What Do We Know About How Queerness is Used in the Context of Terrorism?
By: Marina Kumskova and Victoria Scheyer, members of the Center for Progressive Security
The traditional theory of nationbuilding tends to ignore the individual, its gender identity and, specifically, a critical analysis of the formation of power relations. Along with the theories of intersectionality and race, the queer theory provides a framework for analysis that challenges that traditional vision of nationbuilding by making power analysis the central point of research. It does not look exactly into binary vs non-binary understanding of gender; instead, the queer theory offers a perspective of how the traditional understanding of power builds security that perpetuates conflict.
Jasbir K. Puar is well-known for her research of the ways in which the rights of LGBTQI groups are instrumentalized and even co-opted to promote the idea of Islamophobic nationalism in the United States. In her book Terrorist Assemblages, she explains that the focus on terrorists as misogynistic and xenophobic enemies of Western civilization results in a productive formation of “homonationalism.” What is presented as a very human rights-compliant policy from one’s side, Puar claims to be the development of a new “racist configuration.”
This is only one of the ways through which the queer theory can help understand how both normative and non-normative understanding of gender can shape not only nationbuilding but also the trajectory of the modern conflict.
The queer theory also connects to the Securitization Theory, which talks about how framing and publicizing of various concepts can modify collective thinking.
Jason Ritchie uses the term “pinkwashing” to describe “a deliberate strategy [on the part of the Israeli state and its supporters] to conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians’ human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life.” His study helps understand how queerness can be instrumentalized to construct the nations and its values and how queerness supports the norm-setting of what is understood to be “an internationally dangerous figure,” including the terrorist and/or the insurgent.
Using the experiences and lessons learned from the field of Women, Peace and Security, we know that terrorists instrumentalize women in many ways, including to conduct operations, build nation-state, and consolidate territorial gains. However, the understanding of this logic came too late, in the follow-up studies from Libya, Nigeria, and elsewhere. From the same, we have also learned that terrorists have the capacity to think differently from what a traditional security analyst would think.
Therefore, the question before us is how do the efforts to instrumentalize queerness actually impact the ways in which terrorists operate, if at all?
Are terrorists capable of creating alternative mechanisms for influencing the formation of power in the world’s arena? How can we predict and prevent this?
The research shows that people often join terrorist groups because of the sense of loneliness and rejection from mainstream society. Often, these people are not necessarily from marginalized or “Muslim-communities.” Many are simply lost.
Should we then expect ISIS or any other group to target LGBTQI individuals through its recruitment channels in countries like Russia, where queerness is openly discriminated without any type of accountability? Will ISIS provide some comfort to these people?
What is known is that the current security approaches are not working. Instrumentalization of queerness, for example, feeds a terrorist narrative. Terrorist recruitment strategies are based on the image of the West as a colonizing power that attempts to ruin everything that traditional concepts of masculinities and femininities stand for. Another example if the U.S. post-9/11 practice to feminize male prisoners. Humiliating and destroying prisoners’ sense of traditional masculinity were aimed to have terrorists “confess.” While we know very little about the effectiveness of these strategies, the fact remains that the Guantanamo Bay narrative continues to serve as a strong recruitment tool by terrorist organizations up until today.
Overall, what these facts and the deeper insight into the experiences and the role of women in terrorism and counterterrorism has shown is that whatever the Western world believes will help counter terrorism is indeed plays right into the terrorist hands.
Is there space for terrorists to re-formulate the formation of power through the lens of the queer theory?
While whether or not the International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces is a terrorist group, the following lesson learned can shed a little bit of light into what can be the logic that inspires political violence in a way that seemingly works to protect queerness. On July 24 2017, IRPGF announced the creation of a subgroup comprised of LGBTQI comrades and others who seek to smash the gender binary. Additionally, it should not be forgotten that queerness in the military is the concept known from the times of the Roman Empire and beyond.
With this in mind, we argue that the application of the queer theory in the context of security and terrorism can open a window through which terrorism can be better understood from the framework of power and stronger prevention policies can be developed.
Some of the questions that need to be answered are:
– What are different ways in which terrorist groups can respond to the instrumentalization of queerness in security?
– Is there space for individuals of various sexual orientations and gender identities inside the terrorist groups?
We are inviting you to the live conversation to get your feedback on the topic, exchange resources and findings, and come together to learn from each other and our experiences.
Please share your thoughts!
