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Making Women Terrorists into “Jihadi Brides”.
An Analysis of Media Narratives on Women joining ISIS.
Alice Martini*
PhD candidate. Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy | Autonomous
University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
*alice.martini@sssup.it | alicecmartini@gmail.com
Journal: Critical Studies on Terrorism
Published online: 07 Mar 2018
https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2018.1448204
PhD candidate at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa, Italy and the
Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. Co-convenor of the Critical Studies on
Terrorism Working Group (BISA). Her areas of interest include critical security studies
and critical terrorism studies, peace and conflict studies.
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Making Women Terrorists into “Jihadi Brides”.
An Analysis of Media Narratives on Women joining ISIS.
Although the involvement of women in terrorist activities is not new, it is still
considered to be an exceptional phenomenon. The figure of a woman militant
contradicts the main gender constructions and thus produces a certain shock and
disconcert in societies. In the case of “Jihadism”, women who willingly join a
terrorist organisation also challenge the Western Neo-Orientalist perspective on
Muslim women in the West. Starting from these theoretical issues, this article
focuses on a group of terrorists that recently has received a lot of attention: ISIS
women jihadis. Based on a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of three main UK
broadsheets, this article presents, deconstructs and problematises the main
depictions that were used to describe these subjects. Furthermore, it also discusses
how the frames described reconcile these women’s actions with the gender and
Neo-Orientalist constructions that circulate in Western societies, safeguarding the
deriving hegemonic narratives. In other words, the article focuses on how women
terrorists are made into “Jihadi Brides”.
Keywords: ISIS, Jihadi Brides, gender, women terrorists, Neo-Orientalism, Critical
discourse analysis (CDA)
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Introduction
The present article aims at providing a reflection on the language that is used to make
sense of women joining ISIS1 in “Western societies”2. The ways in which these jihadis
are described are usually far from neutral, and common patterns are identifiable in the
way the media report on these militants. More specifically, they are usually described
through gender stereotypes and a Neo-Orientalist view of Islam, discourses which have
shaped these societies’ understanding of, for example, Islam. These depictions matter
because they frame political phenomena and convey a particular knowledge about them.
This process of knowledge production is at the centre of the analysis of this article.
The present text focuses on how public language has been used to frame the stories
of “Western” women joining ISIS. This research is based on a critical discourse analysis
(CDA) of articles reporting on (Western) women joining the organisation that were
published in three of the leading British broadsheets from June 2014 to May 2017.
However, before detailing the results of this analysis, the first part of this article will
present a theoretical reflection on the discourses on gender and Neo-Orientalism in
Western societies and how these intersect when, for example, ISIS women’s actions are
narrated. Here, the role the media have in the propagation of discourses will also be
addressed. This first part aims at discussing theoretically how these terrorists’ behaviour
jeopardises the above-mentioned constructions. The second will describe the central
narratives identified through the analysis and problematise them through the previously
described theoretical framework.
Muslim women at the intersection of gender and Neo-orientalism
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Rephrasing Epstein (2008, 2), gender can be defined as “a cohesive ensemble of ideas,
concepts and categorizations” that frame biological sex in a specific way and therefore
“delimits the possibilities for action in relation to it.” The discourse on gender constructs
“a regime of truth” on biological differences (Foucault 2002, 49) and assigns fixed
behaviours and attitudes (Sjoberg and Tickner 2013; Wilcox 2007). Discourses maintain
unequal relations of power and regulate access to it (Milliken 1999, 29) and individuals
internalise these driving precepts and reproduce them without being governed by any rule
(Bourdieu 1991, 2). In this sense, gender is a primary signifier of a hierarchy between the
sexes, which awards greater access to resources and power to the category of “men” (Scott
1986, 1067; Okin 1999, 12-13). A discourse can be considered both a social construction
– as it is socially, politically and historically contingent – and a social constructor –
because it shapes the way reality is understood and positions subjects in a system of power
relations. For example, women are usually constructed as peaceful, domestic, and caring
mothers; whereas men are considered strong, autonomous and political individuals.
In the case of Muslim women, the discourse on gender intersects with the one on
Neo-Orientalism. This depicts “Western values” (and the “Western civilisation”) as
superior to those of other cultures, and as universal, desired and sought after by all. This
Orientalist narrative maintains a specific hegemony: the one of “the West” on “the Orient”
(Said 1978). Within this last category, Islam has become a very productive “Other” in
international relations: against this concept the “Western civilisation” can create its
boundaries and, consequently, define its identity. Paraphrasing Foucault (as quoted in
Prozorov 2006, 95), it may be argued that an island of civilisation cannot exist unless
there is a barbarian other that lives outside of it. This image becomes even more
productive when the barbarian resists or fights against “the West”, as in the case of
“Islamic terrorism”3.
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It is within this context that a specific production of knowledge about Muslim
women has taken place and has created a “Western” understanding of these subjects. This
has changed throughout the centuries (Kahf 1999; Yeğenoğlu 1998; Zine n.d.), and
nowadays Muslim women are usually portrayed as victims of the barbaric nature of
Muslim men – and their culture in general. In other words, Muslim women are mainly
understood as oppressed and passive victims, and this image is reinforced visually by
Islamic garments such as the hijab or the burqa, which the West usually interpret as signs
of oppression (Hoodfar 1992).
