Women in terrorism and

their representation in the

media.

​Laura Bartley - 2018

4207 Words
Introduction

The phenomenon of ‘foreign fighters’ travelling to Iraq and Syria was an issue which
the Western media took a particular fascination with, partly due to the unprecedented level of
Western Muslims voluntarily choosing to join ISIS. For instance in 2015, the Soufan Group
reported that up to 31,000 recruits from over 86 countries had travelled to join ISIS forces,
with 5000 of these coming from Western states1 and 600 of them being women. In fact in
2016 it was estimated that 40 per cent of all French migrants in ISIS-controlled territory were
women (Rubin and Breeden 2016). Moreover according to a report on the issue of
Westerners joining ISIS by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue on the topic “the profile of this
cohort differs from the norm; there are a higher proportion of women, they are younger, and
they are less likely to be known to the authorities,” (Briggs and Silverman 2014, p.6). Yet
despite this empirical evidence of women’s participation in an armed, Islamist struggle,
media portrayals of women’s violence is continually treated as unnatural or exceptional. This
may arise from the preconceived idea that ‘feminity’ is incompatible with violence as women
are traditionally represented in culture as ‘nurturers’, ‘carers’ or ‘peacemakers’, whereas men
tend to be viewed as more ‘political’ and ‘violent.’ This is a phenomenon that was identified
by Gardner (2007, p.912) who argues:
“journalists thus frame female inclusion in political violence as ‘unnatural’
and worthy of explanation, suggesting that women who relocate from the
private sphere to the public sphere of political violence necessitate
contextual explanations for their actions.”

Thus, the purpose of this essay is to analyse this specific intersection of women,
terrorism and media in order to examine the ways in which Western women joining ISIS are
portrayed in UK media and the subsequent implications on representations of their individual
and political agency. By focusing on the British newspapers’ framing of two British citizens
who chose to join ISIS, firstly Sally Jones (who gained notoriety for her recruitment and
propaganda tactics) and Kadiza Sultana (one of the three British schoolgirls who travelled to
Syria in March 2015). Therefore the focal point of this essay is on the British national
newspapers’ framing of Jones and Sultana in relation to their agency and motivations, as

1
For the purpose of this essay, ‘Western’ states refers to European countries, the United States, Canada,
Australia or New Zealand.
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opposed to directly analysing their agency and motivation in joining ISIS. The essay will
question whether the framing of females in politically violent groups (such as ISIS) and
women who commit violence challenges gender stereotypes or is obfuscated by the use of
frames that portray women as being victimised or irrational so as to remove their capacity to
be active agents.
Firstly, the essay will begin by tracing the feminist academic engagement with the
issue of politically violent women, in order to appreciate the media’s role in framing
pre-existing assumptions of these transgressive women. The essay will then proceed to
examine the media coverage of two British women who travelled to Syria in order to
participate in ISIS activities. This is carried out as a means of assessing whether Nacos’
(2005) frames are applicable to contemporary female political violence and if so what
implications can be drawn on these portrayals in terms of female political motivations and
subjectivity.

Women, terrorism and the media

“The media fetishizes female terrorists. This contributes to the belief

that there is something really unique, something ​just not right about
the women who kill. We make assumptions about what these women
think, why they do what they do, and what ultimately motivates them.
Women involved in terrorist violence are demonized more than male
terrorists… The common assumption is that female terrorists must be
even ​more depressed, ​crazier​, ​more suicidal, or ​more psychopathic
than their male counterparts.” (Bloom 2011, p. 33-34, emphases in
original).

