Framing Female Terrorists
Innocent beautiful souls, religious subordinates or beastly lipstick
terrorists?
A study into the way female terrorists are framed in the Dutch public debate and
what factors influence the appearance of these frames
“When popular wisdom had it that women could not work like men, women worked like men until men believed they could. When popular wisdom had it that women could not vote like men, women campaigned until men believed they could. When popular wisdom had it that women were not as intellectually capable as men, women competed in classrooms and workplaces until men believed they belonged there. When popular wisdom had it that women had no place in the text of international human rights declarations or war crimes tribunal, women advocated until men listened. Now, popular wisdom says women are not capable of violence like men..”
–
Laura Sjoberg and Caron E. Gentry 1
1 Sjoberg, L. and Gentry, C.E. “Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Women’s Violence in International Politics”. London: Zed
Master Thesis Crisis and Security Management
Framing female terrorists
Innocent beautiful souls, religious subordinates or beastly lipstick
terrorists?
A study into the way female terrorists are framed in the Dutch public debate and
what factors influence the appearance of these frames
Author: Rebecca van Winkelhof (S2102153)
Supervisor: Dr. J. Vüllers
Second Reader: Drs. G.M. van Buuren
Institute: Leiden University
Master Crisis and Security Management
Word count: 23968
Abstract
Rebecca van Winkelhof: Framing Female terrorists: Innocent beautiful souls, religious subordinates or beastly lipstick terrorists? A study into the way female terrorists are framed
in the Dutch public debate and what factors influence the appearance of these frames. (Dr. J Vüllers and Drs. G.M. van Buuren)
Scholarly articles and media often deny the agency of women using violence. Women are either regarded as fragile and innocent and therefore incapable of committing violence, or their motivation to commit violence is explained away by flaws in their biological characteristics such as mental health problems or infertility. These two ways to portray female terrorists are quite divergent. The first one underestimates the capability of women and the second frame overestimates the threat a female can pose. Although it is known that these frames are being used, it has not been researched what induces the overestimating and/or underestimating frames to occur. Furthermore, jihadist terrorism has grown in Europe, yet no research has been done into the way their religious discourses influence the portrayal of women using violence and the particular circumstances that might induce this particular frame to be used.
Hence, this thesis has assessed the usage of three frames in the Dutch public debate between 2012 and 2018. Furthermore, it is studied if and how four factors – (1) Elections, (2) Women travelling abroad to join a terrorist organisation, (3) The reinforcement of the Dutch public debate on returnees and (4) An increase of terrorist attacks in Western Europe- affected the use of the three frames. The conclusion that can be drawn after this assessment is that all three frames have been used to portray female terrorists in the Dutch public debate between 2012 and 2018. However, none of the four factors that were assumed to have an influence on the use of the overestimating and/or underestimating frames, affected the use of them.
Keywords: framing; violence; terrorism; social gender stereotypes; narratives of women;
Acknowledgements
Since the significant work of a master’s degree is the thesis, it should be written on a subject which one finds very fascinating. When I started the master Crisis and Security Management in February 2018, I was already very certain about my thesis topic.
The topic of this thesis is a subject which has intrigued me for a very long time now. It stems from a far-reaching interest in gender equality and feminism. Gender roles and the way they reduce individuals to stereotypical characteristics, I believe is erroneous and steers away from the true potential, capabilities, intentions and independency of an individual. In my opinion, women should be regarded as independent females, able to take matters into their own hands and capable of making rational decisions. In that aspect, I disregard the way in which violent women are being portrayed. Their agency and potential to make rational choices to engage in violence is being denied or explained away. Instead, they are portrayed either as if they are not able to commit violence because of their femininity or as if they are only able to commit violence when they are infertile, mentally ill or sexually deviant. It is important to state that this does not mean that I agree, condone, extenuate or support women’s ideas, decisions and acts to engage in terrorism or join a terrorist organisation.
This thesis would not have been accomplished without the support and supervision of Dr. Vüllers. Therefore, I would like to thank him for his guidance and valuable feedback.
Effectuating a master’s thesis can be a laborious process. Therefore, this thesis would not have been possible without the continuously support of my family, boyfriend and friends and their uplifting words when I got stuck in the process. They have been discussing my ideas about gender (in)equality and female terrorists with me without complaining even once. I would also like to thank Jessica Sciarone as she was very helpful in the period prior to the writing process of the thesis. She helped me to create a more specific picture of what aspect of women and terrorism would be interesting and feasible to study. Her offering to meet and exchange ideas and viewpoints on the subject has been very helpful.
Table of Content
List of figures & tables ... VIII
1. Introduction ... 1 2. Literature review ... 5 3. Theoretical framework... 13 3.1 Frames ... 13 3.2 Dimensions ... 15 3.2.1 Dimensions ... 15 3.2.2 Hypotheses ... 20 4. Case selection ... 26 5. Data ... 29 5.1 Data analysis ... 29 5.2 Data collection... 30
5.3.1 Coding the articles ... 37
5.3.2 Dependent variable ... 41
5.3.2.1 Method of measurement ... 41
5.3.2.2 Results of measurement dependent variable ... 43
5.3.3 Independent variable ... 47
5.3.3.1 Method of measurement ... 47
5.3.3.2 Results of measurement independent variable ... 52
6. Empirical Analysis ... 56
6.1 Hypothesis 1 – Dutch elections ... 57
6.2 Hypothesis 2 – Dutch women joining a terrorist organisation abroad ... 59
6.3 Hypothesis 3 – Reinforcement of the Dutch public on returnees ... 63
6.4 Hypothesis 4 – Increase of terrorist attacks in Western Europe ... 68
7. Conclusion ... 72
9. Bibliography ... 78
Appendix I: Coding scheme ... 93
Appendix ll: Archived articles ... 94
List of figures & tables
Figures
Figure 3.1: Terrorist attacks in Western Europe between 2012-2017………..19
Figure 3.2: The relationship between the dimensions and the frames………...…. 20
Figure 5.1: Articles written on female terrorists between 2012 and 2018 ..………...… 38
Figure 5.2: The number or articles written on female terrorists between 2012-2018 ……...39
Figure 5.3: Certainty of coding the frames………...40
Figure 5.4: Percentage of occurrence of the three frames…….……… ..46
Figure 5.5: The three frames used per three months between 2012 and 2018……….…...47
Figure 5.6: Terrorist attacks in Western Europe between 2012-2017……...….…...………...51
Figure 5.7: Dimension 1: Dutch elections ………..………...…. 52
Figure 5.8: Dimension 2: Dutch women joining a terrorist organisation abroad ……...…….53
Figure 5.9: Dimension 3: Reinforcement of the Dutch public debate on returnees……….… 54
Figure 5.10: Dimension 4: Increase in terrorist attacks in Western Europe ………... 45
Figure 6.1: Dimension 1 and its effect on the frames used………..……....… 57
Figure 6.2: Dimension 2 and its effect on the frames used………...………... 60
Figure 6.3: Dimension 3 and its effect on the frames used………...………... 64
Figure 6.4: Dimension 4 and its effect on the frames used………..… 78
Tables
Table 5.1: Data collection: The news sources ………...34Table 5.2: Articles: Place on the political, religious and social map……… 40
Table 5.3: Discourse analysis category and language indicators………..41
Table 5.4: Binary coding dimension 1: Dutch elections………...……48
Table 5.5: Binary coding dimension 2: Dutch women joining terrorist organisation abroad...49
1. Introduction
“[Tanja Nijmeijer, female terrorist and member of the FARC] is stupid, insane, brainwashed, unworldly, a murderer.” - De Telegraaf, 17 October 2012 2
“These women [female jihadists] are [and can become] victims of rape, murder and human trafficking”. – Sp!ts, 13 June 2014 3
“Young women marry jihad fighters or travel with their partner to Syria or Iraq [to join Islamic State], complete families travelled to the Caliphate to live an ultra-religious Islamic life. The ideal of the family jihad emphasises the primary role of women being inside the house, taking care of men and children. The battlefront is for men only.” – Trouw, 19 November 2016 4
All three of the abovementioned quotes are written by Dutch newspapers between 2012 and 2016. They all portray female terrorists and their (lack of) potential to commit violence. The quotes agree by all denying women’s independent agency and capability to make rational choices about engaging in (terrorist) violence. However, the first article exaggerates the danger and potential of female terrorists by acknowledging women’s capability to engage in violence, and explaining away their agency by stating that this woman has mental health problems. Whereas the second article downplays women’s violent threat by stating that these female jihadists are innocent victims. The third article downplays women’s violent threat as well. Yet, this article uses a frame which underestimates women and their potential of using violence by arguing that their religion reduces them to subordinate roles, which causes their agency and their capability to engage in violence to be denied.
