How did force-feeding relate to democracy back then?

Force-feeding was a tactic used against suffragettes in the United Kingdom back then to both punish and weaken their cause for the right to vote. The suffragettes viewed such force-feeding as a violation of their democratic rights, as the British government was denying them the right to exercise their civic obligations. Many suffragettes went on hunger strikes to pressure the government to grant them the right to vote and protest peacefully, and the government responded by forcibly tube-feeding the suffragettes against their will – something that was universally viewed as an abhorrent violation of human rights. The force-feeding of the suffragettes was then seen by both the women fighting and the press covering their story as an example of the government’s decision to deny these women democracy and their right to vote.