In the seminal work “Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Women’s Violence in Global

Politics” Gentry and Sjoberg (2007) argue that there are three different narratives in
representations of agency of women participating in political violence - mother, monster,
whore - that ultimately serve to ‘other’ violent women. Significantly in this work they
highlight the problematic tendency in both academic and policy related discussions to explain
women’s violence as having different motivations from men’s by arguing that “women who
commit violence have been characterized as anything but regular criminals or regular soldiers

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or regular terrorists; they are captured in storied fantasies which deny women’s agency and
reify gender stereotypes and subordination,” (ibid, p. 4-5). It is these gender norms such as
masculine traits (bravery and strength) and feminine traits (innocence and fragility) which
render women’s violence as being “outside of these ideal-typical understandings of what it
means to be a woman,” (ibid, p. 2). This is potentially due to the anomaly of women taking
life as opposed to their traditional role of ‘life-giver’ - indeed the idea of motherhood and
politically violent women is discussed in reference to the notion of ‘twisted maternalism’ by
Gentry (2009, p.242). In her discussion of twisted maternalism Gentry critiques how political
violent women such as Palestinian suicide bombers continued to be objectified and denied
agency because their reasons and motivations for engaging in such violent acts is framed in
relation to the individuals marriage, divorce, children or lack thereof and is thus explained in
domestic and maternal language. This echoes the pathologisation of women terrorists - that
there must be something wrong with a woman’s femininity in order for her to have the
capacity to commit a terrorist/violent act. Sjoberg and Gentry (2008, p. 17) specifically argue
that the dominant Orientalist narrative in academia, politics and the media is that the sexually
dysfunctional Western woman is violent because she refuses to conform, to please men or in
fact revolts against her role as one who ought to please men - whereas Islamic women are
violent because there is something wrong with them that makes them ​unable to please men.
This is an interesting point as typically Western women’s decision to join ISIS often makes
the assumption that the ​muhajirat are acting irrationality or have little decision-making
autonomy. As outlined by Loken and Zelenz (2017, p. 50) this classifies women’s motivation
into two categories: (1) women are motivated by romance or sex, complementing Gentry and
Sjoberg’s (2008) “erotomania and erotic dysfunction” classification of female violence; (2)
women are naive and easily tricked by recruiters who sell an unrealistic portrayal of life in
ISIS-controlled territory.
In relation to the connection of female terrorism and the media, since female terrorism
is generally perceived as exceptional or unconventional, the media often exploits this
sensationalism. For instance Braden (1996, quoted in Nacos 2005, p.437) argues that at least
in relation to women politicians “women are at their most newsworthy when they are doing
something ‘unladylike.’” This is a point further elaborated on again by Gentry and Sjoberg
(2008, p.5) in their claim that when narratives of women’s violence in politics are explored in
the media, the writer’s simply explain away the possibility of female agency in the choice to

3
kill or injure. Yet in spite of this blatant sensationalist media coverage of female terrorists and
the established research carried out in relation to media framing of terrorism and extremism,
lesser academic attention has focused on the gendered dynamics of media representation of
political violence. This is stated with an acknowledgement that as emphasised by Nacos
(2005, p. 436) there is no evidence that male and female terrorists differ fundamentally with
regards to their recruitment, motivations for joining, ideological devotion or even cruelty of
their violence. Yet despite this the media representation and portrayal of female terrorists is
continually framed by existing gender stereotypes and in fact reinforces them. In this manner
newsrooms are not exempt to the “prejudices that play perniciously just beneath the surface
of American life,” (Nacos 2005, p. 437). Therefore these explanatory frames frequently
employed by the media are incredibly important as they have the power not only to reveal
insights into and shape a society’s understanding of ​events ​but also the wider implication of
shaping society’s ​gender assumptions​. In this regard the work of Entman (1993, p.52) is
highly influential in relation to this concept of ‘framing’ which refers to a way of ascribing
importance to certain aspects of a narrative which “promote a particular problem definition,
causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation. Moreover the
concept of framing is significant as it allows for a comprehension of how information is
orientated in order to favour or promote a specific interpretation of said information
(Robinson 2002, p. 137).
Regarding the relationship between framing and female terrorists, Nacos (2005)
specifically researches this relationship between the media and terrorism and in doing so has
identified similar gender stereotypes/framing in the media’s representation of female
politicians and female terrorists. Table One located below outlines the six frames Nacos
identifies as being frequently used in media coverage of female terrorists, and also expands
on this by developing two alternative frames that build on Nacos work and will be used to
analyse the Jones and Sultana in this essay.