Due to the fact that media coverage and scholarly attention regarding female terrorists have both increased exponentially over the last decade 5, one might assume that females have
only been involved in terrorism for the last ten years. However, this is not true. Antecedents shows that women have been among leaders and followers of terrorist organisations throughout
2 LexisNexis: De Telegraaf. “Tanja Nijmeijer verguisd”. 17 October 2012. 3 LexisNexis: Sp!ts. “Al-Qaida blieft geen vrouwelijke jihadisten”. 13 June 2014. 4 LexisNexis: Trouw. “De Moordvrouwen van IS”. 19 November 2016.
5 Cunningham, K.J. “Cross-Regional Trends in Female Terrorism”. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Vol. 26. (2003). P.
the history of modern terrorism.6 Even though this is the case, scholars and the media rarely
characterize female terrorists as having individual agency with respect to their violence. Instead, research conducted by Brigitte L. Nacos (2005) and Laura Sjoberg and Caron E. Gentry (2011) has shown that female terrorist discourses in the United States of America are shaped by stereotypical perceptions.7
According to Nacos (2005) and Sjoberg and Gentry (2011), two divergent narratives are being used to portray women who engage in violence. One the one hand, is the narrative which underestimates the capability of women to commit violence by denying their agency and reifying gender stereotypes. According to this frame, women solely provide love and nurture and are biologically incapable of engaging in violence. On the other hand, is the narrative which overestimates the threat women pose by acknowledging their capability to use violence and denying their agency by arguing that women only commit violence when something is wrong with their femininity, motherhood, mental health or sexuality. When this happens, according to this narrative, women become even more dangerous than their male counterparts.8
Although these two divergent narratives correspond with the first two abovementioned quotes from the Dutch news articles, the academic community has demonstrated surprisingly little interest towards analysing the applicability of the two frames of Nacos (2005) and Sjoberg and Gentry (2011) to the public debate within a European country, such as the Netherlands. Furthermore, the frame used in the third quote has not been elaborated on in the literature. Hence, it also remains a question if the usage of the religious narrative in this article has been unique and exceptional, or that this frame has been used more often and is influenced by religious discourses. Moreover, although the abovementioned quotes seem to demonstrate the presence of three narratives in the Dutch public debate - which has to be confirmed by further research -, a significant time period separates these frames which raises the question if the usage of these frames has changed over time and if a particular event can explain for the use of one or several of the three frames.
For this reason, this thesis studies how the three frames – that can be interpreted from the quotes – have been used within the Dutch public debate between 2012 and 2018 and what might have caused the appearance of each of these three frames.
6 Nacos, B. “The portrayal of Female Terrorists in the Media: Similar Framing Patterns in the News Coverage of Women in
Politics and in Terrorism”. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Vol. 28, No. 5. (2005).
7 Gentry, C. and Sjoberg, L. “Women, Gender and Terrorism”. (2011). P. 2.
8 Nacos, B. “The portrayal of Female Terrorists in the Media: Similar Framing Patterns in the News Coverage of Women in
Therefore, this study will try to answer the following research question: “What factors have
influenced the different ways in which female terrorists have been portrayed in the Dutch public debate between 2012 and 2018?”
By conducting a discourse analysis and expanding the theory of Nacos (2005) and Sjoberg and Gentry (2011) to the Netherlands, their theory might become generalisable to European countries. By adding the ‘religiously subordinate frame’ to the study of framing female terrorists in the Netherlands, their theory becomes enriched. By expanding this theory and studying how one can explain the use of these three divergent frames to occur in the Dutch public debate between 2012 and 2018, we are taught more about the perception on women in terrorism and the aspects that might cause our entrenched gender-stereotypical frames to vary. By doing so, this study contributes to the multidisciplinary academic field of crisis and security management as an area of knowledge.
Creating insights into the causes of underestimating and overestimating views on female terrorists, causes societal relevance as well. According to the Dutch terrorism expert Beatrice de Graaf (2011), overestimation of female terrorists has implications for de-radicalisation processes. It reduces the opportunity for women to deradicalize since they are not considered a potential deradicalization-candidate.9 This in turn, minimizes the chance of women stepping
out of the terrorist organisation voluntarily. Underestimation of female terrorists has implications for the safety and security of a society.10 Evidence shows that the underestimation
by gender clichés influences the tactical considerations and decisions of terrorist groups and female terrorists. Women will be deployed more often, since both security forces and the public at large are less likely to recognise the threat posed by a woman. This enables women to do more harm as their attacks carry a significant shock value.11 Knowing what caused the particular
overestimating or underestimating frame to occur, might create the ability for agencies involved in the implementation of anti- and counterterrorism policy to betimes take countermeasures in order to break through the underestimating or overestimating frames. This might prevent abovementioned implications.
