WOmen IN Extremism: The Longing for Sisterhood and Immersion into the FeminINE
In April 2022, I spoke at the Global Counterterrorism Institute’s panel talk on “Women in Extremism” and asked the question of whether women’s rights as the West has interpreted them, interfere with women’s needs. Did the drive to push a ‘strong independent woman’ annex a woman from her innate and intuitive need for connection?
Watch my talk by clicking the button below or scroll down for a summary of the talk. Thank you for being here, for the gift of listening, and for the generosity of your time.
Talk Highlights
My work is in demystifying radicalization for a frontline audience: parents, educators, law enforcement, social workers, elected officials and more. It is so important for us in this field to find pathways to take the information from ivory towers and put it into the hands of the people who need it the most: the frontline. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through storytelling.
I start by sharing the story of Tanya Joya, a former “ISIS bride” whose American Christian convert husband became one of the founding members of ISIS.
I shared stories of my experience speaking to former extremists including ‘ISIS brides’ like Tanya, and mapped failing cultural conversations. Where we fail to have radically honest conversations, is where radical groups come in. They are happy to fill the gap created by our polarity. Extremist ideologies are happy to give women the sense of belonging that mainstream culture cannot because of its increasingly narrow interpretation of the feminine — including an attempt to cancel biological females.
In telling the story of “ISIS bride” Tanya Joya, I share the weeks we spent together talking to elected leaders and political representatives about preventing violent extremism. What stood out during that time wasn’t all the meetings — it was the intimacy of getting to know her beyond the labels and beyond the surface layer of her story. I explore what that looked like and what I learned about the woman behind the label (while we also look at the problem with the label).
Next is the question of belonging in Western culture:
What is the difference between radicalization vs. extremism?
How difficult is it really to truly belong in the West and why is it so difficult?
How heightened national polarity "shows up” in how we operate-day-to-day, boosting the extremist cause?
How is the radicalized culture we’re in becoming a reflection of oppressive cultures in other parts of the world?
How does displacing gender identity drives women toward extremism?
I also look into the idea of a patriarchy. I share my conversation with Abu Taubah — a veteran, former military intelligence operative, and Islamic preacher accused of radicalizing the Pulse Gay Nightclub shooter. I share how he sold the case for patriarchy in 2016, and how after two years of a pandemic in 2020 — in which women bore the greatest detrimental career and domestic impact — the case for extremely traditional patriarchal systems will appeal to more and more women. This is something that extremist ideologies also offer while the mainstream “woke” cultural conversations still champion “women’s rights” without actually looking at women’ needs.
What are women’s needs?
A look at how this recreates new models of the honor-shame dynamics we in the Middle East and Asia.
Is patriarchy really the model of system that women seeking re-connection and sisterhood really need?
What is the difference between toxic patriarchy vs. healthy patriarchy?
The third story that drives me talk is of my time in Tokyo and Nagoya. I traveled to Japan to see why Japanese women were converting to Islam and entering strict fundamentalist communities. What I learned was it was a means of rebelling against modernism and embracing community and sisterhood.
Finally, I look at solutions. What are the solutions we need and how do we cultivate a deeper sense of belonging through better pathways forward.