Category: Suicide Bombing

Wafa Idris was the first Palestinian female suicide bomber who was twenty-seven when she killed herself along with two Israelis in Jerusalem, 2002. She had strapped on ten kilograms of explosives to her body, without any questions. This act of terror signified the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis increasing to new extents, leaving both the Arabic speaking world, and the West in immense shock. Many other women such as Dalel el Moughrabi and Leila Khaled participated greatly in defense and hijacking operations. An example of this is the TWA Flight 840 hijacking in 1969 in addition to the hijacking in Dawson’s field in Jordan. Female suicide bombings can be traced back to the 1980s with the Tamil Tigers and Hezbollah using the female body as a canvas for political articulation (Bloom, 2007). The discourse to Idris’s suicide bombing contrast over various geographies and narrators. Signifiers such as ‘hero, martyr, monster and terrorist,’ were used across media platforms globally which created various meanings of regressive and progressive acts against gender based violence (Awadat, 2002). With the discourse theory framework, it can be fathomed how the signified, or the mental picture created by the signifiers was that of an ‘ideological crises’ in the stereotypes constructed of women in military roles, traditional gender settings and religion. Reem el Riyashi was the first female suicide bomber employed by Hamas in 2004 despite the former spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, being against employment of women. This indicates a change in principles and values which can be heavily debated in a religious, pragmatic and moral way. It also signifies a change in discourse of women as militia within the Arabic speaking world (Bloom, 2007).

‘It is a woman who teaches you today a lesson in heroism, who teaches you the meaning of Jihad, and the way to die a martyr’s death. It is a woman who has shocked the enemy, with her thin, mea- ger, and weak body ….It is a woman who blew herself up, and with her exploded all the myths about women’s weakness, submissiveness, and enslavement . . . . It is a woman who has now proven that the meaning of [women’s] liberation is the liberation of the body from the trials and tribulations of this world . . . and the ac- ceptance of death with a powerful, cour- ageous embrace.’ – Al-Sha’ab (Egypt), February 1, 2002 (Bloom, 2007)

Through a study conducted by Naaman in 2007, it is evident that in Arab media, shaheeda (martyr)is a term that has been used various times for the purpose of empowering individuals to avoid the burdened eccentricity of heteronormative roles, distancing actions from gendered politics and gendered based violence. Film representations of terrorism in Palestine and Israel present acts of terror as complexed in nature, specifically when representing women in such terror roles (Sharoni, 1995). Though this discourse may threaten pre-existing gender stereotypes and destabilise them in political settings, it is important to note that double standards don’t just disappear with such representation of martyrdom (Naaman, 2007). This is evident as even though women have been given participatory ‘importance,’ within suicide operations, their families only receive an allowance of 200 dollars, which is half of what the male martyrs receive. The aftereffects of female suicide bombings are never shown in Western or Arab media, thus female suicide bombing operations construct a myth of gender empowerment and progression (Naaman, 2007).

Suicide bombings are additionally seen as performative acts of terror due to the woman not being expected to be aggressive or violent (Naaman, 2007). The act then becomes a publicity stunt which enhances media traction and constructs a renewed image of fear and aggression. Ayat Akhra is an example of this as her suicide bombing resulted in immense media traction, Applebaum writing; “Not only was she not male, she was not overtly religious, not estranged from her family, not openly associated with any radical groups. She can hardly be described as a woman without a future. She was young, she was a good student, and she was engaged to be married” (Awadat, 2002).

An example of this is Andaleeb Takatkeh’s video testimony which was aired in mostly all Arabic satellite television channels, right before her suicide bombing. In her testimony she wore a black-and-white checked kuffiyeh around her arms, along with a white headscarf. The kuffiyeh had an illustration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque (figure 1). She also read from a pre-written paper; ‘I’ve chosen to say with my body what Arab leaders have failed to say…. My body is a barrel of gunpowder that burns the enemy’ (Hendawi, 2002). With this discourse, it is presumable that the bodies of women are merely canvas’ for terrorist organisations to articulate their overall political and nationalistic agendas, evident with the kuffiyeh having no relation to gender, though gender becomes a tokenistic tactic used to ‘empower’ women into participating in such acts of terror, inflicting torture upon their bodies. They are told that their importance is in death, in a myth rather than in being alive, as such employing female suicide bombers is regressive. This presumption can be supported by how terrorists organisations are always lead by men (such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda), major agreements and meetings are further afforded to men, lacking any female participation. They make agreements which affect women and children, thinking of such groups to be barbaric and mindless, unable to think or act for themselves (Sharoni, 1995: 14-21 and 23).

