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Ashli Babbitt and husband Aaron<\/p><\/div>\n
Which raises the question of why are there apparently so few women engaged in extreme right-wing activism? And, of those who do engage, is their role mainly that of moral support to the men?<\/p>\n
Well, no, says Kristy Campion, a historian and expert in terrorism at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an emerging stereotype of right-wing violence that it is exclusively male,\u201d Campion tells BroadAgenda. \u201cWe are making the same mistakes as we made about women in Islamic State which is assuming women are non-violent actors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Women often play a significant role but more often as influencers, motivators and content producers on social media channels, such as YouTube and Twitter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In fact, says Campion, women often play a significant role but more often as influencers, motivators and content producers on social media channels, such as YouTube and Twitter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen\u2019s ability to promote and cross promote information is significant,\u201d says Campion. \u201cThey are often quite organised in how they engage with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a recent paper for the journal Social Sciences<\/a>, Campion argues there are six forms of participation for women extreme and radical right-wing groups \u2013 violent actors; thinkers; facilitators; promoters; activists; and gendered exemplars. While it is rare for women to operate as lone actors in perpetuating violent acts \u2013 when they do engage in it, it is almost always in cahoots with men \u2013 they are more likely to \u201cfacilitate or sustain violent operations through engaging in support activities that contribute to mission completion\u201d, Campion writes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile right-wing violence is overwhelmingly perpetrated by men, women can also pose violent and non-violent threats and can influence ideology despite the presence of misogynistic content. This is because women interact within the ideological ecosystem rather than passively receive content.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump supporters sing the “Star Spangled Banner”.<\/p><\/div>\n
Indeed, many women involved in extreme right-wing groups subscribe to the notion saving \u201clost womanhood\u201d, a narrative that can be seen playing out in such groups as Tradwives<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Writing in The Conversation<\/a>, University of York PhD candidate Catherine Stinton noted the apparent irony of women being attracted to groups that are violent, macho and outright misogynistic can seem baffling.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut while this [misogyny] can be an article of faith for many of these movements, it tends to be anti-immigration and anti-government activism that are their key recruitment messages,\u201d Stinton writes.<\/p>\n
While misogyny can be an article of faith for many of these movements, it tends to be anti-immigration and anti-government activism that are their key recruitment messages<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cWomen largely get involved with the far right for the same reasons men do \u2013 most commonly radicalised by a fear of losing what they have and feel entitled to keep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campion notes that women play \u201ca role in both ideological creation and magnification\u201d.<\/p>\n
Both Campion and Stinton argue that women involved in right-wing extremism are not an oddball collection of \u201clone, pitiable, naive individuals\u201d but rather finds \u201cwomen expressing, perpetuating and organising hate with as much agency and vitriol as men\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if the ideology of the far right puts them second to men, that\u2019s still a privileged position above non-white people in a white supremacist society,\u201d writes Stinton.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe enforcement of this racialised hierarchy is a role that women have played throughout history. Some will accept this as a compromise, while others rationalise this as still being in their self-interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Storming of the Capitol.<\/p><\/div>\n
Campion agrees: \u201cA lot of the women who are posting of Facebook and making YouTube videos are doing it from the position of feeling righteous and justified. They think they are saving America,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Right-wing groups also need women to help \u201csoften\u201d the gun-toting image, but also to keep male members.<\/p>\n
“These groups of very cognisant of the fact that if they want to keep male members, they have to attract and keep female members. If the wife isn’t committed, the husband might leave,” says Campion.<\/p>\n
So while women are treated as second-class citizens they are simultaneously put on a pedestal.<\/p>\n
The white supremacist core of the far right holds women in a particularly privileged place. As wives of their warriors and mothers of future white children, they are expected to stay at home and commit to the family.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThe white supremacist core of the far right holds women in a particularly privileged place. As wives of their warriors and mothers of future white children, they are expected to\u00a0stay at home and commit to the family,\u201d writes Stinson.<\/p>\n
Indeed, these women are not hapless, na\u00efve, unthinking consorts to men who hold whacky ideas. They are not forced or coerced into participating with these groups and espousing radical theories. \u00a0Instead, they are individuals with agency and free will who internalise and externalise intense racism and hatred.<\/p>\n
When Joe Biden is inaugurated tomorrow, if there is violent protest and insurrection as predicted, rest assured many women will also be involved. And like their male counterparts, they will also be throwing bombs – just not of the physical variety. But of the kind ratcheting up hatred and fear on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.<\/p>\n
The post Who are the women of the extreme right?<\/a> appeared first on BroadAgenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
This post was originally published on BroadAgenda<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On January 6, Ashli Babbitt, 35, became a martyr. The Air Force veteran was in the act of scaling a barricade of furniture in Washington DC\u2019s Capitol when she was shot in the chest at point blank by a security officer. Babbitt, a Trump diehard and QAnon sympathiser, was one a handful of women among [\u2026]<\/p>\n
The post Who are the women of the extreme right?<\/a> appeared first on BroadAgenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":629,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2571,49,1628,1764,4,14,2850],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/629"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10661,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10660\/revisions\/10661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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