In order to answer the research question, a discourse analysis is conducted. 1054 Dutch news articles are analysed for the use of three beforehand established frames. These frames are identified in 218 of the articles. Potential circumstances that can account for the presence of one or several of these frames are searched for. This is done by selecting four dimensions that
9 De Graaf, B. “Gevaarlijke vrouwen: tien militante vrouwen in het vizier’. Boom uitgeverij. (2012). P. 17-18. 10 Bloom, M. “Bombshell: Women and terrorism”. University of Pennsylvania Press. (2011). P. 21.
11 Nacos, B. “The portrayal of Female Terrorists in the Media: Similar Framing Patterns in the News Coverage of Women in
are believed to affect the use of one or several of the three frames. This study focusses on the time period 2012-2018 since it is assumed that the rise of the jihadist terrorist organisation Islamic State (in 2014) and its effects on Europe, has caused the four dimensions to become part of the public debates in Europe. The year 2012 has been selected as starting point as it is important to also assess the framing of female terrorists two years prior to this rise, in order to create valid results.
This qualitative research evidences that female terrorists are being framed according to the narratives of Nacos (2005) and Sjoberg and Gentry (2011) in the Dutch public debate as well. The Religious frame can be seen as a new sort of frame as it has been used multiple times in the Dutch public debate to portray female terrorists. This research also demonstrates that the four dimensions cannot be interpreted as circumstances that directly influence the use of a particular frame in the Dutch public debate since all three frames have been used interchangeably between 2012 and 2018.
To come to come to this finding and answer the research question, a literature review has been established which can be found in chapter two. This chapter will elaborate on the research already conducted into female terrorists, the way they have been framed and the gap in literature. The third chapter consists of the theoretical framework. Within this chapter, the established frames and dimensions will be further elaborated on as well as the four composed hypotheses on the likelihood of a particular frame occurring in a particular situation. Chapter four sees to the explanation of the specific case selection. The methodological approach of this study will be elucidated in chapter five, as well as the results of the data collection. In chapter six, the results of the data collection are analysed and the hypotheses composed in chapter three, are tested. Chapter seven provides concluding remarks and an answer to the research question. In chapter eight, the variety of interpretations of the data and the limitations of this study are being discussed.
2. Literature review
Women, similar to men, take and have been taking operating roles in violent conflicts of terrorism.12 Today, more that 30 percent of international terrorists are women. Females are
important in membership rosters and in operational activities in roughly all insurgencies.13 With
this awakening of female terrorists’ presence, capability and utility, an increase of recognition regarding female terrorists emerged.14 One of the largest trends with regard to female terrorism
nowadays is the women engaging in jihadist terrorist violence. According to the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague, in 2016, an estimated total of 3,922 – 4,294 foreign fighters that went to Syria and Iraq to join the terrorist organisation ‘Islamic State’ are citizens from the European Member States. An estimated total of 666 – 730 of these individuals is female.15 According to the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), up until
2017, 300 Dutch individuals with jihadist intentions have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join IS. Of those 300 individuals, 100 is female.16
Women’s active engagement in militant and terrorist organisations – as support personnel, as logistics and planning personnel, as resources, kidnappers, assailants, ‘martyrs’ and hijackers – has become a focus in the media and in academic writing across the globe.17
Although an increase in academic inquiry into female terrorists did occur, the existing research is still regarded a “myriad of different issues with no clear progression from early work to where the field stands today”.18 The media and policy makers have obfuscated the
involvement of women in terrorism and terrorist organisations by making it appear as if it is a recent and modern development.19 Furthermore, studies into terrorism have traditionally been
focussed on men. Krista Hunt (2010) argues that this is due to terrorism still being perceived as the ‘malestream’ discipline of international relations.20 Hence, detailed research into female
terrorists, their motivations and the way they have been portrayed in the media, is scarce. As
12 Jackson, R. et al. “Critical Terrorism Studies: A New Research Agenda”. Critical Terrorism Studies. Oxon: Routledge.
(2009). P. 181.
13 Harmon, C.C. “Terrorism Today”. London: Frank Cash. (2000): P. 212.
14 Ness, C. “Female Terrorism and Militancy: Agency, Utility and Organisation”. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group:
London and New York. (2008). P. 3.
15 International Centre for Counter-Terrorisme The Hague. “The Foreign Fighters Phenomenon in the European Union”.
April 2016.
16 Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst. “Terugkeerders in beeld”. (February 2017). 17 Gentry, C. and Sjoberg, L. “Women, Gender and Terrorism”. (2011). P. 2.
18 Jacques, K. and Taylor, P. “Female Terrorism: A Review”. Terrorism and Political Violence. Vol. 21. (2009). P 500. 19 Agara, T. “Gendering Terrorism: Women, Gender, Terrorism and Suicide Bombers”. International Journal of Humanities
and Social Science. Vol. 5, No.6 (June 2015). P. 115.
20 Shepherd, L.J. et al. “Gender Matters in Global Politics: A feminist introduction to international relations”. Routledge.
Jakana Thomas and Kanisha Bond (2015) argue, scholarly attention into women’s involvement in violence, has lagged far beyond its general attention.21 According to Karen Jacques and Paul
J. Taylor (2009), this has been due to the deep-rooted belief that women have nonviolent, passive, inherently less appealing and fascinating roles in terrorist groups.22 Therefore, one
could argue that the stereotypically gendered perception on women causes the lack of academic inquiry into women and violence.
This corresponds with some of the arguments of Cindy Ness (2008). She argues that, given the extent of female engagement in terrorism, multiple aspects can account for female terrorists being understudied by academics and distorted in the media. First, according to Ness (2008), because conventional social roles and expectations (stereotypes) that are associated with women negate their capability of engaging in violence and bellicosity, women who have been executing terrorist attacks, have historically been characterised as violating traditional impressions of gender and power. Second, the number of females engaged in violence and terrorism has always been small in comparison to men. Despite the fact that females have been unit commanders in a lot of terrorist organisations, dissimilar to their male counterparts, they are still perceived as pawns of masculine decision-making. Lastly, Ness (2008) contends that female terrorists have received little recognition in academic research because, until recently, female terrorists have been operating in countries that are often not connected to Western domestic concerns.23
As has been stated before, existing literature specific on women’s participation in political violence is quite small and divergent. The studies of Barbara Victor (2003) and Karla Cunningham (2003) are examples of the divergence of inquiry into female terrorists and their motivations. Victor (2003) contends that women are reluctantly drawn into terrorism. According to her, women are motivated by (stereotypical) private, personal reasons. They do not have a choice and usually would never commit violence.24 In contrast, Cunningham (2003)
argues that women’s motivation to commit violence are more complex and dualistic, linking collective motivations such as the ‘eagerness for gender equality’.25 Mia Bloom (2011) holds
again another explanation for women committing violence. In her book ‘Women and Terror: Bombshell’, she contends that women across multiple conflicts and in various terrorist groups,
21 Thomas, J.L. and Bond, K.D. “Women’s Participation in Violent Political Organization”. American Political Science
Review. Vol. 109, No. 3. (August 2015). P. 488.