Akhras’ choice of discourse in the video recording instigated that the male leaders of the Arabic-speaking world must take action and stand up for Palestinian women who are having to fight instead of taking on maternal roles (Sharoni, 1995). Her discourse has been used since the 1930s against the fight of the Israeli apartheidic control. She states; ‘I say to the Arab leaders, Stop sleeping. Stop failing to fulfill your duty (Hasso ,2005). Shame on the Arab armies who are sitting and watching the girls of Palestine fighting while they are asleep. It is intifada until victory’ (Hammer, 2002; Hazboun, 2002; Rubin, 2002). Therefore, though female suicide bombers break the stereotype of women only taking maternal roles, they are still oppressed in the essence that their lives are only significant as myths, and their purpose is more significant in their death. All women that conducted suicide bombings in the second intifada believed that sacrifice was something that they owed to each other as empowerment and breaking sexualised roles, and for their country (Berko,2012).

Hamas activists such as Dareen Abu ‘Aisheh, opposed Yassin’s former position on women participating in militia, he believed that the woman’s role was to take care of her male relatives and household chores. She justified her suicide bombing as being inspired and empowered by Wafa Idris, instead of merely inflicting terror upon innocent people in order to articulate nationalistic or religious messages. In her video-tape justification of her attack in February of 2002, she stated that women’s roles ‘will not only be confined to weeping over a son, brother, or husband…’ (Awadat, 2002; Hammer, 2002; IslamOnline, 2002; Williams, 2002b).

She used her body as an abjection to articulate that women can be just as destructive and destabilising to political worlds as men can be. However, personally I do not think that suicide bombings result in destabilising the patriarchy, as they can influence more women to think of their worth as higher when they are dead, rather than alive. Khaled is a Palestinian activist, feminist and fighter who comments; “When the religious leaders say that women who make those actions are finally equal to men, I have a problem. Everyone is equal in death—rich, poor, Arab, Jew, Christian, we are all equal. I would rather see women equal to men in life” (Berko,2012). I agree with this stance, as previously mentioned, men are the ones who lead such organisations, conduct such acts and create propaganda to include more women for better publicity (Hasso ,2005).

‘Aisheh additionally stated; “Let Sharon the coward know that every Palestinian woman will give birth to an army of martyrs,” further signifying that their inherent role is to give birth to both males and females whose lives will matter more in their death than they ever did alive (Hasso ,2005). This indicates that inequality between gender is not diminishable when alive, in every-day society, presenting suicide bombings as regressive acts that are rendered useless in destabilising gender-based politics (Sharoni, 1995). Furtheremore, Abu ‘Aisheh’s post-moterm snapshots were emanated throughout Arab media and news channels, her body was constructed as an abject but physical and literal symbol of patriarchy and violence (Berko,2012). She was similarly wearing a white head-scarf with images of the Palestinian flag on her clothing. Additionally she had a poster with an image of the

The previous paper discussed whether women taking front-line roles in terrorist organisations is a form of progression against gender-based violence, or a form of regression as it perpetuates the oppression of women by terrorist groups. I hypothesised that terrorist groups capitalise on gender inequalities, making women canvas’ for the articulation of their personal political or religious agendas. I additionally concluded that most women are coerced into participating in terrorist organisations due to political or economic reasons and propaganda emanated by terrorist groups themselves. Thus, using women as suicide bombers and giving them more participatory roles, is in actuality, a form of regression.

This paper will either prove or disprove the above-mentioned hypothesis by focusing on gender dynamics within terrorist organisations who affect Palestine, specifically having a focal point on women suicide bombers and their experiences, through discourse analysis.

Discourse Theory

Discourse theory focuses on the dynamics of power through the use of signifiers and the signified. It can be understood that words create meanings and representations in the political world, which emanate specific ideologies (Hasso ,2005).

The political and social context of Palestinian women suicide bombers

Gender-based violence can subvert prevailing societal truths and discourses whilst constructing renewed ones. This can be applied to suicide bombers who voluntarily sacrifice their life in order to seek political justice, for whatever reason. Frances (2005, p.1), states how ‘crucial to the political and discursive significance of the suicide bombers/martyrs was that these were the bodies and blood of women, dramatically made relevant in ways that challenged the sexual and feminized forms usually associated with menstruation, childbirth, heteronormativity, maternal sacrifice, and the violated or raped woman (Awadat, 2002).’ As such, by normalising women suicide bombers as martyrs within political discourse, the line between regression and progression against gender-based violence becomes complicatedly blurred. Additionally, such women challenge what it means to be a female in their respective communities. They threaten the ‘normative gender-sexual grid,’ through aggression and violence (Bloom, 2007).

Palestinian women militants remarkably object the apartheidic occupation by the Israeli military of their land and oppression of their population, specifically the blockades imposed onto the Gaza strip by Israeli forces (Awadat, 2002). Furthermore, they challenge the gender-based stereotypes of the Israeli peoples, specifically that of the Palestinian male as a security threat and not females as threats to their imposed racial hierarchy (Bloom, 2007). In addition to this, Palestinian women militants contributed to defense alongside men, therefore they destabilise the stereotype of men protecting the women and women being the domestic nurturers or ‘home bodies’ of society (Bloom, 2007).

