The Monstrous the Vulnerable: Framing British Jihadi Brides [Hardcover]

Dissects the myth of the sensationalized, evil jihadi brideIn June 2014, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and called for Muslims around the world to migrate there. Over the next five years, around 150 women left the UK to heed this invitation, and the so- called 'jihadi brides' were rarely out of the news. This book traces the media fascination with those who joined the 'caliphate', including Sally Jones, Aqsa Mahmood and Shamima Begum.Through an analysis of the media that presented the 'brides' for public consumption, Leonie B. Jackson reveals the gendered dualistic construction of IS women as either monstrous or vulnerable. Just as the monstrous woman was sensationalised as irredeemably evil, the vulnerable girl was represented as groomed and na?ve. Both subjects were constructed in such a way that women's involvement in jihadism was detached from men's, scrutinised more closely, and explained through gender stereotypes that both erased the agency of female extremists and neglected their stated motivations.As Jackson demonstrates, these media representations also contributed to the development of new norms for dealing with the 'brides', including targeted killing and the revocation of citizenship. While the vulnerable girl was potentially redeemable, the monstrous woman was increasingly considered expendable.AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Gendering the 'Jihadi Brides'2. Natural and Supernatural forces: Metaphorically Representing the 'Jihadi Brides'3. Monstrous Predators and Vulnerable Prey: The Grooming Exemplar4. Damsels in Distress: Depicting the Vulnerable Girl5. Bad Mothers and Gender Traitors: Depicting the Monstrous Woman6. A World Without Monsters: Managing the 'Jihadi Brides'ConclusionAppendix: Data Collection and AnalysisNotesSelect BibliographyIndexLeonie B. Jackson is Assistant Professor in International Relations at Northumbria University. She is the author of Islamophobia in Britain: The Making of a Muslim Enemy and sel8