These categories have played a significant role in the legitimisation of the “war
on terror”4, which not only took place on a military (or material) level but also on a more
ideological and ideational one. Related to the latter, the “war on terror” – among other
processes – entailed the construction of a political interpretation of Muslim women: here,
these subjects have become an “object of otherness” (Zine n.d., 2), productive because of
their passivity. This specific depiction was exploited to “reinforce existing, and create
new gender inter/national relations” (Hunt and Rygiel 2008, 3), and even more
racialised/Orientalist ones. Whereas Western women were assigned the role of mothers
or wives of the (men) soldiers joining the war (Pettman 2004), their Iraqi and Afghani
counterparts were constructed, as famously argued by Spivak, as brown women to be
saved from brown men (by white men) (1988). Gradually, the “Western appropriation”
(Mohanty 1984) of their stories and voices expanded metaphorically to Muslim women
in general (Tickner 2002).
Fighting against enemies who, in Bush’s words (as quoted in Sheperd 2006, 26),
“live in caves” required the hypermasculinisation of the conflict but also the
infantilisation of these women and the demonisation of “their men” (Nayak 2006;
Sheperd 2006). Paraphrasing Deylami, the “war on terror” was built on the idea of
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homoterritoriality defined as “the perpetuation of territorial conquest through
masculine/male relationships in which women are rendered as objects of contest between
two male enterprises – empire and terror” (Deylami 2013, 178). This process took place
not only in geographical terms (e.g. in the legitimisation of the invasions of Afghanistan
and Iraq) but also in ontological ones. The representation of these women as “needed to
be saved” from the barbaric terrorist others – physically and metaphorically – permeated
within Western societies and shaped the interpretation of Muslims and Islam.
Who is afraid of women joining ISIS? The need to construct “Jihadi Brides”
The gender and Neo-Orientalist discourses are challenged by the woman jihadi, who not
only refuses to be saved but joins the “Muslim terrorist oppressors”. As Ali (2012, 145)
argues, the “female jihadi shatters this edifice of passivity through her acts of violence
and in doing so turns against her would be liberators”. So, what happens when,
paraphrasing Iris Marion Young (2003), “good women” living among “good men” (and
in their “side of the world”) willingly join the “bad men”? Here, there are several
depictions safeguarding the discourse, many of which have already been analysed in the
existing literature on the involvement of women in political violence (Elshtain 1987;
Stiehm 1983), of women in terrorism (Sjoberg and Gentry 2011, 2007), or of women
suicide bombers (Ali 2012; Brunner 2007a, 2007b). Nevertheless, there is something
specific about women joining ISIS which will be discussed in this article.
In general terms, these terrorists challenge the construction of women as peaceful,
life-givers – they become violent life-takers – and as private and domestic individuals
because terrorism belongs to the realm of the political. In other words, they blur the
boundaries of Elshtain’s (1987) famous dichotomy of men as “just warriors” and women
as “beautiful souls”. By halting their performance of gender, they undermine its realness
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since gender is “real only to the extent that is performed” (Butler 1990a, 278). They
expose the social construction of the discourse and cause a “destabilisation of gender
itself, a destabilisation that is denaturalising and that calls into question the claims of
normativity and originality by which gender and sexual oppression sometimes operate”
(Butler 1993, 128).
It has been argued within critical terrorism studies that it is difficult to define
“terrorism” and its characteristics because this is a linguistic and political label more than
an ontological phenomenon (Jackson et al. 2011; Jackson, Breen-Smyth, and Gunning
2009). However, it is usually acknowledged that this term refers to a kind of violence that
is lethal, destructive, and, above all, illegal5. Because of these features, “terrorism” is
usually associated with the sphere of masculinity and the “ideal-typical terrorist” is
usually a male one (Sylvester and Parashar as quoted in Jackson, Breen-Smyth, and
Gunning 2009, 179). Because of its “Islamic” precepts and the different conceptualisation
of the social sphere (that clashes with the Western one), Jihadism6 is an even more
problematic kind of violence. Therefore, the fact that women may willingly join these
groups is a challenge to the Neo-Orientalist frame.
The superiority of the West is usually based on a better status these individuals
supposedly enjoy in Western societies. Consequently, their act of joining a Jihadist
organisation is incomprehensible and interpreted as a betrayal. Moreover, these subjects’
actions disrupt the Western construction of passive Muslim women as victims who need
to be saved from Muslim/Arab men and from Islam (Riley, Mohanty, and Pratt 2008, 6).
Their engagment in terrorism jeopardises one of the pillars that was legitimising the “war
on terror” and that still nowadays shape the Western understanding of Islam: not only do
these women do not want to be saved, but they turn against their savers – i.e. Western
men, Western “civilisation” and values.
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There are then some specificities about women joining ISIS that need to be
discussed. Since the declaration of the Caliphate in June 2014, the group has received a
lot of attention, because of its territoriality – among other things – which was challenging
specific principles regulating the international order (Martini 2016a). Because of its
“state-building” project, ISIS women’s violence has been more potential than real7. In
this sense, what makes these subjects dangerous is their potential use of violence, an
element representative of one of the epistemological crises of terrorism – the “waiting for
terror” (Jackson 2015, 35). Jackson (2015, 36) argued that “the known of the
epistemological crisis is the assertion that, no matter what, there will be more terrorist
attacks; we are simply waiting for the next inevitable terrorist outrage”. It is not known if
ISIS women militants will attack, but they might; this makes the nature of the threat they
pose unknown, an element that renders their character more frightening, in the logic of
countering terrorism.