A study conducted by Naaman, in 2007, found that suicide attacks were an operational tactic utilised by Palestinians to convey the political messages of nationalism and belonging (Naaman, 2007). This tactic has been in place since 1993 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It is presumable that such acts of terror have been conducted against the apartheidic control of Israel on Palestinian Occupied Territory, a growing hatred towards Israel have additionally increased the numbers of attacks employed (Awadat, 2002). After the second intifada, in 2002, there has been an increase in the participation of women as suicide bombers. Literature such as; Arafat’s plead: ‘You are the hope of Palestine. You will liberate your husbands, fathers, and sons from oppression. You will sacrifice the way you, women, have always sacrificed for your family’ (Naaman, 2007: 20), has been used as propaganda to sway women into believing that their bodies are only tools for sacrifice for their husbands, sons and other male relatives. This has often been referred to as ‘martyrdom operations’. The discourse that followed the suicide bombings conducted by women, in the Arabic-speaking world, concealed their truths to some extent and instead constructed a different societal truth that was heavily saturated with gendered signifiers which focalised on the ideologies and locations of the narrators instead (Bloom, 2007). Through discourse such as this, suicide is associated with heroism, pride and martyrdom.

Fearfulness has been created in the public domain around organized crime with major attention around hijacking since 9/11/2001(Strang, 2018). The definition of hijacking has been characterised as a form of hostage-taking.

Silke (2019) classified hostage-taking in to three different approaches, in which is defined that removal of a person against their will is determined by the form of restrain. Kidnapping as a form of hostage-taking to an unknown location, hijacking as the seizure of public transport, such as, train, airplane, bus, maritime vessels or private car, and barricade-siege as a form of self-barricade in to a certain location (Silke, 2019). From this stand point, it can be argued that all actions include a form of kidnapping with deliberate obstruction of freedom and implementation of fear. The element of civilian obduction has been certified as a terrorist act due to the characteristics of political or religious elements. Kidnapping and hijacking have a common element of restricting the freedom of civilians in order to proclaim personal ideologies, beliefs or political and religious views.

The means of conducting the act makes the difference between hijacking and the kidnapping act. Kidnaping can be described as the restriction of a person with a domestic or organizational motivation. Furthermore, kidnapping does not meet the terrorism criteria if it’s not conducted as a form of inflicted fear with a political or religious agenda. The common cause of kidnapping and hijacking is motivation, and the reaction of the public perception on the event (Strang, 2018, Sanyal, 2018, Silke, 2019).

Hijacking in its form of crime is seen as a terrorist act due to the nature of past events, the killing of the hostages with a political or religious motivation and the trauma perceived by all nations. Media coverage used to recruit and/or spread recognition of the organization’s capability and strength in order to obtain further support for the cause (Rasmussen, 2017).

One of the difficulties encountered by the international community is the definition of terrorism, that obstructs the agreement on a universal definition and the agreement of prosecution and punishment, state jurisdiction and the law of extradition (Probandary et.al., 2018).

Looking at the statistical deaths in the USA, according to the National Health Service (Viscusi & Zeckehauser, 2003) terrorism has the minimum number of victims compared with death by car accident or smoking, in a terrorist attack there is a lack of choice. Individuals that smoke or the ones driving are accepting the risk, and the risk is known before any action is taken. Viscusi & Zeckhauser are explaining the difference between causal death such as car accident or smoking and the sudden death caused by terrorist attacks. In their opinion the difference lies on the compensation of the risk associated with the action. In other words, any action taken that has possible small negative side effects will be carried out as long as it has a positive outcome (Viscusi & Zeckehauser, 2003).

The most explanatory event has been the 9/11/2001 attack in US that led to the death of 3000 people, the nature of the attack had paralysed the world (Viscusi & Zeckhauser, 2003, Merari et.al, 2009). United States as any other country couldn’t prevent such an event to happened and the magnitude of the event have not been dealt with before, it was the world’s most appalling event. Differences from past terrorist attacks to 9/11, is the method used to implement fear and the mass killing of civilians in a country of high national security development. Actions of the 9/11 lead to a faster change around what terrorist attacks look like, and to what extent terrorist can impose fear and anxiety (Grace, 2018).

Hijacking requiers a higher sophisticative logistical level of organization and premeditation to act upon. The increase of surveilance, security and inteligence service has led to a dimise of the risk factors, however there is an increase of kidnapping with the same purpose. Individual act of kidnapping evolved with the believe that government and media will give segnficant attention to the organisation along with the potential resource gain (Rasmussen, 2017). There is no certenty that any security plan can elliminate the risk factor of future hijack or kidnapp, both actions are intertwinded by the restrain of civilians with uncertanty of how, who, when and where attacks will occur (Strang2015, Merari et.al, 2009).

Psychological characteristics of the offender (the offender)

In any terrorist attack the motivation stand behind political and religious ideologies, implementation of fear, anxiety and doubt on the capability of a state to protect the civilians (Sanyal, 2018)

Over the years many academics had tried to explain and understand the psychology of suicide terrorists. Within the hijacking act the argument made by many is the lack of direct psychological assessment due to their death.

