• To discover the costs and chances of success of such an endeavor.

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

The first chapter provides an overview of the phenomenon of violence, with a focus on violence against women. It explores the various implications and meanings of violence, drawing on insights from different academic disciplines. The chapter also introduces the concept of abuse and its relationship to violence. The second chapter delves into the issue of silence on male violence against women. It investigates the causes, mechanisms, and agents of this silence, exploring how societal norms and cultural constructions contribute to the silencing of victims. The chapter also examines the potential consequences of breaking this silence. The third chapter is dedicated to the literary representations of violence and silence. It analyzes the works of five South Asian women writers, highlighting their aesthetic perspectives and their contributions to breaking the tradition of silence surrounding gender-based violence.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The main keywords and focus topics of the paper include: gender-based violence, silence, South Asian women writers, literary representation, social reality, cultural constructions, and the consequences of speaking out against violence. The paper explores these concepts in the context of South Asian societies and seeks to shed light on the complex interplay between power, gender, and silence.