Turning aggression and frustration outward is something that specifically men are socialized to do, but there's nothing to really stop women from doing it either.
I agree but I think that how differently men and women are socialised shows even among people who join those movements. I've rarely heard of women blowing themselves up or shooting others; I've seen a few cases in the news over the years but they've been fewer than the cases of men doing that. On the other hand, most news I've seen about Western women joining them seems to be focused on how they do things like participate in message boards to post propaganda or run away and marry a guy with the same ideology. That's very different from the articles about Western men doing the same thing which are focused on how they pose with guns, threaten others, and boast about killing people.
It reminds me, in a way, of women who join far-right movements. I remember that a few years ago, there were articles making a big deal out of research pointing to a change in the way women in those movements behaved. It was something about how previously, they were relegated to being wives and mothers that their Aryan warriors could go home to or whatever, but how perceptions within those groups are changing, so that they're expected more and more to go out and beat people up like men do. This means that until relatively recently, most women who were into that stuff would have just stayed home while their boyfriends and husbands went out to beat people up or protest.
Of course, embracing an ideology that is harmful is still harmful, but I think it's interesting how even among pretty extreme groups, there's a big tendency for women to get jobs like just spreading the word and supporting men.
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Date: 2014-10-24 01:16 am (UTC)Turning aggression and frustration outward is something that specifically men are socialized to do, but there's nothing to really stop women from doing it either.
I agree but I think that how differently men and women are socialised shows even among people who join those movements. I've rarely heard of women blowing themselves up or shooting others; I've seen a few cases in the news over the years but they've been fewer than the cases of men doing that. On the other hand, most news I've seen about Western women joining them seems to be focused on how they do things like participate in message boards to post propaganda or run away and marry a guy with the same ideology. That's very different from the articles about Western men doing the same thing which are focused on how they pose with guns, threaten others, and boast about killing people.
It reminds me, in a way, of women who join far-right movements. I remember that a few years ago, there were articles making a big deal out of research pointing to a change in the way women in those movements behaved. It was something about how previously, they were relegated to being wives and mothers that their Aryan warriors could go home to or whatever, but how perceptions within those groups are changing, so that they're expected more and more to go out and beat people up like men do. This means that until relatively recently, most women who were into that stuff would have just stayed home while their boyfriends and husbands went out to beat people up or protest.
Of course, embracing an ideology that is harmful is still harmful, but I think it's interesting how even among pretty extreme groups, there's a big tendency for women to get jobs like just spreading the word and supporting men.