Empirical research conducted on 462 suicide terrorists, based on medical reports and past evidence of suicide intents concluded that none out of suicide terrorist of 9/11/2001 had any history of mental health or suicidal behaviour. Furthermore, none of them had any recorded history of psychiatric problems, depression or psychoses (Lankford, 2018).

From a different perspective, a small sample research done on non-successful suicide bombers, suggested that suicide bombers are classified as martyrdom as the willingness to die is for a greater cause and its defined as God’s will. Martyrdoms are showing low ego strengths enabling them to act independently, low self-control over stressful factors and lack of coping mechanism (Merari et.al, 2009). During the interviews, carried out in the prison premises, 40% of them revealed suicidal tendencies and 53% as having depressive predispositions (Merari et.al, 2009). Post-traumatic stress disorder, impulsive and emotional instability can attract terrorist leaders to recruit such individuals and promote the martyr mission as a mean of virtue.

Contradictory, several researchers interviewing leaders of terrorist organisations, suggested that there is no intent of working with incapacitated individuals or presenting any sings of suicide or mentally ill and the only persons that are engaging with are presenting ideological commitment, intelligent, psychologically fit to plan and succeed in their actions (Atran, 2003). Furthermore, Lankford (2018) in he’s research had presented several articles suggesting that motivation for joining terrorist’s organization and/or suicide for the cause it is not merely related to individuals with financial disadvantage, nothing to lose or psychological affected by war or past trauma. Supporting this evidence, it is presented the study of Iraq invasion and the raise of recruiting supporters in more than 30 countries around the world (Lankford, 2018). Hijacking it is not an act carried out by an individual, all of the hijacked attacks are planed and organized by groups. From this perspective, the leaders and its supporters have a greater impact on the plan and the delivery of the act. Individuals indoctrinated in religious believes, socially and emotionally affected by political conflict, have a greater predisposition to join terrorist groups and act against any other society or government that stands against their moral views. Personality factors alone cannot explain such behaviour without a social meaning.

There are numerous debates around the psychology or mental capacity and/ or motivational factors of terrorism supporters, majority with attention towards the martyrdom as it produces a major element of fear, anxiety, uncertainty and trauma.

There is no single profile that can be applied to hijackers or kidnapers, kidnapers involved in terrorist acts, that can explain the singularity characteristics of willingness to suicide and cause terror in the wide society by taking innocent civilian’s lives.

Even though the research conducted by Merari and his colleges has a very small sample, based solely on Palestinian suicide bombers, this research contains important data suggesting that suicide tendencies, impulsive and unstable personality along with post-traumatic stress syndrome odded to the terrorist group a valuable weapon to act with (Merari et.al, 2009).

Leader are often characterised as masters of manipulation, shaping individual’s behaviour inculcating extremist ideologies, enemy conspiracy and presenting austerity against their religion and believes. From another perspective there is a factor of direct intent to use terrorist groups with the aim of suicide shifting from a sin to a martyr death (Atran, 2003, Lankford, 2018, Merari, 2009)

Religious and political extremist views, possible psychological instability, access to weapons, support and manipulation from a terrorist organisation, personal motivation plus social disadvantages all factors can increase the potential of suicide bombers, hijackers or any terrorist act.

Theories

Understanding violent extremist behaviour had been the attraction of many academics since 1970’s (Decety et.al, 2018). Theoretical explanations had been assessed through psychological, religious, economic and political perspectives. It has been proved that not all violent terrorists share the same profile and same ideologies. Terrorist organisations are

defined by actions of violence to achieve political attention as a response to external stimuli in which all external actors are seen as rivals (Decety et.al.,2018). Violence is a tool of proclaimed recognition of what is seen as rightful, pursuing demands of political change, religious believes and policies. Terrorist activists are ‘fanatics but not mad’ (Decety ey.al., 2018: 511), not necessarily psychological disadvantage there are more likely to be ordinary people (Decety et.al,2018, Ozmadar, 2008). From a theoretical perspective, hijacking can be analysed through the biopsychosocial model as the phenomenon had presented all factors as a matter of concern. Through identity fusion model it can be explored the link between personality and social self, in which the ties between individuals develops strong collective relations creating strong shared behaviour (Swan et.al., 2012). Equally emotional disturbed communities drawn on social identity merge into relation ties following same goals that in some groups the trauma, deprivation, loss and inequality may contribute in varying individual’s actions towards radicalization (Decity et.al., 2018, Swann et.al., 2012). History have proved that religion has a major influence on political thoughts and individual’s social interaction (Ozdmar, 2008). From a religious perspective Evolutionary theory will argue that is a genetic predisposition and environmental input that developed a strong believe in the supernatural agents (Sois & Alcorta, 2008). Strong believe in supernatural entities and the trauma after war and/or government austerity inculcating a feeling of helplessness and fear can led to the establishment of outlaw groups, in this scenario terrorist groups (De Masi, 2011, Sois & Alcorta, 2008). Hijacking and religion have a label element that transforms the suicide individual or the extreme believer into a martyr, a person that strongly believes in the power of their own religion as the only religion. Religion as social interaction acts as an integration and regulation of the individual behaviour explained as social anomie in which organizations will support suicide justifying their actions as a will of God and in the name of the community (Pape, 2005, De Masi, 2011).