22 Jacques, K. and Taylor, P. “Female Terrorism: A Review”. Terrorism and Political Violence. Vol. 21. (2009). P 499. 23 Ness, C. “Female Terrorism and Militancy: Agency, Utility and Organisation”. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group:
London and New York. (2008). P. 3.
24 Victor, B. “Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers”. New York: Rodale.
25 Cunningham, K.J. “Cross-Regional Trends in Female Terrorism”. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Vol. 26, No. 3.
tend to be motivated by one or several of the five R’s: Revenge, Redemption, Relationship and Respect and Rape. Besides the fact that the first four R’s are equally applicable to men too, these results are gathered out of detailed studies into female suicide bombers. It therefore is hard to generalise the motivations to all female terrorists.26 Thomas and Bond (2015) state that,
in explaining females participating in violent political organisations, the salience of variables on groups-level (size, terrorist tactics and positive gender beliefs) are very important. However, since they only measured their variables at the state-level in their study, they are not able to rule out the potential impact that indicators measured at the individual level may have on women’s decisions to join violent political organisations.27
According to Jacques and Taylor (2009), this extensive domain of foci results in competing hypotheses that own no comparison across and between findings. This makes it hard to know whether the narrative about females in violent political organisations are reflecting extraordinary cases or a broader pattern. In other words, it is difficult to determine the uniqueness or generalisability to broader patterns of studies into female terrorists participating in terrorist organisations. According to Jacques and Taylor (2009), it is possible (and dangerous) that the research into female terrorists becomes stuck in a conceptual morass.28
Thomas and Bond (2015) conclude that while present-day news coverage, historical accounts and a small body of empirical political inquiry suggest wide diversity in the roles and activities of women in terrorist organisations worldwide, we still lack a deep understanding about the real motivations of women joining terrorist organisations and the causes of their variating roles within terrorism and different positions within terrorist organisations.29
Even though the literature on female terrorists covers a large range of foci and heterogeneous events which suggest a lack of strong theory and the absentia of the testing of a theory, trends can be found. The results of the existing studies into female terrorism, cannot explain the extensiveness of female participation in political violence. Another trend - and the trend that will be held most important throughout this study - is the fact that despite the fact that women are nearly absent from investigations into terrorist participation, when they are visible, they all are marginalised, reduced to stereotypical roles and denied independent agency, as has been ordinary in war studies on women. The focus lies on the main form of women’s involvement in terrorism; being victims of terrorism within international relations or as the
26 Bloom, M. “Women and Terrorism: Bombshell”. University of Pennsylvania press. (2011): P. 234-237.
27 Thomas, J.L. and Bond, K.D. “Women’s Participation in Violent Political Organization”. American Political Science
Review. Vol. 109, No. 3. (August 2015). P. 503.
28 Jacques, K. and Taylor, P. “Female Terrorism: A Review”. Terrorism and Political Violence. Vol. 21. (2009). P 500. 29 Thomas, J.L. and Bond, K.D. “Women’s Participation in Violent Political Organization”. American Political Science
pawns of militarised masculinity. Christine Sylvester and Swati Parashar (2009) contend that too often scholars portray women according to dominant ideas of terrorism or reduce them to social stereotypical roles. Women’s capability and engagement in fighting is specifically denied. This way of viewing female terrorists emphasises what it means to be a woman by stressing characteristics such as mothering, caring, peacefulness, and interdependence rather than using characteristics that correspond with performing violence.30
Laura Sjoberg (2010) states that scholars typically argue that conventional narratives about the ways politics works are gendered implicitly as well as explicitly. They connect women and principles understood to be social stereotypically ‘feminine’. Women are characterised as being naïve about the nature of violent war. They need protection provided by men because of their biological determined fragility, naivety, peacefulness and innocent soul. Women solely provide love and nurture. 31 According to Sjoberg (2010), this view has played
a substantial role in multiple international conflicts throughout history as well. Leonard Weinberg and William Eubank (2011) agree with that. They argue that in thinking about the role of women in terrorist violence, most of the time what first comes to mind is their position as victims, individuals that are excluded for political or religious reasons.32 Because of this,
their potential of committing violence, is being underestimated. Women are presented as pure, peaceful people, nurturing, maternal, caring, interdependent, emotional and innocent, self-sacrificing human beings that are not capable of committing violence because of stereotypical biological characteristics.33
Besides the denial of women’s capability to engage in violence because of biological reasons, (fundamental) religious discourses can also play a part in the denial of women’s capability of committing violence. As Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger (2014) argues, the monotheistic world religions have traditionally subordinated women, compared to men. For fundamentalists of all religions, it is crucial to conform to gender roles.34 Therefore, women’s
capability to commit violence could also be denied (and underestimated) because they are religiously subservient to men and are not allowed to use violence because this is not reconciling with the religious stereotypical gender roles.
30 Sylvester, C. and Parashar, S. “The contemporary ‘Mahabharata’ and the many ‘Draupadis’”. Gender and critical
Terrorism Studies. (2009). P. 179.
31 Sjoberg, L. “Women fighters and the ‘beautiful soul’ narrative”. International Review of the Red Cross’. Vol. 92, No. 877.
(March 2010). P.55.
32 Weinberg, L. and Eubank, W. “Women’s involvement in Terrorism”. Gender issues. Vol. 28. (2011). P. 1.;
Sjoberg, L. ‘Women fighters and the ‘beautiful soul’ narrative’. International Review of the Red Cross’. Vol. 92, No. 877. (March 2010). P.55.
33 Gentry, C. E. and Sjoberg, L. “Beyond Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Thinking about Women’s Violence in Global
Politics”. Zed Books London. (2015). P. 2
According to Sjoberg and Gentry (2011), since women are assumed to belong to social stereotypical characteristics – rather than the ones that are contrary with these ideal-type assumptions of what being a woman actually means – when women do participate in violent acts or join a terrorist organisation, their agency is denied or explained away by flaws and deviations. This is another perception on female terrorists in academic research as well as in the media, that can be observed. This particular perception explains away women’s agency but does acknowledges women’s capability of committing violence. According to this narrative, women commit violence because they are vengeful mothers, maternally disturbed, or because they are mentally ill, unnatural, gender deviant, sexually deviant, psychologically unstable or easily manipulated.35 People portray and frame female terrorists as extremely dangerous
because traditionally, women and warfare or violence are not related to one another. Therewithal, the assumption of women as terrorists, militants or suicide bombers goes against the grain of many ubiquitous cultural concepts and values of femininity. Prevalent cultural and religious gender norms and social role patterns become questioned. These violent women contradicting traditional role patterns and cultural gender norms, cause incomprehension. This in turn, according to Sjoberg and Gentry (2011), induces the framing of these female terrorists according to stereotypical role patterns or the use of frames that explain away their agency by indicating that the use of violence is caused by deviations in their femininity.36
The argument by Sjoberg and Gentry (2015) coincides with that of Tunde Agara (2015). He argues that scholars often link females participating in violence to bad experiences such as drug use, the loss of a loved one, abuse or rape. 37 Ness (2008) extends this view by arguing
that at the one end of the spectrum, researchers justify the agency of these women by portraying female terrorists as women that committed violence because they are trapped by cultural conditions or are forced to by a manipulative lover or male relative. At the other end of the spectrum, she argues, scholars construct female terrorists as ‘liberated’ feminists that use violence to accomplish respect in a sexist community. Within this framework, violence is defined as a tantamount opportunity tool and the women that utilise it are characterised as being more threatening than their male counterparts.38 This contradicts previously described frames
that underestimate and downplay women’s potential violent threat.