Table One. Frames of Analysis for Female Terrorists

Frame Indicators

Nacos’ Frames (2005)

Physical Appearance How media highlights physical attributes

such as gender, hair, dress, height,

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 accessories (e.g. veil, glasses) as important
(2005, p.439)

Family Connection How news pays attention to close familial

relations, role/identity in family (e.g. mother
or daughter)

Terrorist for the sake of love Intimate relationships, travelling for the
sake of love, marital status

Bored, naive, out-of-touch-with-reality Persuaded by propaganda, naivety,

brainwashed, troubled environment (drugs,
alcohol etc)

Tough-as-Males/Tougher-than-Men Brutality of violence, depravity, ideological

fervour

Additional Frames

Deviancy/Irrationality Combines aspects of Nacos (2005) ‘physical

appearance’, ‘tough-as-males’ and
‘bored/naive’ frames but with a focus on the
irrationality and sexual/violent deviancy of
the individual. Lack of rationality -
reduction to deviancy and exclusion from
womanhood.

Infantilisation/Victim Expands on Nacos (2005) ‘bored, naive,

out-of-touch-with-reality’ frame by focusing
on the vulnerability and lack of agency of
innocent, unsuspecting, easily-led ‘girls’.
Draws on the work of Herlitz (2016) who
uses concept of Orientalism and
infantilisation.

Comparison of the gendered media framing of the ‘White Widow’, Sally Jones and
Bethnal Green schoolgirl, Kadiza Sultana

In order to examine the applicability of these frames in the current news media
representation of female terrorists, this section of the essay will carry out a brief media
analysis of two British female ISIS recruits and compare the discursive similarities in their
portrayals. The first woman is Sally Jones, formerly “one of the world's most wanted female
terrorists” who had who converted to Islam, travelled to Syria with his son and husband in
2013 and became a leading recruiter for Islamic State (Wintour 2017). The second woman

5
featured is Kadiza Sultana, who aged 16 travelled to Syria in March 2016 along with her two
friends, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum. The sampling of news articles runs from 4th
April 2014 to 4th April 2018 in order to gain an insight into the media discourse during Jones
and Sultana’s involvement with ISIS in Syria and the reports which continued following their
deaths in May 2016 and June 2017 respectively. For the UK National newspapers selected
within the outlined timeframe, the data corpus was gathered on Nexis UK by searching
articles containing the key terms “Sally Jones or “Kadiza Sultana” with three or more
mentions and contained any mention of “ISIS”, which garnered 144 article results for Jones
and 147 articles for Sultana (excluding duplicates). These articles will be used in the
quantitative analysis in order to gain insight into which indicators/frames are the most
dominant and whether any differences emerge as to how the two individuals decision to join
ISIS is portrayed by the news media.

Sally Jones - ‘The White Widow’

The media coverage and reaction to Sally Jones is marked by a frequent and
continuous use of the ​family connection frame, even the use of the nickname ‘The White
Widow” following her husband’s death in August 2015 illustrates her consistent framing in
relation to her role as a wife. This echoes Morgan’s (1989, cited in Loken and Zelenz 2017)
idea that women are coerced into terror and violence through “recruitment by romance” and
links in with the ‘terrorist for the sake of love’ frame. The family connection frame also
yields the highest number of hits in relations to the relevant indicators when analysed using
TextStat.