Lastly, what is specific about the individuals described in the articles analysed
(here, both men and women) is that they have a Western background. This is visible in
many aspects that the media tend to emphasise: the Western clothes and shoes they wear,
the Western snacks they eat, the way they use social networks, and so on. Consequently,
these militants blur the (constructed) boundaries between the West and Islam, taking the
West into the “Islamic” “terrorist” world. Because of the organisation’s patriarchal
structure, women in ISIS end up taking the roles of mother and wives, further confusing
the discourse: they become “good” and “bad” women at the same time.
To safeguard the “narrative fidelity” (Sjoberg and Gentry 2011, 179) of what it
means to be a Muslim woman, terrorist men and women are thus narrated in very different
ways (Ness 2008, 6). In the case of the latter, the focus is shifted from the violence these
subjects display to their more personal and private issues in a process that constructs a
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“terrorist” that is neither credible nor dangerous (Cunningham 2003, 237). Framing
“female terrorism as an instance of a patriarchal world” (Jacques and Taylor 2009, 505)
not only safeguards the discourse but also reinforces and reifies its ontological status by
proving its veracity in such an extreme case. How this process takes place will be
described after a short reflection on the role of the media in the maintenance of discourses.
The media as the locus of production of “Jihadi Brides”
The existing literature (Nacos 2016; Nacos and Bloch-Elkon 2011; O’Loughlin 2016) has
widely described how the media and terrorism are in a “symbiotic” relationship (Schmid
1989; Spencer 2010, 5). Margaret Thatcher (as quoted in Spencer 2010, 5) famously
argued that the media provide terrorism with the “oxygen of publicity”. On the other hand,
terrorism offers “what contemporary media crave the most” (Nacos and Bloch-Elkon
2011, 692): stories of exceptional, shocking and dramatic events which will give them an
audience. Although they are not usually perpetrating terrorist attacks, the mass media
displays a great interest for the stories of ISIS women militants because this is “one of the
many apparent contradictions that make ISIS appear bizarre and novel” (Hussein 2016,
74).
The media have a crucial role in the reproduction, creation and reinforcement of
discourses (Bleich et al. 2015; Nacos 2016; Norris 1997b; Spencer 2010; Weldes 2006).
In general terms, the news is often narrated through specific frames: “interpretative
structures that set particular events within their broader context” (Norris 1997b, 2). These
are culturally specific, contingent and are co-constituted by the interaction of sources,
media, and audiences (Gans as quoted in Norris 1997b, 7). These frames depend on the
narratives that are available to describe specific phenomena, which are themselves a
product of a specific discourse (Martini 2016b). In other words, discourses produce a set
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of options available to describe a phenomenon – the narratives – and an array of possible
reactions to it. Consequently, the way ISIS militants are depicted are both choices made
by the journalists and a consequence of the discourse. Reporters are “like anyone else
[…] bound by discourses”8 (Spencer 2010, 81), and so are the consumers of the media
who make sense of the news through these frames.
Because discourses have an intertextual nature (Fairclough 1992; Jorgensen
2002), both “high data” – produced by elite institutions – and “low data” or “popular
culture sources” play a significant role in their production and maintenance (Weldes
2006). In this sense, “low data” is the “social” side of a “social construction” because
members of society interact mainly with these sources (Spencer 2010). As Enloe argues
(as quoted in Weldes 2006, 185), we must search for power in unconventional and
unexpected places – e.g. the media –– because power “is everywhere: not that it engulfs
everything, but that it comes from everywhere” (Foucault 2002, 121-122). Consequently,
how the news is reported is “intimately related to practices of power […] (media) define
and defend 'reality'” (Sheperd 2006, 20). It is essential to question how language is
deployed in these contexts and this is one of the goals of the present article. By analysing
and problematising how ISIS women are described, this study examines how discourses
work and thus deconstructs power hierarchies they safeguard.
Methodology
The method – and theory – that has been used to conduct this study is critical discourse
analysis (CDA) (Fairclough 1992; Jørgensen 2002). First and foremost, this stems from
the fact that a linguistic and constructivist view of reality drives this research.
Accordingly, this work assumes that, paraphrasing Onuf (2009), we make “Jihadi Brides”
what (we say) they are. Or, in other words, that “women joining ISIS” are what societies
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make of them (paraphrasing Wendt 1992) – and the West constructs them as “Jihadi
Brides”. Secondly, the approach used is a critical one because this article aims at
problematising how the language that is deployed maintains unequal power relations
through a process of subject positioning – i.e. the construction and recreation of specific
identities (Stump and Dixit 2013, 108).
The analysis has been carried out on theee broadsheets that are known
internationally for their coverage of global news and politics, but also for their different
political ascriptions: The Guardian (and its Sunday edition, The Observer), a central-
liberal leaning broadsheet; The Independent, a more left-leaning newspaper; and The
Telegraph, a right-leaning broadsheet (Bleich et al. 2015). The research was aimed
explicitly at obtaining articles reporting on (Western) women joining ISIS in a timeframe
that goes from June 2014 until May 20179. The distribution of the results is detailed in
table 110.
[Table 1 near here]
The language used throughout the various sources was codified and categorised11.