Biological factors, internal mechanisms such as the sensory, motor and cerebral systems are used in order to achieve their tasks and goals. The capacity to control over their own life style is part of the human nature, this capacity is conducted through motivations followed by actions creating a functional neurobiological substrate of social and symbolistic desires (Bandura, 2001.) This in turn, can provide them with a sense of meaningfulness, direction and fulfillment to their lives.

Furthermore, it is suggested that terrorism is a rational choice in which success, benefit and cost promote their own self-interest motivation. Rational choice theorists support the idea that individuals are motivated by their desires and goals and tend to socialise with groups that share same believes, goals and/or provide for the achievement of proposed objectives (Scott, 2000). Looking at hijacking, rational choice theory will argue that is the sophistication and organisational element that tends to attract individuals to join terrorist groups by offering the weapon supply and the help of organization to be able to reach their goal. This theory has been arguable as De Masi (2011) sustains that the suicide bombers are driven by the trauma of war, invasion and discrimination as personal and local problematic interference by western society. Self-sacrifice used as a form of liberation, triggered by sever deprivation and shared suffering with and intent to show what it means to be a victim (De Masi, 2011, Whitehouse, 2018).

Disruption of the normally integrated community, perception of the environment as hostile affects the function of the consciousness, identity or perception of the individual peace of mind.

Treatment recommendations (intervention and rehabilitation)

This essay has focused on the hijacking and the actors participating in such radical attacks, from this perspective it is highlighted that the treatment and the recommendations of this type of offence had changed severely since 9/11/2001 and had been highlighted the economic impact on managing changes in the security of airports, rail stations and legislations towards passengers. The screening process and the risk management against terrorist threat has to consider a multitude of scenarios and evaluate the choices taken by the terrorists at any given time during the attack (Kaewunruen et.al, 2018, Garrick et.al., 2004). Understanding the nature of terrorist actions and the selection of the victims can improve security design to prevent terrorism. It is highlighted that the successful terrorist attacks are based on the ability of the extremists to bypass the security system that is design to prevent and deter their actions (Yacov & Horowitz, 2004). Changes around security in United States airports showed a 93% lower risk of terrorist attacks including hijacking and a 35% probability of a failed bomb detonation even thought terrorist are more likely to be educated and well prepared (Steward & Muller, 2018).

Looking at the psychological and theoretical aspect of the martyrdoms and terrorist attitudes the probability of success it can be higher that what is presented by Steward & Miller (2018), even though the security system had demised the probability of terrorist organization to bypass the system, the ability to learn from other’s failures is still a matter of further research. Tomas (2018) acknowledged that even though the Unite State had financed and improve the national security just in 2017 were register 7 terrorist attacks in different locations. Access to technology and cyber hijacking it represents a figure of concerns for future shattering events that can not be prevented and have same inculcation of fear, anxiety and trauma. This becomes a new growing trend that enables security to keep up with the new risk factors and new threats that can create a state of terror (Tomas, 2018)

Nevertheless, hijacking has more potential as the technology becomes more sophisticated and the security systems are at continuous risk. Hostage taken has been the major concern for any national security in the world and it will not vanish as long as the terrorist organisations are not completely disarmed. There is a need of further research around new trends of hostage-taking with terrorist intent, better understanding of new trends of terrorism that can improve relations and possibility of negotiations.

In 2017, a group of women who had bombs tied to their body has resulted in the massacre of hundreds of civilians in north-east Nigeria. These women have been labeled as “suicide bombers” by the people of Nigeria and the world. Adding to the fact that these girls are Muslims, the load of existing stereotypes on Islamic terrorist has taken their full rights. Never mind that they were the actual victims by a cult named Boko Haram, the stereotype thinking people have had on them gave them no voice to summon help. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie addressed this “stereotype threat” in her TED talk called “The Danger of a Single Story” on how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story.

Boko Haram, a cult that claims themselves as “Islamist militants” not only has affected almost 90% of the communities in north-east of Nigeria where Boko Haram is based, it has also created a big problem with stigma. These girls were the trapped powerlessly due to such an ideological threat which is conveyed by the personal story of Falmata, delivered by psychologists Fatima Akilu, in a video documented by BBC news, entitled “Made Out to Look Beautiful, and Send Out to Die”. The stereotype on Nigerian women suicide bombers as terrorists is primarily perpetuated by the skyrocketing use of women suicide bombers by Boko Haram which is said to be two-thirds of girls. Despite the vast portrayal of these female suicide bombers in the news coverage to have courageously taken part in the battle, Fatima Akilu shares that they have not seen a single female suicide bomber that has offered herself up for Boko Haram’s suicide mission. Due to the cultural perspective, it fails to see that most women in Nigeria were taken against their will and being coerced for suicide missions, this explains why society associate these women with terrorism.

