Reproducing gendered and orientalist narratives - The representation of Western IS-women in Swedish media

Abstract: Development and international relations discourses have for a long-time represented women through dichotomous portrayals, either as liberated Western women or as oppressed Eastern women. The former being the heroic saviour of the latter. The subject of Western women joining the Islamic State, has not only received extensive media attention but proved the dichotomous portrayals of women to be insufficient. To make sense of women’s political violence, gendered and orientalist narratives have been applied both by scholars and media. This research explores the dominant narratives in the representations of Western ISwomen in Swedish media, through the lens of postcolonial feminism. The data is a collection of news articles and radio programs, which are analysed through qualitative content analysis. The findings show that Swedish media have to a large extent represented IS-women as brainwashed teenagers, oppressed Muslim wives, and traumatised victims. These sexualised and racialised representations raise questions about the inability to recognise women’s agency, as well as the implications media representation has on the knowledge received and potentially reproduced by the public.