This process allowed a transversal analysis and the identification of themes which were
then reconstructed into narratives. This division is artificial as elements overlap in many
ways; however, it permits the observation of how these constructions work. The focus of
the analysis was the language journalists (or their sources) used to describe women
joining ISIS. In these articles, the descriptions of “foreign fighters” were also coded, to
contrast them with the categories used for their female counterparts. The process also kept
track of the women’s own voices – mostly blog posts or Tweets12 – whenever reported in
these sources. This last element was considered significant because their statements clash
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with the media depictions, a dynamic that is representative of how, paraphrasing Spivak
(1988), the subaltern can speak but is never heard.
Making terrorists into “Jihadi Brides”: the main narratives making sense of ISIS
women
Because of the intertextuality of discourse, the specific frames identified in this article
may be found in other contexts of knowledge production on terrorist women (Brunner
2007a; Deylami 2013; Gentry 2012). They were, for example, also deployed to make
sense of “Black Widows” (Gentry and Whitworth 2011), female Jihadi suicide bombers
(Ali 2012), or even women in politics (Nacos 2005, 2016; Norris 1997a). These previous
depictions laid the bases for the creation of the discourse on “Jihadi Brides”, as discourses
always draw on previously constructed knowledge (Spencer 2010, 81). Although ISIS
women display some specificities, all these cases have in common the fact that these
gender-biased assumptions result in the demonisation of these actors and “explain away
the possibility that women make a conscious choice to kill or injure” (Sjoberg and Gentry
2008).
The rest of the article will discuss and problematise the narratives identified
through the analysis – see figure 2 for a general overview. It should be remarked that not
all the themes appear equally among the three broadsheets and this is mainly a
consequence of the ideological stance of the newspaper13. Similarly, because of the
discourse encountering reality, themes do not appear with the same frequency. In other
words, discourses provide explanations of real events, therefore the dominance of some
narratives depends mainly – though not entirely – on ISIS radicalisation strategies, aimed
at (similar) subjects that would prove more useful for the organisation.
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It has also to be noted that this article does not argue that the issues described
should be entirely dismissed when analysing dynamics of radicalisation. In general terms,
it is difficult to escape the ways in which discourses might or might not affect people’s
actions, as these are “highly rigid regulatory frame(s)” and to perform them is not
voluntary (Butler 1990b, 45). Terrorists carry out their actions in a gendered world and
therefore terrorist organisations are also gendered (Sjoberg and Gentry 2011, 236) – and
so is ISIS structure. What this article aims at problematising is that, although
radicalisation is mainly considered multi-causal and contingent, the media simplify
excessively these women’s decisions. In other words, instead of recognising women as
“complex actors making complex choices” (Sjoberg and Gentry 2016, 2007), their
decision to join ISIS is interpreted through a gender lens, a process that constructs these
subjects as not political and mostly not agential.
[Table 2 near here]
The label “Jihadi Brides”
Categorisations are never neutral and always problematic. The process of labelling may
be considered an act of epistemic violence because it ascribes specific subject positions
to the ones that are categorised and thus silences their voices. This is also the case for the
designation of “Jihadi Brides”, the epithet the media have used to dub women joining
ISIS. Through it, women were assigned a (pre)determined gender role within the
organisation – that of fighters’ brides. The application of this name provided an a priori
and simplified interpretation of these militants’ actions and aims – i.e. becoming a
combatant’s bride.
This label clashed with the one the media mainly used to refer to men joining the
group: “foreign fighters”. This is also a gender-biased category and its application
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entailed the same epistemic violence – i.e. men were assumed not to have any other reason
but wanting to fight. However, this name still retained men’s agency, and it assigned the
fighters a brave, epic or exotic nature because of its historical background14. On the other
hand, “Jihadi Brides” attached a woman’s project to a man’s agenda and resulted in the
acknowledgement of women’s agency only within the frame of marriage.
One thing that is notable is that the organisation mainly called these women
muhajirat (or muhajirah in the Arabic singular form, meaning those who make the Hijrah,
the Muslim sacred pilgrimage). On the other hand, men were mainly named mujahideen
(singular mujahid, the fighters). Although both categories depicted individuals in a
gendered way, it is interesting to observe that the agency of the individuals was somehow
maintained.
The vulnerable, confused and naïve jihadists
Many ISIS militants were very young, an element that was usually emphasised in the
news and that was used to moralise and dehumanise the terrorist group. Their usually
young age may explain why the narrative depicting women terrorists as vulnerable,
confused and naïve subjects was the primary frame in terms of frequency. These women
were depicted as “very young and naive, they don’t understand the conflict or their faith,
and they are easily manipulated” (Sherwood et al. 2014). Similarly, it was argued that
“the Syria-bound schoolgirls aren’t jihadi devil-women, they’re vulnerable children […]
– the rockstar barbarism of Isis is designed to recruit impressionable teenagers” (Iqbal
2015).
By depicting women as naïve subjects, the political commitment that may have
driven them to join ISIS was erased. The emphasis on their young age constructed a
terrorist that is neither dangerous nor violent – and that, therefore, was not credible. This
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construction also neglected the possibility that their acts may have been intentional.
Consequently, these women were interpreted as vulnerable subjects that needed to be
saved or be protected from ISIS recruiters in a process that resembled the one of
homoterritoriality discussed above. The violence they may have displayed and their
intentionality were thus neglected and hidden.
These women’s own words somehow clashed with this narrative. Their statements
presented a certain kind of political awareness and these subjects’ violent nature, as the
following examples display: “if you show no mercy with us then why should we with
you?” (as quoted in Withnall 2015); “you and your countries will be beneath our feet
and...will be destroyed […] your blood will be spilled by our cubs” (as quoted in Cramb
2015); “to those who are able and can still make your way, hasten hasten to our lands ...
