Analysing the Recruitment and Use of Foreign Men and Women in ISIL through a Gender Perspective

Militarized masculinities beyond methodological nationalism: charting the multiple masculinities of an Indonesian jihadi

“…This is particularly imperative when writing about what has come to be known as violent extremism, as much of the IR scholarship on this topic has not directly engaged with those individuals’ who are involved in it. The lack of direct scholarship working with violent extremists to explore masculinities means that scholarship has lent itself to broadly generalized accounts of how terrorist ideology is masculine, without granular explorations of how multiple masculinities shape its practice (Morgan 2014; Necef 2016; Van Leuven et al 2016). Focussing on one life history is not done to suggest that Ali’s experiences are generalizable, but to show how the universalized narratives of militarized masculinity failed to capture the complexity of his experiences, and that this complexity matters for understanding the phenomena.…”

Conclusion: The Way Forward

“…Throughout the magazine, Dabiq, for example, IS praises the principles of male honour and individual self-sacrifice; IS romanticises war and presents engaging in violent jihad as a means by which potential recruits can prove they are not cowardly, passive, weak or feminine (Andersen & Sandberg, 2020). IS confronts their potential recruits with a hypermilitarised, hyper-masculinised image of what it means to be 'real men', and entices these potential recruits with the promise of power, glory, wives and/or sex slaves, financial reward and membership of a 'brotherhood', providing them with a sense of meaning, belonging and the fulfilment of their perceived entitlement to power (Van Leuven et al, 2016). Though religion often gains significant attention, the appeal of jihad is not always raised out of religiosity, but rather an attraction to war, which "transforms ordinary men into superheroes" (Aslam, 2012).…”

“…With a few exceptions, the exploration of the role of concepts of masculinity has been largely neglected in the extensive study of Islamic terrorism and violent extremism (Duriesmith & Ismail, 2019;Gerami, 2005). Though some studies have called for recognition of the role of masculinity and incorporation of this into CVE/PVE (Aslam, 2012;Van Leuven et al, 2016), limited progress has been made in this direction thus far. Understanding how masculinity influences the radicalisation process is an essential step and this understanding needs to be translated into strategies to prevent and counter violent extremism.…”