35 Sjoberg, L. and Gentry, C. “Beyond Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Thinking About Women’s Violence in Global Politics”.
(2015). P. 78.
36 Gentry, C.E. and Sjoberg, L. “Women, Gender and Terrorism”. (2011). P.2- 4
37 Agara, T. “Gendering Terrorism: Women, Gender, Terrorism and Suicide Bombers”. International Journal of Humanities
and Social Science. Vol. 5, No.6 (June 2015). P. 121.
38 Ness, C. “Female Terrorism and Militancy: Agency, Utility and Organisation”. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group:
Abovementioned research is mainly focussed on the way violent women are portrayed in academic inquiry. Less research has been done into the way female terrorists have been framed in the media. Studies have been conducted into terrorism and the media – for example, by Alexander Spencer (2012) and David L. Paletz and Alex P. Schmid (1992). However, these studies mainly focussed on the effects of terrorism on the news coverage and the other way around, and not on the context of the particular news articles.
Sjoberg and Gentry (2011 & 2015) and Nacos (2005) are amongst the few scholars that have researched the way female terrorists have been framed within the media. They contend that the media characterises female terrorists along the lines of biological societal gender stereotypical frames and gender biases, just as academic scholars do.39 Media portrayals of
female terrorists seldomly characterize female terrorists as having individual agency with respect to their violence, neither.40 This is remarkable since there is a lack of evidence proving
that there are fundamental differences between male and female terrorists concerning their motivation, recruitment, ideological ambition and atrocity, just as there is no proof of male and female politicians having different incentives for seeking political office and having dissimilar capabilities in diverse policy areas. As has been stated, within terrorism, women as well as men, hold active functions in violent terrorism acts. Women, identical to men, have been “contributors, informers, recruiters, human shields and perpetrators of acts of death and destruction”.41 Nonetheless, because we often do not understand women having roles that are
prejudiced perceived as inseparably male, there is the penchant by the media as well, to recourse to stereotypical justifications.42
According to Sjoberg (2010), media too portray female terrorists as fragile, peaceful, naïve and innocent. Media portrayals often accentuate principles understood to be biologically and stereotypically ‘feminine’ in which they disclaim women’s competence and ability to commit violence.43 Additionally, according to Nacos (2005), the media also often explain away
the capability and probability of women making rational choices and acting upon their own agency by typically representing them as victims and intruders in an entirely masculine demesne.
39 Nacos, B.L. “The Portrayal of Female Terrorists in the Media: Similar Framing Patters in the News Coverage of Women in
Politics and in Terrorism”. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Vol. 28, No. 5. (2005): P. 438.
40 Gentry, C. and Sjoberg, L. “Women, Gender and Terrorism”. (2011). P. 2.
41 Jackson, R. et al. “Critical Terrorism Studies: A New Research Agenda”. Critical Terrorism Studies. Oxon: Routledge.
(2009). P. 181.
42 Nacos, B.L. “The Portrayal of Female Terrorists in the Media: Similar Framing Patters in the News Coverage of Women in
Politics and in Terrorism”. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Vol. 28, No. 5. (2005): P. 436-437.
43 Sjoberg, L. “Women fighters and the ‘beautiful soul’ narrative”. International Review of the Red Cross’. Vol. 92, No. 877.
Women who do engage in violence have been portrayed as anything but ordinary criminals, soldiers or terrorists. Instead, as Nacos (2005) contends, the focus lies on female’s physical appearance or their family context. Furthermore, she argues that a dominant frame used by the media to characterise female terrorists is one that explains women committing violence by the struggle to achieve gender equality. Additionally, it often happens that women are portrayed to commit violence for the sake of love, rather than political reasons. Another narrative used according to Nacos (2005) is that of portraying female terrorists as if they are naïve and out of touch with reality and therefore engage in violence. They are characterised as insane or as having mental abnormalities. Yet another frame portrays violent women are viewed as no real women. They are either lesbian and sexually deviant or extremely cruel.44 These
perceptions on women coincide with those described by Sjoberg and Gentry (2015). They all acknowledge women’s participation in terrorism, and they all explain away women’s agency and (potential) political incentives to commit violence and instead use gender-stereotypical frames to explain away the actual reason for women to commit violence.
A wrong perception on female terrorists and the way they are portrayed becomes a problem as the media tend to report the news along explanatory frames that incite the reader to put events, issues and (political) actors along the lines of contextual frameworks of reference.45
The media is crucial in determining society’s reaction to terrorism.46 When their reference on
the subject of female terrorists lacks academic substantiation, entrenched (non-realistic) social stereotypical frames are being used to portray female terrorists and their motivations. The right perception on female terrorists becomes further obscured.47
All abovementioned existing scholarly and media perspectives have facilitated the obfuscation of a correct perception on female terrorists because very few have linked female terrorist activities to devotion to a political cause, despite the fact that this factor is marked prominently in elucidating why men choose to commit terrorism.48 Questions about the
motivations of women engaging in terrorist organisations or about the way women are represented in the media and in scholarly articles remain seriously underexplored by scholars as well as by counterterrorism experts.49Although the studies conducted by Nacos (2005),
Sjoberg (2012) and Sjoberg and Gentry (2015) in the United States of America, paint an
44 Nacos, B.L. “The Portrayal of Female Terrorists in the Media: Similar Framing Patters in the News Coverage of Women in
Politics and in Terrorism”. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Vol. 28, No. 5. (2005): P. 438-447.
45 Nacos, B.L.” The portrayal of Female Terrorists in the Media”. (2005). P. 436. 46 Beutler, E. et al. “Psychology of Terrorism”. Oxford University Press. (2007). P. 81.
47 Agara, T. “Gendering Terrorism: Women, Gender, Terrorism and Suicide Bombers”. International Journal of Humanities
and Social Science. Vol. 5, No.6 (June 2015). P. 118.