This is a war against Islam and it is known that either ‘you’re with them or with us’. So
pick a side” (as quoted in Sherwood et al. 2014); “so the US want to bombarded us with
airstrikes in iraq and not give a damn whos killed […] but want cry when a dusty journalist
is killed? [sic]” (as quoted in Khaleeli, 2014). It is important to note that this frame was
not identified in relation to men militants.
Lured, groomed, and enticed jihadists
Some specific words were deployed systematically when reporting on women terrorists:
“lured”, “enticed”, “used” or “groomed”. These were mainly used in a passive voice as
in the following examples: “(women are) lured by Isis” (Malik 2015b); “young Muslim
girls from around the world have been enticed to join Isis” (Alibhai-Brown 2015);
“(Jihadi Brides are) victims of grooming” (Dodd 2016); and “British women being used
by Isis to incite acts of terror at home” (Eleftheriou-Smith 2015).
The passive voice neglected the agency of these subjects and played a significant
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role in their homoterritorialisation. These women were depicted as objects of conflict and
as victims of the men terrorists who, contrastingly, did exercise their agency. The
infantilisation of these individuals was observable, and so was the moralisation of the
recruiters – i.e. “to groom” also identifies the crimes of paedophilia. These women’s own
words did not support this frame as they usually supported their husbands in their
statements. For example, one of them was reported to have written the following: “I'm
proud my husband was killed by the biggest enemy of Allah [USA], may Allah be pleased
with him, and I will never love anyone but him” (as reported in Whitehead 2015). It
should be remarked that some of these verbs (mainly “lured”) were identified in relation
to men, however their use was not as systematic.
Marriage as goal
Usually, women were married as soon as they joined ISIS, as a consequence of the
organisation’s nation-building project and its Islamic background. Because of this reason,
it was very common for the media to reduce the militants’ actions to a fervent desire to
be married. For example, in many cases it was claimed that these militants “flew out to
Syria to marry an Isis fighter” (Stone 2015). Similarly, it was stated that “Many (women)
are also attracted to the idea of marrying a foreign fighter, seen as a heroic figure willing
to sacrifice himself for a cause” (Khaleeli 2014).
This frame depicted women militants as erotic dysfunctional: subjects unable to
find a husband and so decided to join a terrorist organisation to fulfil “their biological
destiny of becoming wives and mothers” (Sjoberg and Gentry 2008, 10). By reducing
their actions to the pursuit of marriage, this interpretation hid these subjects’ possible
political commitment. A feeling of pity was generated in the audience because the jihadis
were seen as incomplete women trying to become “full ones”. This constructed them as
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irrational and non-credible terrorists because they were willing to join a terrorist
organisation to find a husband. This last portrayal reified the constructed role marriage
had for women – its importance became seemingly evident when some of them were
willing to risk their lives to achieve it.
Again, terrorists’ statements clashed with this frame. One of these jihadis was
reported as saying that, in case her husband died, she “will stay here (ISIS territories)
because I didn't come here for him”. In similar circumstances, another one stated that “I
wouldn't like to go back to the UK. I'll stay here, raise my children, focus on the Arabic
language to communicate with the Syrian people” (as quoted in Dearden 2014b). In the
case of men, it was sometimes argued that they would be “awarded women” (but not
expressly a “bride”), however, this was not a systematic description. Moreover, the
gendered interpretation of ISIS militants became evident in some statements as, for
example, the following one: “Dozens of female jihadists have travelled from the UK to
become ‘jihadi brides’ for Isis […] (and) Hundreds of British men are also believed to be
fighting with the group” (as quoted in Dearden 2015).
Physical appearances: beauty and “Islamic appearances”
Women terrorists’ physical appearances usually receive a lot of attention in the media
which tend to emphasise, as the results show, their beauty and their “sweet, peaceful,
intelligent” nature (Eleftheriou-Smith 2014). This was also the case for ISIS militants,
and some of them were described as “poster girls” (Paterson 2014). This emphasis on
physical appearances was used in sensationalistic terms to “dramatise the contrast
between these women and their violent occupations” (Nacos 2005, 439). These depictions
shifted the focus from these militants’ political claims or actions to their looks.
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Usually, these portrayals also displayed a Neo-Orientalist bias. These women
were generally wearing a burqa or a niqab, Islamic garments that received a lot of
attention in the media. The “oriental subject” always has a certain fascination on the
Western reader because “the veiled existence is the very truth of Oriental women […]
(which) seem to exist always in this deceptive manner” (Yeğenoğlu 1998,45). These
items of clothing were used as a visual tool to depict the radicalisation of these individuals
and their new condition of “prisoners” and “victims”, not only of ISIS but also of “Islamic
patriarchy”. The process of radicalisation was reified linguistically: women went from
wearing “jeans and trainers” (Sherwood et al. 2014) to becoming “unrecognisable under
niqabs so full that even their eyes can’t be seen” (Khaleeli 2014) or from being a “blonde-
haired, blue eyed Catholic girl” to being “clad in a niqqab, with only her eyes showing”
(Alexander and Mees 2014).
These statements were also representative of the construction of Western
superiority over the Islamic culture which is structured in levels. The first one is occupied
by the “white/Christian woman”, which is followed by, rephrasing Mamdami’s (2005)
dichotomy, the “good Muslims and, lastly, by the “bad Muslims”. In other words, the
display of their religion reinforced the construction of these women's nature as aberrant.