The story of thirteen-year-old Falmata, one out of 454 female suicide bombers that have been deployed by Boko Haram, shows the injustice upon them as a result of a single story. In addition, to having been seen to carry Boko Haram’s ideology and rhetoric which they are strenuously against of, they ignore the fact that these women were abducted and were forcefully to choose either to marry a fighter or to involve in the heinous act. Hence, they fail to consider these victims but rather driven by the stereotype. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie suggests a single sided story could potentially affect one’s thinking and beliefs. In the case of Nigerian women suicide bombing, the abducted young girls and teenagers were brought up with Boko Haram’s ideology until they were brainwashed. Children rescued from militants often adopt Boko Haram’s beliefs while under their control as they are not exposed to any other education but the religious teachings, claims Akilu. She also presses on their learning of Quran under Boko Haram captivity which she believes does not teach Islam, as it is teaching them the Quran in isolation of everything else, and the rest of the teaching is ideology. This explains their belief of suicide bombing being preached in the Quran and is perceived as a holy act for the sake of god.

The use of the phrase “detonate the bomb, to enter paradise” shows the effect of the cultural influence which to the extent moves them to partake in the odious act where in reality these practices are against the core beliefs of Islam as killing is forbidden. Woefully, the stereotype led to these women being shunned from society. This is the power that Adichie warns her audience about in her TED Talk. Falmata experienced the effects of this stereotype when the community expresses that they were “afraid of her”. Falmata alongside with few others who do manage to slip back into their community unnoticed remain in the shadows. “Annoba” is what they are referred to by some in their communities, which means something like “epidemic”. Any girl that spent time with the militants will be seen as Boko Haram by many people, says Akilu. She also states that people in these communities tend to look at the act, rather than the girl. In the second media, the phrase “how can we then take her back”, in response to the escape of these women from Boko Haram military shows the degree of the consequence of single-sided story. They believe that these women are willing to eliminate the whole community and sees them as a reminder of the terror that they have lived through. Therefore, they fail to spend enough time looking at it from the point of view of the girls and see them as the victims they are. In summation, the treatment and actions of the community against Nigerian women demonstrate the potential harm of the terrorist stereotype in Nigeria. The justice rights of Nigerian women suicide bombers should be acknowledged from being taken against their will to being rejected by the community. In an attempt to dispel the floating stereotype on these women, messages, and sharing of stories should be conveyed and delivered in the pursuit of broadening public perspectives.

The purpose of this literature review is to look at the current research on female terrorist recruitment, the research on female terrorism in IS and the role of Dabiq in recruitment.

Women in terrorism

Although female terrorist research is indeed under-researched, there are some scholars that have appreciated its importance. Women’s participation in terrorism is as old as terrorism itself (Sjoberg, 2011), and has been researched for decades (Lines 2009; Bloom 2011), but there is still a lack of scholarship compared to the what has been done on men. Eubank and Weinberg have reviewed female participation in terrorism concluding in support of others that women are not newcomers to terrorism (2011). While the number of females engaged in terrorist and female suicide bombers has boomed in recent times, this increase has been characterised by false information and faulty interpretations (Bloom, 2011, Sjoberg, 2011). With wrongful and faulty understandings of the theme at hand, it makes it difficult to have a sophisticated understanding of female participation in terrorism. This can also be seen due to the belief that women are inherently peaceful and incapable of violence. “Still, the continued discursive power of gender stereotypes means that the very idea that “women” may be violent seems outlandish, despite the empirical reality (Sjoberg, 2011; 238). This has contributed to issues we present in the literature of viewing women as incapable of violent acts, which have become an issue for several fields of research. When thinking about the role of women in terrorism what comes to mind first is their status as victims, as that often receive the worst treatment in difficult situations. (Eubank & Weinberg, 2011) Therefore, research have found that we not only find it implausible for women to be violent but also that the role of victim appears to be what we feel the most comfortable attributing women, and cements “the longstanding belief that women have assumed passive, inherently less interesting roles in extremist groups” (Jacques & Taylor, 2009; 499). Another assumption in terrorism studies has been that females are unable to made the conscious decision to join a terrorism organisation without the influence of a man (Bloom, 2011) In the attempt to explain the workings of terrorism to the general public, journalistic attempts have been too simplistic and proved unable to deal with the complexities found in female participation in terrorism. This oversimplification has contributed to the assumption that women are unable to join on their own accord, for example through the extreme media focus on ‘jihad-brides’. This enabling of female radicalisation and participation through the Internet (Bertram, 2016) may have made it more rapid and efficient for female radicalisation to terrorism organisations and in turn, have caused the want to study them in addition to it becoming more present in media. This scholarship has provided interesting accounts and theories of how female radicalisation occurs. However, there is lack of consensus as to what is the reason for female terrorism. In addition, Bloom claims that the majority of women in terror participate on their own accord, which would disprove their status as victims, but also suggests that reasons to join, can be different from reasons for participation in violence (Bloom, 2011).

