From Mothers and Daughters to Recruiters and Martyrs

Women who engage in acts of violence expose the complex nexus, norms, expectations, and assumptions that operate within the performance of femininity, and make audible the deafening silence regarding the disjuncture of traditional gender roles. Using content analysis, this dissertation examines the trajectory that some women follow in becoming terrorists. This is done by identifying certain radicalizing elements that may act as tipping points in the process of an individual embracing violence. Following a theoretical review of some of the most pivotal publications that have attempted to define the term terrorism, this book provides an in-depth analysis of two variables that typify most female suicide bombers. By looking at the issues of rape, revenge and despair, the author determines how intense feelings of injustice, humiliation, trauma, the need for identity, and the need for belonging may translate into sources of motivation that bring women to commit terrorist-related attacks.