Not a male-only affair: Podcast on terrorism and gender roles

17 Dezember 2021

Punkband leader and a Catholic, cosmetics saleswoman and mother of two sons - for most, that doesn't sound like the biography of one of the most active supporters of the Islamic State (IS). And yet, Sally Jones engaged in propaganda and recruitment for IS to such an extent that the United Nations listed her as one of the most wanted terrorists. Until Jones was presumed dead in a U.S. drone strike in 2017, the British woman was one of IS's most important female voices.

In the podcast "Terrorism - Strategy of Terror" of the Federal Agency for Civic Education (BpB), Eva Herschinger speaks with journalist Bettina Rühl about women like Sally Jones and their involvement in terrorism. For Jones in particular shows that it is neither new nor extremely rare for women to radicalize and resort to terrorist violence. Ulrike Meinhof or Beate Zschäpe are both historical and current examples of female involvement in terrorism. Podcast episode 13, "Terrorists*: Gender Roles in Violence" is therefore about both the stereotypical assessment of women as victims rather than perpetrators and the importance of the interplay of female and male gender roles in terrorism for radicalization, recruitment and prevention.

The episode with Eva Herschinger can be found here.

All 20 episodes of the BpB podcast can be listened to here. The podcast series offers a comprehensive insight into the phenomenon of terrorism, examining it in all its facets: from questions about the definition of terrorism, its origins, its manifestations, to its causes and the possibilities of prevention and defense.