48 Agara, T. “Gendering Terrorism”. (June 2015) P. 118.
understandable picture about the way female terrorists have been framed in the media, much more research than that has not been done into the way female terrorists have been portrayed in the media. Hence, the research into the stereotypical portrayals of female terrorists in the media, is not at all exhausted.
No study yet has researched if particular circumstances can account for the divergent (underestimating and overestimating) usage of social gender stereotypical frames to portray female terrorists. Furthermore, not study has dived into the influence of perceived religious discourses on framing female terrorists, which is surprising since it is crucial for religious fundamentalists to confirm to gender roles and religiously driven terrorism (prominently jihadist terrorism) has increased over the last five years.50 Moreover, the authors of the existing
literature on framing female terrorists solely focus on the way these female terrorists have been portrayed in the United States media. No research has yet been conducted into the way female terrorists have been portrayed in a European country, such as the Netherlands. This creates a gap in the literature.
The scarce but existing literature on framing female terrorists is used to compose two frames. One underestimating frame which denies women’s agency and capability to engage in violence because of biological characteristics and one overestimating frame, which portrays violent women as extremely dangerous because of their flaws and deviations in femininity. Additionally, a third frame has been composed which helps to study how religion might have influenced the way female terrorists have been framed. By expanding the theory of Nacos (2005) and Sjoberg and Gentry (2011 & 2015) to the Netherlands, their theory might become generalisable to other European countries as well. By adding the religious subordinate frame, this theory becomes enriched which will induce theoretical relevance.
By expanding this theory this way and by studying how one can explain for the use of the three divergent frames in the Dutch public debate between 2012 and 2018 we are taught more about the perception on women in terrorism and the aspects that might cause our entrenched gender-stereotypical frames to vary. This will fill the gap in literature which causes
academic relevance.
The three frames that are used to fill this academic void, will be addressed in the following chapter.
3. Theoretical framework
This chapter will present the theoretical framework that will be used throughout this study. Paragraph 3.1 will elaborate on the concept of framing and explain the three composed frames used to portray female terrorists. In paragraph 3.2 the four dimensions will be further elucidated. Moreover, this paragraph will present four hypotheses that describe the assumed likelihood of a particular frame occurring in a particular dimension.
3.1
Frames
Framing happens in everyone’s live. It happens in politics and within the public debate. By using a frame, one gives meaning to a particular issue or situation. Framing, or framing effects, occur when (often small) changes in the presentation of an issue or an event create (sometimes large) alterations in one’s opinion. Frames matter because they influence the attitudes and demeanour of their audience. Often, politicians take over communication frames that are used by the media, citizens or other politicians. Similarly, the media adopts frames used by social activists, other media outlets and politicians. Citizens often mimic these frames. According to the literature, framing can best be conceptualised as a process that evolves over time. When a reframing or change in frames occur, the attitude, opinion and demeanour of the audience about the issue changes as well. This is important because this might influence the decision-making process in politics and the design of the public debate.51
According to the literature, multiple frames are being used in construing stories of women’s involvement in terrorist violence.52 This research differentiates between three frames.
The first two very divergent frames have been composed by using the literature of Nacos (2005), Sjoberg (2010) and Sjoberg and Gentry (2011 & 2015). Throughout this study these two frames are being named the ‘Beautiful Soul frame’ and the ‘Mother-Monster-Whore-frame’. The Beautiful Soul frame, portrays women and female terrorists along the lines of values that are understood to be social gender-stereotypically ‘feminine’. This view has been due to their biological and traditionally assigned role of caring, nurturing and being a motherly and peace-loving human being. It sets of women as fragile, and in need of the safeguard of men. According to this narrative, women’s identities are essentially tied to ‘bearing and raising children on the home front and mother the soldiers at home and on the battlefield’. This frame
51 Chong, D. and Druckman, J.N. “Framing Theory”. Political Science. Vol. 10. (2007): 104-126
52 Laura Sjoberg & Caron Gentry. “Reduced to Bad Sex: Narratives of Violent Women from the Bible to the War on Terror”.
not only denies the agency of women, but also their capability of committing violence. This narrative can be recognised by its emphasis on women’s (biological) innocence, appearance, peacefulness, their naivety and dependency of men. It downplays and underestimates the violent threat women can pose.53 Beatrice de Graaf (2012) in her book ‘Gevaarlijke vrouwen’,
explains that in the past, the media, the public debate and security services never really considered the role women could play within a terrorist organisation abroad. Therefore, they did not report it. Instead, they adhered to the beautiful soul narrative.54
The second frame is The Mother-Monster-Whore-frame. This frame portrays women committing violence as extremely dangerous. This frame overestimates the threat posed by violent women, since women engaging in violence contradicts what it ‘means to be a woman’. According to this frame - women are capable of committing violence or being part of a terrorist organisation. If they do, they would have flaws and defects in the femininity, motherhood, psychological wellbeing and/or sexuality which makes them ‘no ordinary woman’. Because of this reason, they become more dangerous than their male counterparts. This frame too, denies women’s ability to make rational choices to engage in violence. The choice to commit violence is not caused by belief and is no rational choice. Instead, it is caused by a disruption of the personal realm. For example, due to infertility, insanity, a lost loved one, their inability to please men sexually, being a lesbian, emancipatory reasons or for the sake of love.55 This particular
frame exaggerates and easily overestimates the violent threat women can pose.
The third frame, The Religious frame, has been selected because, as Rapoport (2002) has been stating, the current wave of terrorism (which began in the 1980s) is characterised by religion to justify and organise principles for the ‘New World’ to be established.56 Religious
jihadist driven terrorism has increased in Europe in the last five years.57 Since jihadism adheres
to very strict fundamentalist (stereotypical) societal and cultural rules 58, the increase of Jihadist
terrorism, might induce the use of the religious frame. According to this frame, the religious discourse denies women’s agency and reduces them to their stereotypically religiously assigned (subordinate) tasks. Women are not allowed to take part in terrorist violence, and are portrayed as non-violent. This particular narrative underestimates the violent threat women can pose. The
53 Sjoberg, L. “Women fighters and the ‘beautiful soul’ narrative”. International review of the Red Cross. (2010) as found in
Peterson & Ruynan. “Global Gender Issues in the New Millenium”. Westview Press Boulder. (1999) P. 116.
54 Beatrice de Graaf. (2012). “Gevaarlijke vrouwen: Tien militante vrouwen in het vizier”. Boom Amsterdam. P. 94. 55 Sjoberg, L. and C.E. Gentry. “Beyond Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Thinking about women’s violence in Global Politics.”
Zed Books, ltd. (2015). P. 76, 93, 112.
56 Rapoport, D. “The Four Waves of Rebel Terror and September 11”. Anthropoetics. Vol. 8, No. 1. (2002). 57 Europol. “European Union: Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2018.” (2018). P. 9.
Religious frame helps to test whether the conservative religious discourse of the terrorist organisation ‘Islamic State’ has influenced the idea that women are not violent.