Berko & Erez have found that women have secondary roles in terrorist organizations. “Women also help in recruiting and supporting other females involved in terrorist operations. When they go on suicide missions, they implement operations designed and orchestrated by men” (Berko & Erez, 2007; 510). Furthermore, the differences in recruitment follow gender-specific lines, which can occur regardless of ideological background. “Gendered pathways leading men and women to involvement in terrorism” (Bloom 2011: 10) can be identified (Musial, 2016). In addition, gender stereotypes are exploited and the sense of urgency for women to join is emphasized (Bloom, 2011: 4). The importance of gender in terrorism studies have been emphasized by Laura Sjoberg who also concludes that it is important to look at both women’s participation in terrorist organizations and those organizations through gendered lenses. (2011) Recent studies have attempted to concern themselves with the role of women in jihadist groups. In most terrorist groups and especially in almost all jihadist groups, the female role is supportive and limited to giving birth and raising up new generations of fighters, spreading the ideology or transporting weapons and munition (Bloom 2011: 5). This is in line with Berko and Enez’s findings concerning women in Palestine, who were found to play a secondary role in terrorism and that their roles rarely were violent. Women have participated in suicide attacks, which has become the typical image the public holds of modern terrorism, however, beyond suicide bombings, women have not held prevalent positions in religiously-inspired organizations. While women’s terrorism is old and, “…women’s participation in terrorism generally might be increasing, and women’s engagement in suicide bombings has gone from virtually unheard twenty years ago to somewhat commonplace in the current global political arena.” (Sjoberg, 2011, 237) The emphasis on female roles in violence and suicide bombing is also claimed to have been exaggerated. Eubank and Weinberg, therefore, note that suicide killings have mostly been conducted by secular groups rather than Islamist extreme ones. (Eubank & Weinberg, 2011). Jihadist female terrorism has since 2014 become a media phenomenon and a source of fascination. IS are increasingly becoming the most notorious terrorist organisation ever, but female presence has still been neglected. Cunningham argues that Western cultural expectations of female hostile attitudes in Islamic terrorist organisations are reinforced purposefully by global Islamic leaders to deflect the attention away from possible female terrorists (2007). In addition, “Complicating this case is that, to date, few women have been visibly involved with global Islamist groups, preventing officials from exploiting captured females for counterterrorism and counterintelligence purposes.” (Cunningham, 2007, 121)

Women in the Islamic State

Saltman & Smith have identified the declaration of the caliphate to have been an important factor in joining IS (2015). “Research on the topic is still rare although the phenomenon of female recruitment by IS recently increased attention on this field” (Bloom, 2011; 4). However, this does not mean that we have a sufficient understanding of the inner workings of the organization, as it poses a threat to researchers, and it is difficult to navigate the many legal and ethical pitfalls of researching a terrorist organization. The available information on extremist organizations are difficult to acquire but an overview shows that recently there have been changes in female participation (Cunningham, 2007). One of the primary sources of information on the organisation is through media, which although often remain accurate, have also been prone to misconceptions and false information. Abdel Atwan (2015) and Jessica Stern and J. M Berger (2015) provides starting points to research into the IS propaganda machine. The propaganda and narratives that IS publishes have therefore been an important source of information and a rare insight into the Islamic State and the inner workings of the organisation. Klausen (2015), Farwell (2014) and Blaker (2015) are amongst the researchers that attempt a more general approach to IS by looking at their propaganda through their social media. Their findings are convincing, however, provides a wide and general scope with little opportunity to go into depth. As previously mentioned, easy access to propaganda material serves as an enabling factor for female radicalization. In addition, through social media, it has been established that the duty to join IS lies with females and males alike (Saltman & Smith, 2015). Indeed, the intensive use of online platforms and social media as “radicalisation agents” seems to be crucial for female recruitment in particular (Huey & Witmer 2016: 1) As IS continues to publish propaganda streamlined to women, it increases the organisations brand as attractive to women (Musial, 2016, 45). With the declaration of the caliphate and calling for women, they also recognized the necessity of softening the image of IS, posting pictures of jihadists relaxing interspersed with the pictures depicting gruesome actions, like beheadings. The softening of their image was done through including images of laughing, young men playing with kittens or eating chocolate. Efforts to portray life for women differently was also made by depicting young women in classrooms to show that IS supports education for girls (Atwan, 2015; 183). Saltman and Smith have identified this as clear evidence of efforts made by IS to appeal to women. “ISIS has also strategically sent strong international messages through their actions, dictating their dedication to their female constituents.” (Saltman and Smith, 2015; 18) This is evidence of the efforts that the IS have put out there to ensure female recruitment. Although there is a greater focus on men in the scholarship on recruitment of foreign fighters to the IS, this research identified some scholarship that differs from this. Christien has attempted to deal with the issue of youth in the IS and the purposes of discourse in Dabiq in representations of youth. She argues that the IS propaganda is advanced as it utilizes these representations of youth and children to attract potential Western recruits (2016). Although the topic of women is dealt with in more general terms in Stern and Berger, and Atwan, they make limited attempts to analyse why some Western women have chosen to join the IS. Their writing is concerned with women’s lives in the IS, but they also appear to be an afterthought. Atwan found that many Western female recruits from abroad wish to marry jihadist fighters, to live in the IS and foster the new generation of the IS. (Atwan, 2015, 182). Saltman and Smith found that a “…search for meaning, sisterhood, and identity is a primary driving factor for many women to travel.” (2015, 15) They also found that romanization of life IS attract both women and men from the West (2015; 15). Silke has found that status and the wish for adventure as played an important role in radicalization (2008). As foreign fighters have the ability to post about their lives through social media it contributes to the normalization of jihad and contributes establishes the images of this perceived adventure. (Atwan, 2015; 174). A more sophisticated form of discourse can be found in the glossy magazine-style propaganda, Dabiq. Through their messaging IS has been successful in creating a brand of authority and establish ties with their audience and create social mobilization (Pelletier et al, 2016). In this it can be concluded that there are several factors that influence or motivates the women that choose to join Islamic Extremist organisations like the IS.

