contain the potential hazards of housing female terrorists. The most notable of these actions was regimented strip-searching, including internal cavities, of female bodies following all visits or movement within the prison (or externally to court appearances). Strip-searching was generally carried out in the presence of male guards, and neither menstruation nor pregnancy provided exemption. Allegations were consistently made by female prisoners of verbal abuse, including sexually offensive language and psychological ill-treatment with a sexual overlay. The dirty protest further compounded the alienation and extreme regulation of these women, and resulted in women being almost perpetually confined to their cells and inhabiting highly unsanitary conditions for long periods of time. The level of abuse between prisoner guards and female prisoners was intense and protracted as a result of this protest. It also catapulted these paramilitary females into the public domain, further exacerbating their status as aberrational and deviant females, a discourse not unlike the contemporary narratives that attach to female suicide bombers. Notably, the feminist movement in Ireland and the United Kingdom struggled to adequately and consensually address the paramilitary prison experience and context. The broader and deeper issues of territory, security, and sovereignty overshadowed all efforts to address the sexual violence and harm the female prisoners were subjected to, and froze the feminist response to one of fracture and dissonance. Counter-insurgency measures should not only be understood as a formal legal lexicon, but as foundational to a broad range of practices adopted by the state and its institutions to address politically nonconformist behavior. The prison was an essential site for such measures, and cemented a triangle of control, agency, and ideology with paramilitary women prisoners central in every sphere. Notably, while the range of sex-based abuses that women paramilitaries experienced was intense, and might
contain the potential hazards of housing female terrorists. The most notable of these actions was regimented strip-searching, including internal cavities, of female bodies following all visits or movement within the prison (or externally to court appearances). Strip-searching was generally carried out in the presence of male guards, and neither menstruation nor pregnancy provided exemption. Allegations were consistently made by female prisoners of verbal abuse, including sexually offensive language and psychological ill-treatment with a sexual overlay. The dirty protest further compounded the alienation and extreme regulation of these women, and resulted in women being almost perpetually confined to their cells and inhabiting highly unsanitary conditions for long periods of time. The level of abuse between prisoner guards and female prisoners was intense and protracted as a result of this protest. It also catapulted these paramilitary females into the public domain, further exacerbating their status as aberrational and deviant females, a discourse not unlike the contemporary narratives that attach to female suicide bombers. Notably, the feminist movement in Ireland and the United Kingdom struggled to adequately and consensually address the paramilitary prison experience and context. The broader and deeper issues of territory, security, and sovereignty overshadowed all efforts to address the sexual violence and harm the female prisoners were subjected to, and froze the feminist response to one of fracture and dissonance. Counter-insurgency measures should not only be understood as a formal legal lexicon, but as foundational to a broad range of practices adopted by the state and its institutions to address politically nonconformist behavior. The prison was an essential site for such measures, and cemented a triangle of control, agency, and ideology with paramilitary women prisoners central in every sphere. Notably, while the range of sex-based abuses that women paramilitaries experienced was intense, and might
niaolain-situatingwomenincounter-terrorismdiscourses.docx