User:Carlyabbott/sandbox

Wiki Page for Female Terrorists

Lead Section

Why women are terrorists?

            Women are humans they are motivated to certain actions through rational choice. Stories of women around the world show that women are motivated to become terrorists by subscribing to the cause, by need for political voice, by the want to belong to a group, by family pressure, by actual or perceived sexual deviance, or by being sold against their will into a terrorist organization (Bombshell).

Roles of Women in Terrorist Organizations

            Recruiters- normally women who are given the job of a recruiter are very fervent in the cause and are motivated to be there by their own will and support for the cause. In the Black Widows, a Chechen group, there was one person that recruited all of the women in the group (Bombshell).

            Fighters- women are not spared from the frontlines. In terrorist organizations, resources are scares; so, if one is to be in the organization they will be utilized. Women are tactically more advantageous to organizations than men are. Women are not the usual terrorist, and governments do not look at them as harmful or suspicious (Bombshell).

            Couriers- the most common job for women is to be couriers. They will take messages, from one location to another without being extremely harassed or searched. This happens because it is a social norm to give women more privacy than men. In a common restroom, women receive their own stall, but most men’s restrooms just have standing urinals. It is also true for when someone is being searched at a security checkpoint; officials have a different level of scrutiny for men and women (Bombshell).

The Media and Reporting

            The media covers every terrorist attack that a female is involved in significantly more than any attack by a man. There is an extra shock factor to crimes committed by females over males. Women have a perception of trust and safety about their gender that is a universal social norm. The media plays off this misconception to sell more newspapers and ads (Nacos).

Female Suicide bombers

            As mentioned above women are tactically more effective at terrorism because of their perceived safe demeanor. This makes them more useful to the leader of the terrorist organization. Pregnant suicide bombers are more prevalent than the typical way in which men strap bombs to themselves. Fake bellies have more space to carry more without being caught, thus, maximizing their capacity for harm.  A new common tactic that is being use by terrorist organizations is for women to carry explosives around their midsection and have the perception of being pregnant. The pregnant suicide bomber is more deadly than any other attack because even though she is the threat; she gives off the perception of needing protection for her and her child

            Significant Organizations with Women

Chechen Black Widows- This group is made up of women who have had one or more loved ones killed by the Russian government. Typically, the loved one is their husband, or father, that was a revolutionist for the state of Chechnya during their Civil Wars. These women are called ‘black widows’ because the female black widow spiders kill their mates. These Chechen women are becoming terrorists and killing because of their mate’s death. The main strategic model that these women use is suicide bombing. Some reports by journalists have shown that these women sometimes come to the group from believing in the cause, but others join because they have no other option in life. These women who see this way of life as their only option are drawn to the organization because they were raped by Russian troops. In a culture that is orthodox Islam sexual transgressions, even if they were not wanted, is a huge social offence. Women lose all of their potential partners. In a Muslim society, the social status of a woman is defined by her relationship to the men in her life. Therefore, women who have been raped are lead to the decision of joining terrorist organizations.

            LTTE- These were some elite trained women of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, a group that sought for the independent state of Tamil. Inside the LTTE they were called the “Suthan thirap Paravaikal”, or in English “Freedom Birds”. Their story is similar to the Chechen Black Widows in the fact that some of these women were radicalized because of being raped by opposing forces. This group has successfully killed Presidents and Prime Ministers. (Bombshells)

ETA “Euskadi Ta Askatasuna” women- This is the nationalist movement in Spain of the ethnic Basque minoroity. Women in the ETA were very prevalent in leadership activities and the planning of the whole group’s activities. Dolores Gonzalez Catarain was the first to rise to power by becoming a member of the executive committee.  (Hamilton)

            IRA women- Women in the Irish Republic Army were organizers and recruiters. Many staged political protests from prison, and were commonly known to lure British soldiers to their deaths (Bombshell).

Famous Female Terrorists

            Leila Khaled-

            Ahlam at Tamimi- Hamas

            Ekaterina Breshkerskia

            Margherita Cagol

Ulrike Meinhof

Outline for Female Terrorist

• Lead Section
• Introduction to the topic
• Roles of women in Terrorist organization
• Stereotypes about Female Terrorist
• Famous Female Terrorists and their groups
• The Media and Female Terrorist
• Feminism and Terrorism
• Why women are terrorists?
• Female Suicide Bombers
• Advantages of Female Terrorists
• Differences in Punishments for Female Terrorists

Talk article FEMA:

In the first explanatory paragraph mentions the FEMA charter and the executive orders that created the agency. It would have been nice to link those original documents to this article. It is important to give legitimacy to their claims by showing the primary source material. As well, if someone is interested in learning more about starting an agency; then, those documents would be useful. The most striking issue I have found with this article is that FEMA documents are used as a source for this article. This is similar to one's mother say "because I said so." The information that is presented as facts but comes from the same thing one is trying to learn about is not really legitimate claims. One cannot define a word by using that word in the definition.

Talk article NCTC:

The article's sources are not scholarly. With the exception of the FBI as a credible source there are no other sources that are not newspapers. Newspapers can be credible, but they tend to blend bias arguments into their facts. There are plenty of agencies that work with the NCTC, and they should have more information to give to this source. As well, I would have liked to see the department's budget mentioned in this article. This allows for the readers to really get a grasp on what kinda work they do since the technical work is classified.