A Letter from India: Gender Violence in West Bengal

Abstract

Gender violence is a significant problem in West Bengal. This paper seeks to establish causal linkages between crimes against women (especially since the 1990s) and the changes that Bengali bhadralokian society has undergone during this decade, impacted by globalization and liberalization in terms of culture root paradigms, world views and the philosophy of everyday life. It is argued that the construct of the feminine self as iconized within the perspectives of the dominant male discourse has more often than not been subverted by the compulsions and tensions of transition, which have transcended socio-economic cultural identities in order to establish a different regime, of gender negotiation underscored by violence. Law-and-order maintenance agencies of the state have also contributed to the problematic so far as authorized repression is concerned.