This practice made them “bad Muslims” because “‘good’ Muslim women are those who
confine their religious practice to private space” (Hussein 2016, 74). Furthermore, this
Neo-Orientalist bias was strengthened by the focus on any “Western” piece of clothing
(men and women) militants may wear – e.g. Western brands were usually emphasised.
These were contrasted with their “Islamic garments” and interpreted as a sign of the
impossibility – or unwillingness – to give up “Western” traditions – which confirmed
Western superiority.
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Their failures as women: marriages and motherhood
Women terrorists were also depicted as deviant through a focus on their (failed) marriages
or their (non-standard) behaviour as mothers. Related to the former, it was argued that a
militant was “'groomed' by Isis recruiters who had preyed on her vulnerability following
the collapse of her marriage” (Morris 2016). Associated with the latter dynamic, a
dichotomic behaviour was identified. On the one hand, a militant was described as having
“abandoned her two children to join Isis in Syria” (Australian Associated Press 2015). On
the other hand, another woman who brought them with her was depicted as a mother who
“kidnaps (her) […] children and flees to Syria to join Isis” (O'Connor 2015).
Overall, these portrayals constructed deviant subjects that failed either in their
marriage or in raising their children. This deviance was based on what is understood to
be the standardised woman, and these militants did not fit within it. In this sense, these
depictions hade a moralising and dehumanising effect, and they pushed these women out
of the realm of “normality”. They were thus interpreted as “deviant subjects” and as such
did not represent a challenge for the discourse – as they were already outside of it.
Islam
When a jihadist group like ISIS was addressed in the news, Islam – and the possible role
this may have had in radicalisation processes – was usually at the centre of attention.
Examples of this were also identified through this analysis. Here, it was stated that a
militant’s father “watched as she became gradually more religious” (Toup Bouchanan
2015). The Neo-Orientalist gaze was also visible: the family of one of the terrorists was
reported to have stated that they “do not know exactly what it was that turned her from
tomboyish Christian to bloodthirsty Islamist. […] ‘the devil’ took from her. Until then
she had been a ‘lovely, sweet child’ who excelled academically […] (and) ‘she loved
20
church” (Rayner 2016).
It has already been argued in the literature (Gunning and Jackson 2011) that the
focus on the religious component of a terrorist group results in a depoliticisation of their
actions. This matter is also observable in the reported examples, where a demonisation of
these militants – and their religion – takes place. Both these processes neglected women’s
agency, safeguarding the discourses on gender and Neo-Orientalism.
Liberation, rebellion, adventure, and feminism as goals
The decision to join ISIS was also interpreted as an adventure, a quest for liberation, or
as a gesture of rebellion. One of the common arguments that was identified was that “for
Isis women, it’s not about ‘jihadi brides’: it’s about escape” (Khan 2015). Similarly, it
was argued that “teenage infatuation is nothing new, nor is running away from an unhappy
or restrictive home. Yet […] To run of your own free will into what is essentially slavery
is freakish and disturbing” (Pearson 2015). The jihadis’ actions were also described as
“an obscure expression of feminist jihadism” (Saul 2015), and it was claimed that “Isil
women have a new hook for enticing women to join them: a warped version of feminism”
(Sanghani 2015).
The themes of rebellion and adventure were also used to make sense of men
joining ISIS, although this had different effects. Gender constructs men as adventurous
and rebels –therefore their joining ISIS fitted the narrative. Women, on the other hand,
are usually understood as obedient and compliant, and their actions were thus made sense
of through different elements that went from their unhappiness and bad relations with
their parents to “feminism”. In this sense, although their agency was acknowledged, their
political commitment was denied through the childish and irrational connotations that
21
were attached to their acts. Again, they were thus constructed as terrorists that were not
credible.
Family relations
As discussed previously, women terrorists were often depicted as lured or groomed into
terrorism by a male relative, and this was also the case for ISIS women. They were
sometimes described as fleeing to Syria to join a brother, their husband, a cousin, etc. An
example is the way one of these women was described: she was a very active and
important figure within the group but she was still said to have “travelled from Kent to
Syria in 2013 to join her husband” (Malik 2015a).
This frame neglected women terrorists’ political commitments and, although their
intentionality was recognised, their actions were understood as belonging to a man’s
agenda. In this sense, their full agency was denied because the presence of a man had
driven their actions –and this reconciled their acts with the discourse. Therefore, these
militants only existed as terrorists when attached to these men. The process of
infantilization and homoterritorialisation of these women was thus observable: they were
victims of Muslim men to be protected from their male relative(s). Men, on the other
hand, were not usually depicted to join ISIS because of a female relative.
Personal traumas
The media also tended to emphasise personal traumas that may have led these jihadis to
join ISIS. For example, it was said that a militant joined the organisation after the “death
of (her) mother from cancer and father getting remarried” (Dodd 2016). Another one was
described as “a former model” who “converted to Islam after her father’s death in 2010
and began wearing conservative Muslim clothes” (Worley 2016). Another element that
22
received attention was the “domestic violence” (Mortimer 2016) some of these women
suffered.
