The bomber behind the veil and the ferocious fighter: A study of media representations of male and female suicide bombers

Sammanfattning: Suicide bombings have become a widely used lethal weapon in violent conflicts around the world. These attacks have been committed by both men and women for almost three decades. Still, violent women are commonly perceived as the exception of the rule. This can be understood with the help of feminist post-structural theory, which identifies an inherent power relationship in producing and maintaining a discourse. This thesis aims to deconstruct what appears to be a gendered media discourse on male and female suicide bombers. This is done through a discourse analysis guided by the gender dichotomy of the Just Warrior and Beautiful Soul theory. By analyzing a selection of articles within the two English speaking Western Magazines NEWSWEEK and TIME Magazine, I have found several stereotype-based differences between the portrayals of male and female perpetrators. It is important to expose and deconstruct this established discourse in order to avoid gendered knowledge and policy production standing in the way of permanent peace.