Family Connection Frame Hits

Mother 145

mother-of-two 37

son 349

widow 238

brother 26

family 98

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 wife 68

JoJo 162

Hussein 6

Total Hits: 1129

Significantly the use of the nickname, the White Widow, evokes the imagery and
memory of the Chechen ‘Black Widows’, which refers to Chechen woman who became
suicide bombers in order to avenge a male relative’s death, usually her husband. However a
common thread in many of the articles relates to Jones’ role as mother, often portrayed by the
media as an ‘unfit’ mother for instance one Mirror headline reads “How sick British mum
Sally Jones turned her 'kind and loving' son Joe, 11, into grinning ISIS killer” (Connor 2016)
and “Father says blue-eyed British boy 'killer' seen executing a captured prisoner in Syria is
the son he had with Sally Jones who 'brainwashed' the youngster and took him to join ISIS”
(Daily Mail 2016). This strong demonisation of Jones for her perceived negligence and
failure in her duty of care towards her son JoJo echoes Gentry’s (2009, p.242) discussion of
‘twisted maternalism’ of how women’s agency in engaging in violent acts is described with a
focus on the individual’s children and thus explained in domestic and maternal language.

Terrorist for the sake of love' Frame Hits

love 63

marry 22

marrying 17

married 60

Total Hits: 162

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 Another of Nacos’ frames that can clearly be seen in the representation of Jones is the
Physical Appearance Frame who is often described using sexualised imagery, for instance multiple
articles refer to her wearing a “skimpy leather mini-skirt” in a photo of her performing with her punk
rock band in the 1990s. The consequence of such descriptions can be viewed in what Gentry and
Sjoberg (2008, p. 9) refer to as the trend to “sexualize and minimize women’s political
violence...women’s role in global politics becomes fetishized by this equation of political activism and
violence to sexual acts and objectification.” Thus through the use of sexual language, in this case
Jones’ agency in her own violence is distorted and twisted and in fact her femaleness in general is
debased.

Physical Appearance Frame Hits

beautiful 13

White 3

Pale-skinned 1

Blue-eyed 13

Tall 1

Burqa 9

Mini-skirt 13

leather 13

skimpy 4

Total Hits: 70

Additionally, there is evidence of the ‘Bored, naive, out-of-touch-with-reality’ frame

being used in relation to Jones, though to a lesser degree than the previously mentioned frame
as it resulted in less hits. Nonetheless particular emphasis is placed on Jones’ instability and
‘troubled’ life with reference to her drug and alcohol use distorting her perception of reality,
her struggle with post-natal depression following the birth of her son and also heavy
reference to her brainwashing.

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 Bored, naïve,
out-of-touch-with-reality' Frame

troubled 4

post-natal 4
depression

drinking heavily 7

drugs 13

unstable 4

unemployed 8

benefits 19

brainwashed 40

Total Hits: 99

Finally there is strong evidence of Sally Jones being portrayed through the frame of
tough-as-males/tougher-than-men with a consistent emphasis placed on her brutal, violent
deviancy. The language used to describe her as ‘violent’, ‘bloodthirsty’, ‘depraved’ has the
frightening effect of conjuring an image of a woman with little feminine traits to such an
extent that it can be argued it reduces her to violent dysfunction/deviancy and excludes her
from the traditional notion of ‘womanhood’.

Tough-as-Males/Tougher-than-Men Hits
Frame

Toyboy 12

violent 38

gruesome 6

bloodthirsty 7

depraved 4

dangerous 9

9
 fanatic 17

witch 7

punk 134

rocker 56

guitarist 46

revenge 5

blunt knife 53

Total Hits: 327

However whilst the above frames can be seen as applicable to the case of Sally Jones’
portrayal in the media, in relation to the framing of her motivation and agency in engaging
with ISIS none of the above fully explore this aspect in an in-depth manner. Therefore, as the
common trend of deviancy/irrationality was apparent in several of the frames - it is
potentially beneficial to combine aspects of Nacos (2005) ‘physical appearance’,
‘tough-as-males’ and ‘bored/naive’ frames in order to focus on how the irrationality and
sexual/violent deviancy of Jones is framed and how the representation of her lack of
rationality in fact reduces her to her deviancy and eliminates much of her political
subjectivity and agency.

