The Emergence of Female Suicide Terrorists

Female suicide terrorists do not differ significantly from their male counterparts in terms of individual motivations. Although societal oppression may play a minor role in their self-recruitment to terror organizations women do not bomb themselves primarily to drive a feminist cause. Instead they act out of motivations inside conflict zones of trauma, revenge, nationalism, expression of community outrage and in non-conflict zones feelings of alienation, marginalization, negative self-identity, and a desire to act on behalf of those inside conflict zones. Groups find it to their advantage to use female bombers as they receive more media attention, increased sympathy for the terrorist cause, are able to pass security measures more easily than men, and are more dispensable because they are rarely in leadership positions.

[1]  C. Gilligan.  In a Different Voice. Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge, MA (Harvard University Press) 1982. , 1982 .

[2]  D. Lison,et al.  The Coca-Cola incident in Belgium, June 1999. , 2002, Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association.

[3]  Dc Washington.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Ed. , 1994 .

[4]  A. Speckhard,et al.  Stockholm Effects and Psychological Responses to Captivity in Hostages Held by Suicide Terrorists , 2005 .

[5]  David C. Rapoport.  Fear and Trembling: Terrorism in Three Religious Traditions , 1983, American Political Science Review.

[6]  S. Wessely,et al.  Protean nature of mass sociogenic illness: from possessed nuns to chemical and biological terrorism fears. , 2002, The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science.

[7]  A. Speckhard,et al.  The New Chechen Jihad: Militant Wahhabism as a Radical Movement and a Source of Suicide Terrorism in Post-War Chechen Society , 2006 .

[8]  B. Victor.  Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers , 2003 .

[9]  Shaul Shay.  The Globalization of Terror: The Challenge of Al-Qaida and the Response of the International Community , 2003 .

[10]  Zeynep Erdeniz.  International Herald Tribune , 2007 .

[11]  A. Speckhard,et al.  Black widows and beyond: Understanding the motivations and life trajectories of Chechen female terrorists , 2007 .

[12]  A. Speckhard,et al.  Posttraumatic and Acute Stress Responses in Hostages Held by Suicide Terrorists in the Takeover of a Moscow Theater , 2005 .

[13]  J. Lindy,et al.  Individual and Community Responses to Trauma and Disaster: Psychological effects of toxic contamination , 1994 .

[14]  J. Stern,et al.  Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill , 2003 .

[15]  E. Shneidman,et al.  The Suicidal Mind , 1996 .

[16]  Anne Speckhard,et al.  Talking to Terrorists , 2005 .

[17]  A. Speckhard,et al.  The Making of a Martyr: Chechen Suicide Terrorism , 2006 .

[18]  Marc Sageman,et al.  Understanding terror networks. , 2004, International journal of emergency mental health.