3.2 Dimensions
This study will elucidate on the notion of the framing of female terrorists in the Dutch public debate between 2012 and 2018 and research if particular circumstances or events have an influence on the usage of the Beautiful Soul frame, the Mother-Monster-Whore-frame and the Religious frame, as described in paragraph 3.1.
A lot of dimensions might have an effect on the use of the three frames. However, it is believed that the following four dimensions are leading in this as they all are hot topics (linked to female terrorists) that have been heavily debated in Europe for the last years or because these events contribute to more attention to the topic of female terrorists. The dimensions can be discerned by national and transnational level. The national dimensions being (1) Dutch elections and (2) the reinforcement of the Dutch public debate on returnees. And the transnational dimensions being (3) Dutch women joining a terrorist organisation abroad and (4) the increase of terrorist attacks in Western Europe. In subparagraph 3.2.1, the four dimensions and their effect on the framing of female terrorists will be described. Thereafter, in paragraph 3.2.2, for each dimension, the likelihood of one (or several) of the three frames occurring in that particular dimension will be elucidated on. Subsequently, this will be composed into a hypothesis for each of the four dimensions.
3.2.1 Dimensions
ElectionsAlthough ‘elections’ is not that hot a topic discussed, it cannot be ignored in this study. During election battles, politicians try to receive the majority of the votes and in their attempt of receiving as much votes as possible, politicians use frames. By doing so, they aim to present their standpoints, an (hot) issue or an event in a particular way in order to modify one’s opinion in favour of the particular party. Due to the fact that the media and politicians adopt and use each other’s frames, these frames will occur in the public debates.59 Within the election
campaigns, the factor of terrorism has become a delicate topic and depressingly important, as politicians use it to demonstrate that their party will take measures that keep the country safe in
their attempt to receive more votes.60 Since the topic ‘female terrorists’ is related to the issue
of terrorism, it is believed that when elections occur, female terrorists will be a subject that will be framed during elections which cause these frames to occur in the public debate.
Dutch women joining a terrorist organisation abroad
Research on civil and international conflict has noted the importance of transnational insurgency actors. Curtis Alexander Ohlers (2014) states that transnational insurgencies with international objectives are known for attracting state- and non-state actors for a particular ethnic group that come to the aid of kin in other states when they are faced with a threat.61
Examples of such transnational insurgencies are Al-Qaeda, The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).62 One of the
rising transnational insurgencies that Europe has been faced with for the last four years is ‘Islamic State’.63 This transnational insurgency, by creating a narrative in which Muslim’s from
all over the world have a common aim with the people in Syria and Iraq64, has been able to
create a great aptitude of mobilizing an (in 2016) estimated total of 4,294 European citizens for their violent jihadist cause. An (in 2016) estimated total of 730 of those individuals is female.65
According to the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Agency (AIVD), up until 2017, 300 Dutch individuals with jihadist intentions have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join IS. Of those 300 individuals, 100 is female.66
This rising of the terrorist organisation and their ability to mobilize so many foreigners, has caused the debate on individuals travelling abroad and joining this organisation to become extremely profound and difficult. It has opened up new legal domains and raised the question when and how countries should prosecute their inhabitants for fighting in a war abroad. Debates on whether or not to confiscate passports of the individuals wanting to travel abroad and join IS, have occurred in European countries such as Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands.67 Since Dutch women are amongst the individuals travelling abroad to join
60 Oates, S. “Comparing the Politics of Fear: The Role of Terrorism News in Election Campaigns in Russia, the United States
and Britain”. International Relations. Vol. 20, No.4 (2006). P. 430- 435.
61 Salehyan, I. “Rebels Without Borders: Transnational Insurgencies in World Politics.” (2009). Ithaca: London: Cornell
University Press. P. 33.
62 Ohlers, C.A. “Interstate warfare and the emergence of transnational insurgencies”. The London School of Economics and
Political Science. October 2014.
63 Gates, S. and Podder, S. “Social Media, Recruitment, Allegiance and the Islamic State”. Perspectives on Terrorism. Vol. 9,
No. 4, Special Issue on the Islamic State. (August 2015). P. 107.
64 Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheids Dienst. “Leven bij ISIS, de Mythe Ontrafeld”. January 2016.
65 International Centre for Counter-Terrorisme The Hague. “The Foreign Fighters Phenomenon in the European Union”.
April 2016.
66 Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst. “Terugkeerders in beeld”. (February 2017).
67 The New York Times. “Nations Trying to Stop Their Citizens From Going to Middle East to Fight for ISIS”. 12 September
terrorist organisations such as IS, it is believed that this dimension affects the framing of female terrorists in the Dutch public debate.
Reinforcement of the Dutch public debate on returnees
With the debate on the rise of the terrorist organisation and its ability to mobilize such a great number of European male and female foreign fighters, has occurred the debate on what to do when these individuals return to their home countries after they would have been exposed to and/or executed extreme violence. Of the thousands of EU-nationals that have travelled or attempted to travel to conflict zones in Syria and Iraq to join insurgent terrorist organisations like IS, it has been estimated that around 30% of these men and women have returned to their home countries. The issue of foreign fighters returning and their potential risk, has been a hot topic in the European (and Dutch) public debate and an important issue on the political agenda at both Members State and EU level for the last five years. It touches upon a broad range of policies related to criminal justice responses to returnees, the disengagement/deradicalization processes in prisons as well as the effectiveness of deradicalization programs for example. Member States are confronted with significant challenges with respect ot their obligations and capabilities of the returnees on EU soil, which causes the public debate on returnees in Europe to become reinforced.68
The specific debate on returnees in the Netherlands started on 20 April 2013.69 By
consulting LexisNexis and by using the search word ‘terugkeerders’ (Dutch for ‘returnees’), it has become clear that there have been four peaks in the number of written articles on returnees. The first peak is perceived in November and December 2014, which can be declared by the proclamation of the Islamic State by Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi earlier that year. This caused a lot of men and women travelling to Syria and Iraq.70 The second incident causing a peak appeared
in November and December 2015. On 13 November 2015, the terrorist attacks in Paris occurred, which induced the discussion about the threat posed by returnees as one of the perpetrators of the Bataclan attacks returned to France after joining IS in Syria in 2013 and 2014.71 The third moment in which the Dutch public debate on returnees got reinforces was in
February and March 2017 and could be explained by the publication of a safety investigation report on the threat of returnees, written by the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD). The largest peak can be observed in July and August 2017 and could be explained by
68 European Parliament. “The Return of Foreign Fighters to EU soil- Ex-post Evaluation”. (May 2018). P. 1-37. 69 LexisNexis. “Het Parool: Met Abu Dinges Naar het Front”. 20 April 2013.