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 The above graph displays the results of combining several of the indicators which
relate to Jones’ social/sexual/violent deviancy and her irrationality in deciding to become an
ISIS recruit that are also found under the previous frames. Many of the indicators relates to
characteristics and attributes which transgress and deviate from traditional gender norms
associated with women, for instance ‘violent’, ‘bloodthirsty’, ‘depraved.’ Whereas other
indicators accumulate to build an image of a women who is beyond rational reason, for
example ‘brainwashed,’ ‘unstable,’ and ‘fanatic.’ The idea that a Western woman would
choose to join ISIS is portrayed as shocking precisely because it is described as unbelievable
that someone in their right mind would choose to join ISIS. However as argued by Mahmood
(2005, p. 15) agency can be understood not only as a capacity for action but also acts which
resist norms and structures. In this regard Western women like Jones who initiate contact
with ISIS are arguably going against societal norms and thus become something ‘other’. It is
in this manner that Jones is often denied agency by the British press.

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 Overall when adding the deviancy/irrational frame alongside Nacos (2005) other
frames, the family connection frame still remains the most frequently used lense through
which Jones is represented (as displayed in the above graph with illustrates the different
frequencies which frame indicators are used). However this is primarily due to the fact that
her role as a female terrorist/recruiter is viewed as the antithesis of traditional motherhood
and therefore in many ways complements the notion of the deviancy/irrationality frame.

Kadiza Sultana

In a similar manner to the way that the Family Connection frame was the most
dominant for Sally Jones, the same is true for Kadiza Sultana. However the tone of the
articles and the way in which the family connection frame is applied to this case is
remarkably different. For instance many articles derive from sympathetic interviews with the
parents and sister of Sultana and thus the frame is employed to show the loving environment,
the ordinariness/normalcy of her life and the subsequent horror of Kadiza’s travelling to
Syria. For instance one Daily Mail Onlne (2015a) headline reads “'​We feel our loss more
acutely on Mother's Day': Families of runaway ISIS schoolgirls issue new appeal for
'beloved' daughters to return home from Syria​” and another “'​They are normal teenagers who
watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians': Families of three schoolgirls who fled Britain to
join ISIS tell MPs there was 'no sign they had been radicalised​'” (Daily Mail Online 2015b).

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 Family Connection Frame

Daughter 64

family 290

relatives 37

child 35

father 49

mother 51

sister 164

families 381

Total Hits: 1071

This sympathetic tone is continued throughout the ‘Bored, naive,

out-of-touch-with-reality’ frame in that Sultana’s status and age as a ‘schoolgirl’ who was
‘unaware’ she was being ‘brainwashed’ has a level on innocence and naivety which Jones’
‘out-of-touch-with-reality’ frame (that focused more of her distortion of reality) lacks. Instead
with Sultana there is an underlying infantilising implication that she did not really know what
she was doing. Kadiza and the two other girls, are undoubtedly represented as having been
active and independent in their decision to leave the UK for Syria, however once they do so
they become victims. As noted by Herliz (2016, p. 39) this may be due to the association of
ISIS’s oppression of women with regard to sexual slavery and limited autonomy, but could
also be a reflection of the link to Western liberal values of women’s emancipation as
discussed by Gentry and Sjoberg (2015, p.149). This victimisation of Sultana could also
relate to the Orientalist concept put forth by Nayak (2006, cited in Herlitz 2016) of how
Muslim women are viewed as being victims of ‘their own’ men and thus in need of being
saved.

Bored, naïve,
out-of-touch-with-reality'

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 Frame

schoolgirl 72

brainwashed 15

unaware 3

unprepared 13

persuaded 13

Total Hits: 116

This trend of innocence/infantilisation persists through much of the media framing of

Sultana’s involvement with ISIS. Even in the Physical Appearance frame gendered descriptions are
undoubtedly present in reference to Sultana, but yet again are notably more positive than the terms
used in relation to Jones (e.g. beautiful and pretty vs. skimpy). Additionally there is more references
to religious dress than with the terms ‘veiled’, ‘veil’, ‘hijab’ and ‘burqa’ all making frequent
appearances throughout the articles examined.

