Force Feeding: Crazy Straw

What happens when refusing to eat becomes an act of political protest, and the government decides it would rather force food into you than let you starve?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan explore the disturbing history of forced feeding, from Irish political prisoners and British suffragettes to psychiatric institutions, prisons, and modern detention centers.

We begin in Ireland with Austin Stack and Thomas Ashe, then travel to Britain where hunger strikes became a powerful weapon for suffragettes like Marion Wallace Dunlop and Mary Leigh. As the protests spread, prison doctors developed increasingly invasive methods of keeping hunger strikers alive, turning medical treatment into something many prisoners described as torture.

We’ll look at stomach tubes, nasal tubes, the medical dangers of forced feeding, the controversial case of Leigh v. Gladstone, and the tragic death of Thomas Ashe. Then we’ll follow the practice into the modern era, including Guantanamo Bay, American prisons, Israel, and other places where governments have continued to confront the question of what happens when a prisoner refuses to eat.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own uncomfortable brand of humor to a subject where the phrase “just eat something” takes on a very different meaning.

With forced feeding, hunger strikes, Irish history, suffragettes, political prisoners, medical history, prison torture, Guantanamo Bay, human rights, dark history, and some of the most disturbing intersections between medicine and punishment, this episode will leave you with a very different view of what it means to refuse a meal.

Mos Def force feeding video

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