70 Stern, J. & Berger, J.M. “ISIS: The State of Terror”. Harper Collins UK. (2015). 71 De Volkskrant. “Dit weten we over de daders van de aanslagen”. 16 November 2015.
the Dutch court deciding in July 2017 that the pre-trial detention of the Dutch female returnee Laura H. was suspended and that she was allowed to await her criminal trial in freedom. Laura H. is a 22-year-old Dutch woman from Zoetermeer. She has been the first Dutch women that returned from IS-territory that has been prosecuted by the Dutch state.72
This dimension predominantly signals that the Dutch debate on returnees gets reinforces when situations such as the abovementioned four incidents take place. These four moments in time are considered to influence the framing of female terrorists since Dutch women are and have been part of – or can be linked to - all four incidents that caused the debate on returnees to get reinforced. Furthermore, because the notion of females joining IS to be passive victims of males and stereotypically ancillary ‘jihadi brides’, shifted in 2017 as it became known that women became increasingly involved in the recruitment and other activities of IS73, European
Member States (including the Netherlands) have been confronted with the challenging issue of how to assess their potential threat and how to prosecute women returning from IS-territory.74
Therefore, it is believed that when the debate on returnees will get reinforced, female terrorists (and their threat) will be framed in the Dutch public debate.
Increase of terrorist attacks in Western Europe
Since 2012, Europe has been confronted with a lot of terrorist attacks. According to the Global Terrorism Database, in Western Europe, a total of 3794 terrorist attacks occurred between 2012 and 2017. In figure 3.1, it is clearly visible that between January 2014 and June 2015, a growth in terrorist attacks in Western Europe took place.75 Throughout these years, the reason for
staging a terrorist attack became more varied. In 2012 and 2013 the terrorist attacks were mostly related to left-wing, anarchist and separatist terrorism. Whereas in 2014 and 2015, the number of attacks increased which can be attributed to the jihadist terrorism Europe had to endure. The terrorist attacks with the highest number of fatalities have been the terrorist attacks executed by a religiously jihadist inspired perpetrator. According to Europol, between 2012 and 2018, the majority of the terrorist attacks have been carried out in France, Spain and the United Kingdom. In the entire time period of 2012 until 201776, women have been amongst the planners and
executers of these terrorist attacks and have, as their male counterparts, been tried in court proceedings as well.77
72 Algemeen Dagblad. “Syriëgangster Laura H. komt op vrije voeten”. 27 July 2017.
73 European Parliament. “The Return of Foreign Fighters to EU soil- Ex-post Evaluation”. (May 2018). P. 45-46. 74 Sunday Times Live UK. “Women, children returning from IS warzones: EU”. (29 June 2017)
75 Global Terrorism Database. “Incidents over time in Western Europe”. N.d.
76 The year 2018 has not been measured by the GTD and Europol at the moment of writing. 77 Europol. “European Union: Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2013.” (2013). P. 9-10.
Since terrorism provides interesting news articles which help to sell by the public, media outlets are eager to cover events such as terrorist attacks close to home.78 Therefore, it is believed that
when an increasing number of terrorist attacks occur, individuals and newspapers want to make meaning out of this situation by framing the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks. Since females have joined the terrorist organisations responsible for the jihadist terrorist attacks in the West and have been amongst the planners and perpetrators of jihadist attacks in Europe as well79, it
is believed that this dimension has an effect on the framing of female terrorists in the Dutch public debate.
Figure 3.1: Global Terrorism Database: Terrorist attacks in Western Europe between 2012-2017. 80
78 Norris, P. et al. “Framing Terrorism: The News Media, the Government and the Public”. Routledge New York and London.
(2003). P. 11.
79 See for example: Cimcox, R. “The 2016 French Female Attack Cell: A Case Study”. Combating Terrorism Center
Sentinel. Vol. 11, No. 6. (June/July 2018). P. 21-25. Or: Europol. “European Union: Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2013.” (2013). P. 16. Or: The Telegraph News UK. “ISIL teenager youngest female terrorist to be jailed for life after plotting attack on British Museum”. (3 August 2018).
3.2.2 Hypotheses
As it has become evident that abovementioned dimensions could have an effect on the framing of female terrorists in the Dutch public debate, four hypotheses on the likelihood of one or several of the three previously composed frames occurring during these four dimensions, have been established. The relationship between the dimensions and the frames is illustrated in the figure below.
Figure 3.2: The relationship between the dimensions and the frames.
Dimensions Frames
Elections
As has been mentioned before, elections play an important role in the messages about terrorism. Parties and candidates might have different standpoints on terrorism which they frame differently, in order to modify one’s opinion in favour of the political party. Elections often attracts controversy, usually where news reports become part of the competition to determine the social significance and meaning of incidents. Often antithetical arguments and extremes are being set out against each other in political debates.81 This can be demonstrated by the elections
in the USA in 2004. Terrorism was commented very often. During the American elections in
81 Norris, P. et al. “Framing Terrorism: The News Media, the Government and the Public”. Routledge New York and London.
(2003). P. 11. Dutch elections Transnational insurgencies Returnees Increase of terrorist attacks in Western Europe Frame 1
Beautiful Soul frame
Frame 2
Mother-Monster-Whore-frame
Frame 3
2004, both candidates, George W. Bush as well as John Kerry, used fear to argue that their party would be able to make the USA secure (again). The exaggeration of fear and threat – instead of rational discussions - is a very useful tool for leaders to seek or maintain power. Due to the fact that the political candidates in the US used fear-mongering to portray the issue of terrorism in order to receive more votes, it is assumed that when terrorism, and in particular female terrorists, will be the subject of a political debate in the Netherlands, it is most likely that the
Mother-Monster-Whore-frame is used to portray female terrorists. This narrative exaggerates
the threat female terrorists pose by stating that they are violent and dangerous individuals with flaws in their femininity.
Due to the fact that during elections and political debates, it often happens that extremes in arguments are set out against each other, one cannot rule out the possibility of the Beautiful
Soul frame being used during elections. Most likely, this frame – which is focused on the
biologically determined peacefulness and empathy of women – is used by (supporters of) a political party that emphasises limiting hate speech, empathy, connecting and unifying communities and does not use the context of fear to send out their message.82 This frame would
contradict the chance of women carrying out terrorist attacks and at the same time, affirm the empathy society needs.
The Religious frame is less likely to occur in the Dutch public debate prior or during elections because it does not expose an extreme idea or thought which makes it unlikely to contribute to more votes. The likelihood of the Beautiful Soul frame and the Mother-Monster-Whore-frame is higher to occur during elections as these frames are most contradictory. Therefore, the following hypothesis is composed:
Hypothesis 1: When Dutch elections present, the likelihood of the Dutch public debate framing
female terrorists by using the Beautiful Soul frame and the Mother-Monster-Whore-frame becomes higher.
82 Oates, S. “Comparing the Politics of Fear: The Role of Terrorism News in Election Campaigns in Russia, the United States