Physical Appearance Frame Hits

beautiful 13

veiled 14

veil 12

hijab 13

Tall 7

Burqa 2

slim 7

glasses 9

pretty 9

Total Hits: 86

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Finally the ‘terrorist for the sake of love’ frame is also present in the media’s portrayal of
Kadiza Sultana, however the discussion here is very much wrapped up in the Orientalist idea
that Muslim women are controlled by men and culture and thus incapable of agency in
politics or violence (Gentry and Sjoberg 2008, p.13).

Terrorist for the sake of love'

Frame

love 62

marry 53

marrying 6

married 112

Total Hits: 233

The ‘tough-as-males/tougher-than-men’ frame was not analysed for Sultana as

extremely few hits were found in the articles. This in and of itself, is an interesting result as it
emphasises the victimisation and infantilisation that dominated the overall framing of Sultana
from the time of her travelling to Syria in March 2015 to her reported death in May 2016. She
is not represented as bloodthirsty or brutally violent, in fact the opposite is true here.
Therefore in a similar manner to developing a new framework for the media representation of
Jones (the Deviancy/Irrationality frame), it is useful to view the overall media coverage of
Kadiza Sultana by expanding Nacos (2005) ‘bored, naive…’ frame focusing specifically on
the naivety and innocence of the portrayal of her decision to become an ISIS recruit. By
focussing on indicators that denote vulnerability and victimhood to Sultana, under what shall
be called the ‘Infantilisation’ frame, deeper insights into how the media represents her agency
is gained.

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 It is clear from the above graph which displays the frequency of words which fall
under the Infantilisation frame are used to describe Sultana. For example consistent
references to her young age, school and also describing her as having been ‘at risk’ and
‘vulnerable’ reinforces this notion that she is a victim, a passive agent in her decision to
travel to Syria in order to engage with ISIS.

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Finally when accounting for the Infantilisation frame alongside the other frames, it is
noteworthy to recognise that it in fact contains a higher frequency of hits than even the family
connection frame, which highlights the explanatory power of using such a frame can have.

Conclusion

Throughout this essay has engaged with the issue of politically violent women, in
order to appreciate the media’s role in framing pre-existing assumptions of these
transgressive women. By examining the media coverage of two British women who travelled
to Syria in order to participate in ISIS activities, an assessment of whether Nacos’ (2005)
frames are applicable to contemporary female political violence was carried out and showed
that indeed many of the frames she identified continued to be used by the media. Yet in
relation to gaining insight to the political agency of the female ISIS recruits, the essay
expanded and combined elements of these frames in order to discuss the two women in
relation to Deviancy/Irrationality and Infantilisation Frame. These two new frames show that
political violent women’s agency is still reduced in the media by either depicting them as
deviant, irrational monsters or innocent victims who know no better. This has large
implications in terms of female political motivations and subjectivity as “the agency of
Muslim women participating in political violence lies in recognising their political
motivations as opposed to just their personal, and recognising that they are neither victims of
their culture or religion, nor of men of their culture or religion,” (Herlitz 2016 p.40).
By analysing the role of women in the terrorist organisations and their participation in
violent acts, but also their portrayal by the media, this essay has sought to show that it is
imperative that the understandings and assumptions of female terrorists that we have already
made are challenged - for example the belief that terrorism is a hyper-masculine space
composed of merely men may become more nuanced when we account for the role women
play. Moreover the examination of these gendered dynamics is therefore of the utmost
importance because if we continue to take seriously only male terrorists then we are bound to
miss the gendered consequences of female terrorism and continue to relegate the political
agency of women to the background.

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