State Violence and Pains of Punishment
Experiences of Incarcerated Women in Belarus in the Aftermath of the 2020 Protests
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11048369 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tatsiana Chulitskaya (0000-0002-3305-7156, Vilnius University, corresponding author), Irmina Matonytė (0000-0001-8747-4716, General Jonas Žemaitis military academy of Lithuania) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 393-409 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Nationalities Papers (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-5992 • E-ISSN: 1465-3923 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/nps.2024.10 |
| OpenAlex | W4392593476 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 28 |
State violence against Belarusian women involved in protest activities after the fraudulent presidential election in 2020 and onward has been unprecedented in the country’s history. Women’s activism has challenged the patriarchal authoritarian regime, which was ill-prepared to deal with women. However, after a short period of adaptation by the repressive institutions, women became their “special clients.” With reference to gender-sensitive academic research, we investigate diverse forms of state violence against women and analyze how they perceive their experiences of incarceration for political reasons. This article is based on available datasets, a series of nine semi-structured interviews, and insights from participant observation. The research reveals that Belarusian women incarcerated for political reasons fall under the “demanding clients” category: they comprehensively challenge the state-sponsored brutal patriarchy and expect the repressive apparatus to meet their specific needs. These women experience multidimensional physical discomfort and psychological pressure, including targeted offensive and dehumanizing elements. At the same time, incarcerated women do not feel ostracized by society; they share the feeling that their “crimes” are supported by civil society, and they endure the pains of punishment as targeted violence from a state fighting cynically for its own survival
Criminology · Political science · Punishment (psychology · State (computer science · Computer Science · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Psychology · Social Psychology
The Prison Boundary
The proliferating pains of imprisonment
Women’s pains of punishment
The gender dimension of the 2020 Belarusian protest
The gendered iconography of the Belarus protest
Depoliticising the people
Penal subjectivities
Proximity, pain, and State punishment
The New `Peculiar Institution
Authoritarian Hegemonic Masculinities and Gendered Rhetorics of the Protest
Belarus
The 2020 Presidential Election in Belarus
Flowers, Tractors, & Telegram
Why the 2020 Belarusian Protests Failed to Oust Lukashenka
Making Sense of a Surprise
The Society of Captives
The Gendered Pains of Life Imprisonment
Not All Cues Are Created Equal
The Spirit of Lukiškės
Class, Agency, and Citizenship in Belarusian Protest
How Feminist is the Belarusian Revolution? Female Agency and Participation in the 2020 Post-Election Protests
Political violence against women in Brazil
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |