Terrorist by Association : How the Swedish women who joined IS were portrayed in the Swedish media

Abstract: In 2014 when the international terrorist group the Islamic State (IS) declared a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, more than 40,000 people travelled to join the terrorist group. According to the available data between 10-13% were women but the real number is assumed to be substantially higher. Among them were around 300 Swedish citizens who by the end of 2015 had travelled to Iraq and Syria to join IS. A significant number of these were women; in a 2017 study including 267 Swedish travellers, 24% were women. Researchers are puzzled by the phenomenon of female travellers joining IS. Because they are women specifically there are certain gendered assumptions attached which shape the discussion; women have long been assumed to be too peaceful to be involved with terrorism. While none of the Swedish women travellers have been reported to have become active terrorists, they still made headlines in the Swedish media. Despite this, there is almost no research on violent women and the narratives used by Swedish media and newspapers to describe them.