The purpose of Dabiq

The increased concern with Western youth becoming radicalized can be seen further exhausted by the magazine Dabiq. As terrorist organisations have increasingly become capable of sophisticated use of the Internet to spread propaganda, it has also become evident that they do not hide their presence either. Their use of the Internet is easily detectable, however, their success with the use of the Internet is currently less understood as an important pillar of radicalisation (Aly et al. 2017). Extremist organisations have become reliant on the Internet to distribute their discourses (Dalgaard-Nilsen, 2016) the glossy magazine Dabiq has become a popular example of this sophisticated form of propaganda. The early work can be seen to focus on the production value of IS propaganda, with specific attention paid to the violent nature of it (Farwell, 2014, Friis, 2015). Ingram claims that the overarching goal of IS’s is to “…shape its audience’s perceptions in line with its own worldview, polarize their support and mobilize them towards action by leveraging a combination of pragmatic and perceptual factors in its messaging” (Ingram 2016; 1) This is in line with the conventional view on Dabiq, which is that IS does in fact utilize Dabiq as a tool of propaganda, however, it has been pointed out that the recruitment efforts are often found in urging emigration to IS territory (Colas, 2016). Welch (2018), Macnair & Frank (2018) and Mahood and Rane (2017) argue the necessity of identifying the elements in IS narratives and discourse that attract western recruits to the organisation. They recognise this as important as it is the ways in which we can identify narratives of radicalisation and policy-makers can attempt to develop counternarratives. “These narratives contain the ideologies, interpretations, and explanations that guide the extremist groups and are generally presented in a consistent way – both of which are important characteristics for soliciting sympathizers and recruitment. (Mahood and Rane 2017) However, an emerging view is that there might be more to Dabiq then previously assumed. Colas (2016) argues that the assumption that Dabiq is for recruitment and to inspire terrorist attacks is incorrect and that Dabiq is surprisingly self-critical for a propaganda magazine. Colas also establishes that IS are not simply an organisation attempting to recruit, but also an organisation that is actively attempting to compete for fighters in the region. Pelletier, Lundmark, Gardner, Ligon and Kilinic claims that Dabiq serves a larger purpose and rather expresses the overarching strategic efforts of Dabiq, which would be showing a complete society for Muslims (2016). Hanoro Ingram critiques in the same strain of thought, and challenges that belief that shocking messages and the magazine design of Dabiq are important to the IS propaganda. He claims that the messages are rather to motivate their sympathizers into action and that there has been great focus on Dabiq and the publisher Al Hayat which in turn over-simplifies their messaging efforts through local and regional media units (2016).

One issue concern itself with the importance of studying terrorism for counterterrorism purposes. As previously mentioned, Cunningham establishes that the study of female terrorism has been neglected and is not often attributed with the ability to enhance our knowledge of terrorism (2007). Musial suggests that “Gender-specifics are assumed not only to arise in strategic use of language and images, but also, in female-specific narratives (2016; 63). Propaganda has been identified as modified for women to show a romanticized view of life in the caliphate as a wife of a jihadi warrior (Aly et al. 2017). When viewing propaganda as gendered, it also poses the issue of an overarching counterterrorism strategy that does not apply itself to the female gendered propaganda. Musial argues that counternarratives study is based on the radicalisation studies, and there are differences in propaganda, and male and female narratives in radicalisation propaganda (2016). With easier access to terrorist propaganda online today, it serves as an opening and aiding factor for female radicalization, especially for western women. Due to limited information on female terrorism, and an ever-growing list of threats, counterterrorism has neglected to consider the threat women could be” (Cunningham, 2007; 124) Therefore, the current research discussed shows that terrorist propaganda is gendered and that to create efficient counternarratives, researchers must accept and continue to explore male and female terrorist propaganda.