Reduced to Bad Sex: Narratives of Violent Women from the Bible to the War on Terror
| Author | Laura Sjoberg,Caron E. Gentry |
| Published date | 01 March 2008 |
| Date | 01 March 2008 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0047117807087240 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
REDUCED TO BAD SEX 5
Reduced to Bad Sex: Narratives of Violent Women from
the Bible to the War on Terror
Laura Sjoberg, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA
Caron E. Gentry, Abilene Christian University, USA
Abstract
Whenever stories of women’s violence in global politics are presented in mainstream media,
their authors explain away the possibility that women make a conscious choice to kill or
injure. Violent women interrupt gender stereotypes: they are not the helpless and peace-
ful women that soldiers need to protect from enemies in traditional war tales. Instead of
acknowledging the falseness of the underlying gender assumptions, public and publicized
stories emphasize the singularity and sexual depravity of violent women, an account we call
the ‘whore’ narrative. This article considers two types of whore narrative: stories of violent
women’s erotomania, and of violent women as sexually dysfunctional. Though the whore
narrative has been consistently employed historically and cross-culturally, this article
identifi es a culture-based dimension unique to the war on terror. It argues that analysis of
these narratives have important implications for the study of gender in global politics.
Keywords: Abu Ghraib, agency, Chechnya, culture, gender, Palestine, sexualization,
violence, war on terror
In almost every culture and every period of history, a she-devil emerges as an
example of all that is rotten in the female sex. This Medusa draws together the
many forms of female perversion: a woman whose sexuality is debauched and
foul, pornographic and bisexual; a woman who knows none of the fi ne and noble
instincts when it comes to men and children; a woman who lies and deceives,
manipulates and corrupts. A woman who is clever and powerful. This is a woman
who is far deadlier than the male, in fact not a woman at all.1
Women perpetrate violence in global politics. When they do, however, their actions
are portrayed to the public in stories that emphasize their singularity and deny their
agency in their own violence.2 Specifi cally, in news stories and academic work,
women engaged in political violence are often depicted as sexual deviants, empha-
sizing the sexual nature of their dress, mannerisms, and behavior. One researcher
even explains women’s ‘erotomania’ as ‘the primary reason’ why women become
terrorists.3 In accounts of Bernardine Dohrn, a female leader of the United States’
Weather Underground, references to her miniskirts, high boots, and breasts are
as frequent as descriptions of her terrorist acts.4 The IRA’s Maureen O’Hara is de-
scribed as having ‘relied upon her outstanding fi gure, red hair, and outstandingly
International Relations Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore, Vol 22(1): 5–23
[DOI: 10.1177/0047117807087240]
6 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 22(1)
pretty face to lure British soldiers to over drink, over reach, then die slowly and hor-
ribly’.5 Descriptions of women’s non-terrorist violence are also often dependent on
sexual language. For example, stories about the women implicated in the prisoner
abuse at Abu Ghraib emphasize their sexual dependence.6
The prominence of sexual language in descriptions of women’s violence and ter-
rorism serves to undermine women’s agency in their violence. Sexualized stories of
violent women can be characterized as ‘whore’ narratives, which reduce women to
their sexuality and obscure investigation of women’s actual motives. This article ex-
plores the empirical employment of the whore narratives in depictions of women’s
violence as well as their implications for the study of global politics.
Before proceeding, a quick note on what this article is and is not seems appro-
priate. The article accepts the empirical reality that men perpetrate the vast majority
of violence in global politics. It further acknowledges the ‘role of phallocentric
ideology and a constructed hegemonic masculinity on the choice made by men to
perpetrate violence against women and children’.7 It is not arguing that women are
violent in a way that makes their violence somehow equivalent to men’s. Instead, it
argues that, when women are violent, both political and academic reactions stereo-
type violent women as sexually deviant, robbing them of agency and betraying a
larger problem with our understandings of women’s roles in politics and interna-
tional relations.8
As such, this article begins by presenting the puzzle of the perceived singularity
of women’s violence: why is women’s violence seen differently than men’s? Speci-
fi cally, why is it that each woman’s violence is portrayed as singular and aberrant?
The article then explores the sexualization of women’s violence as a trend through-
out history. Next, it details two strands of the whore narrative frequently employed
in the ‘war on terror’: that of violent women’s sexual obsession, and that of violent
women’s sexual dysfunction. It concludes by arguing that the whore narrative has
important implications for the study of global politics, revealing new complexities
for global gender inequality and suggesting a new approach to the study of indivi-
duals in international relations.
The double transgression of women’s violence
Scholars of gender and international relations have identifi ed a paradox of women’s
integration into global politics: women participate more in areas traditionally re-
served for men, but stereotypes about what women should and should not be doing
are not disappearing at the same pace.9 Instead, women’s integration into global
politics has sacrifi ced as little white male privilege as possible, and the process has
paid little attention to the discursive and performative elements of gender subordi-
nation (such as stereotypical narratives).10
Some scholars herald women’s participation in political and criminal violence as
proof of gender equality.11 At fi rst, this appears to be a logical inference: certainly,
violence is one of the last domains of male hegemony. Still, looking at how violent
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