Shifting the focus to their personal problems hid these women’s political
commitment. This frame only made sense of women terrorists within a certain degree of
exceptionality: only a significant trauma in their lives may explain their engagement in
violence. Furthermore, a sense of pity was generated in the audience which somehow
excused these women for their violent occupations. This compassion infantilised them as
subjects and irrationalised their actions. Once again, they were thus made into a terrorist
that was not credible and the discourse on gender was safeguarded – their actions were
“only” a result of their traumas. A Neo-Orientalist element could be detected: their
conversion to Islam – when this was the case – was sometimes narrated as a consequence
of these traumas.
The “hormone driven” jihadists
A further narrative employed was the one describing women as “hormone driven” jihadis.
It was, for example, claimed that “The jihadi girls are just part of a long line attracted to
mad, bad men […] (these men) can whip up female hormones alarmingly […] In the dark
web of the female psyche lie these desires for pain, self destruction and annihilation”
(Alibhai-Brown 2015). Similarly, but through a Neo-Orientalist perspective, it was also
said that “Raqqa’s warriors wield a sexual power […] Marrying one is a religiously
approved way to channel the mad, hormonal energy that powers all teenagers” (Iqbal
2015).
These statements fit within the broader “erotomania” narrative. According to this,
women terrorists display sexual deviance that explains why they join a terrorist group:
these subjects are presented as deviant because standard women “have a discreet and
23
controlled sex life” (Sjoberg and Gentry 2008, 10). Again, these portrayals returned the
image of a terrorist that was not credible. These women were depicted as irrational and
immature, driven only by sexual desire and not by political commitment. In this sense,
women were once again victims, both of terrorist men, of their hormones, and of sexual
appetite. Because of these characteristics, they were deviant subjects, not standard ones;
consequently, they did not represent a challenge for the discourse. In this specific case, a
Neo-Orientalist element could also be observed in the depiction of the pursuit of a
religiously-approved marriage conveyed through a certain degree of irrationality.
Overall, men were not narrated as “hormone driven”. In some instances, men were
said to have joined the group because of “promises of cash and women” (Fitzherbert
2016), but this returned a different, agential picture of these militants. The voices of these
women seemed to clash with this frame. One of them was described as having said the
following: “We’re not stupid young brainwashed females, we’ve come here to Syria for
ALLAH alone” (as quoted in Dearden 2014a).
The betrayal of “Jihadi Brides”
The Neo-Orientalist perspective interpreted these women’s actions as a betrayal of the
“Western” generosity. Here, the tone used to describe these militants was of strong
condemnation. For example, it was said that “if teenage girls want to join Isis in the face
of all its atrocities, then they should leave and never return” (Dent 2015). Similarly, it
was claimed that “If you make your bed with barbarians, you can lie in it” (Dent 2015)
and, that, therefore, “if [female] Britons want to join Isis, let them go” (Dejevsky 2015).
One militant was described as having “‘betrayed’ (her) family through her radicalisation”
(Eleftheriou-Smith 2014). This frame was also identifiable in relation to men jihadis who
were defined “hopeless hypocrites who claim to despise the West but who pathetically
24
wear Nike trainers and daub their temples with expensive Chanel cologne (Egoiste,
appropriately, the preferred aroma)” (Johnson 2015).
Overall, these depictions reinforced the Neo-Orientalist idea of superiority of the
“generous” West and constructed their engagement with ISIS as a betrayal. Jihadis were
depicted as guilty of their actions in very derogative ways which demonised their actions
and irrationalised them. In this sense, their political commitments are neglected, and their
actions depoliticised. Specifically, in the case of women, the condemnation of their
actions also resulted in an infantilisation of these subjects.
Interestingly, some of these women seemed to respond to this Neo-Orientalist
view and restated their rejection of the West. They were reported to have said that “I
might be only 18 but I know coming to shaam [Syria] the best decision staying in the UK
completely diminishes your Islam [sic]” (as quoted in Dearden 2014a). Another militant
was described as having claimed that “If we had stayed behind, we could have been
blessed with it all from a relaxing and comfortable life and lots of money. Wallahi [I
swear] that’s not what we want [sic]” (as quoted in Sherwood et al. 2014). Another
woman was described as having tweeted “follow the examples of your brothers from
Woolwich, Texas and Boston […] If you cannot make it to the battlefield, then bring the
battlefield to yourself” (as quoted in Khaleeli 2014).
Conclusion
The present article presented an overview of how Western media made sense of the
phenomenon of women joining ISIS. As it has been argued, the fact that these militants
may willingly decide to join the terrorist organisation challenges the mainstream gender
and Neo-Orientalist understandings of these actors. These discourses have intersected in
Western societies in the figure of Muslim women and constructed them as vulnerable and
25
passive subjects, and as prey of Muslim men and their culture in general. However, their
act of joining the terrorist organisation represents a great gesture of agency and, as such,
jeopardises these constructions.
It is because of this reason that the media make sense of these women through
specific narratives which, in one way or another, reconcile these subjects’ actions with
the discourses. The focus when reporting these women’s story is systematically shifted
to their personal issues. This process irrationalises them, denies their agency and their
intentionality and, overall, constructs a terrorist that is not credible and is apolitical. These
processes may be divided into two main strategies: on the one hand, these subjects are
presented as deviants, and therefore they do not represent a challenge to the discourse
because they are already outside of it. On the other one, they are interpreted as “too
standard” and their actions as ways to fulfilling their role “by all means”. Both these
strategies safeguard and reify the discourse and, more specifically, the construction of the
normative “Muslim woman” in Western societies.
