March 14, 2016




NEVER BREAK MY SILENCE? by Aruni Samarakoon – University of Agder, Norway


The feminist movement of Sri Lanka has brought public attention on the issues of women. Sri Lanka being a signatory of many international conventions to protect rights of women, men and children as a result of the pressure of feminist movement in Sri Lanka. However, the main criticism of Sri Lankan feminist movement is that it is a process of elite women rather than a participative process of urban and rural women. This criticism has been challenged on certain extent by the popular politics and social development of Sri Lanka that have given few opportunities for urban and rural women to speak up for women’s rights and link to feminist movement. But the feminist movement of Sri Lanka is not completely removed elite politics and the power of social and financial capital. The feminist movement of Sri Lanka at this movement is individualistic and self-centred with personal politics.  With this politics the feminist movement of Sri Lanka is still looking forward to establish the institutions with deliberative democracy and the rational communication with the bottom-up approach of women and men.

The question is who should part of deliberative democracy? The posts shared on social media urged the death penalty for the murder of four years old Seya who has been raped and killed. The country with majoritarian democracy, the political institutions of Sri Lanka are possible to follow the popular trend of society than address the ‘real issue’ of child abuse. How many child abuses has been taken in Sri Lanka last year. How many rules and new policies have been passed to eliminate the root cause of child abuse? How many children have abused behind the thick cultural curtain of Sri Lanka? Who speak about it and where is the feminist movement of Sri Lanka?

Stop child abuse is not a political slog but a real need of everyday life. Sri Lankan society is speechless on abuse, violence happing in everyday life. Abuse, violence in everyday life is very normal to many Sri Lankans. This normalcy has kept the feminist movement of Sri Lanka silence on the abuse and violence of everyday life. Ethnic and religious factors influence in hiding and keeping low voice against violence in everyday life. Twenty seven years old ex LTTE female combatants, Isaipriya has been raped and killed just end of the civil war of Sri Lanka. Who has voice for Isaipriay? She is a woman and she has right to free from any form of violence. Although she is a Tiger, she is a human that born in Tamil community. Her ethnicity should not be a matter to claim the justice for her death.

The tragedies of history should never be repeated . The feminist movement of Sri Lanka has responsibility of taking the everyday issues of women, men and children to public and government attention. Ethnicity, religion, caste, class and race, individual charisma should not a part of feminist movement in Sri Lanka. The feminist movement of Sri Lanka could have different colours but one voice of proclaiming liberty, rights and freedom for all human in general and female human in particular.

THE SEXUAL PSYCHOPATHS by Audriana Ramachandra - Colombo Institute of Research and Psychology, Sri Lanka

Psychopathy is clinically related to criminal or sexual brutality and it is also commonly known as psychopath, however according to DSM iv criteria the name was changed to ‘’Antisocial Personality Disorder’’. Hanson, Karl and Kelly (2005) stated mostly 90 percent…
Go to Article