More in general, the present article aimed at problematising the misleading
comprehension of ISIS women militants. A narrow, gender bias interpretation may limit
the understanding of these women’s actions to their personal problems and thus restrict a
vision that should take into account more elements. In other words, this process prevents
fully grasping the phenomenon and, consequently, to provide an effective response to
radicalisation dynamics. Therefore, the present article aimed at providing a reflection that
may contribute to the critical deconstruction and denaturalisation of the status of the
discourses on gender and the on “the Orient” present in Western societies.
26
1 Different names are used to refer to this organisation with specific political implications: Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Islamic State (IS) or Da’esh (from the
Arabic ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām). In this article, the name used to refer to the group
is ISIS because this is the one employed in two of the three broadsheets analysed (The Guardian and The
Independent; The Telegraph names it ISIL).
2 The author recognises the problematic use of the following categories: the “West”, “Western values”,
“Western civilisation”, “Western societies” or “Western world”. These monolithic understandings are
against the main aim of this article, however, these were used to ease the arguments made. The same logic
applies to the labels “Islam”, “Muslims”, “Muslim women” and “Muslim men”.
3 The author recognises that “terrorism” or “Islamic terrorism” are highly problematic labels.
4 The phrase “War on Terror” refers to the US-led international military, political, legal and cultural action
to counter-terrorism and regimes supporting it. Although the label was rejected officially by the US
government in 2009, it still shapes nowadays political and popular understanding of counter-terrorism
activities. For a deeper analysis of the discourses legitimising “post-9/11” counter-terrorism measures see,
among others, Jackson, R. 2005. Writing the War on Terrorism. Language, politics and Counter-Terrorism.
Manchester: Manchester University Press.
5 The category of terrorism entails much more than this. For example, the instillation of fear (terror) in a
specific (sub)group of a society, or the fact that this violence is usually pressuring a secondary subject
(which is not the direct target of this violence). Many are the (contested) characteristics of “terrorism”, but
the ones that are relevant to the argument of this article are, above all, the fact that it is a lethal, destructive
and illegal violence.
6 The use of this term is problematic, however most of the groups that are usually identified with this word
mostly self-identify and self-label themselves as “jihadists”.
7 Until May 2017, very few ISIS women were involved in terrorist attacks in ISIS territories. This depended
on the structure and strategy of the organisation that assigned women the role of mothers of the future
generations of terrorists more than as fighters involved in the conflict.
8 It should be recognised that there is also a sensational way of narrating the news which is a choice made
by the journalists.
9 I have conducted this research using the following keywords: “Jihadi Bride(s)”, “female jihadi ISIS”,
“Woman jihadi ISIS”, and “Women/Woman join(ing) ISIS”. The time frame has been determined by the
declaration of the Caliphate (2014) and the moment in which these lines have been written –May 2017.
Moreover, I have deliberately left aside general phrases as “women - ISIS” as the terrorist organisation was
known for kidnapping and enslaving women belonging to other ethnic groups – e.g. the Yazidis. Stories
dealing with these issues were the results when more general researches were conducted.
Nevertheless, it should be acknowledged that the terms used to conduct the research may, in part, have
returned biased results. However, my aim was to focus specifically on women jihadists to be able to discuss
in deep the resulting frames. Besides, I have tried to compensate this bias by using a wide selection of
keywords and by tracking the ways “foreign fighters” were described.
10 Mainly, the articles were published in the news sections (e.g security, international, ISIS, etc); some were
also editorials or opinion/comment pieces.
11 The results were codified with Nvivo 11. The following analytical questions have driven the analysis:
what are the (described) reasons that drove these women to ISIS? How are subjects depicted? What personal
aspects are highlighted? What are the assumptions that drove these descriptions and what are the meanings
they attach to these women’s actions?
12 Considering the nature of ISIS, it is likely that some of the social media profiles that are considered to
belong to these women will turn out to be hoaxes. However, the fact that the articles treat these profiles as
real is more important for the argument made here.
13 Although some differences emerged both in the coverage and in the tones used in the descriptions, there
was little variation in the way the identified frames were used to portray these women. As a matter of fact,
despite the different political ascriptions, all the frames identified could be found in all the sources in a
quite homogenous way (see table 2).
14 For example, “foreign fighters” was the label used to define the non-Spanish citizens joining the Spanish
Civil War (1936 – 1939).
27
Declaration of interest statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
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TABLE 1
Broadsheet The Guardian /
The Observer
The Independent The Telegraph Total
Articles per
source
87 78 80 245
Table 1. Distribution of the sources
TABLE 2
Source
Narrative
Total The
Independent
The
Telegraph
The
Guardian /
The
Observer
The label “Jihadi Brides” 14
50%
48%
64%
37%
36
The vulnerable, confused
and naïve jihadists
50%
50%
35%
64%
Lured, groomed, and enticed jihadists
49%
59%
43%
45%
Marriage as goal
49%
51%
56%
41%
Physical appearances:
beauty and “Islamic appearances”
24%
16%
31%
25%
Their failures as women:
marriages and motherhood
24%
22%
24%
25%
Islam
19%
13%
19%
23%
Liberation, rebellion, adventure,
and feminism as goals
16%
10%
18%
18%
Family relations
13%
10%
16%
9%
Personal traumas
11%
9%
10%
11%
The “hormone driven” jihadists
10%
3%
10%
6%
The betrayal of “Jihadi Brides”
9%
7%
16%
3%
Table 2. Distribution of results
