Just as conversions aren’t causing massive demographic shifts, jihadists aren’t causing massive numbers of terror attacks on Western soil. Therefore, it seems clear that Western fears of both jihadist attacks stem from insecurities about Western power and the ability of Western nations to fend off terror attacks. Fears of jihad and national security rest primarily with male converts, while female Muslim converts bring about a different set of anxieties for nationalist commentators. Female Muslim converts challenge false stereotypes about oppressed Muslim women and create fear for nationalists by challenging Western societal norms of objectification of women. Objectification of women means the West hyper-sexualizing female bodies for mass consumption.
Evidence
Gendered Islamophobia theory holds that state and societal tropes ascribed to Muslim women are oppositional to those assigned to Muslim men. It elucidates how prevailing ideas of “submissiveness” and “subordination” attached to Muslim womanhood, and the grand aim of “liberating Muslim women” that follows, are rooted in an imperial epistemology that caricatures Muslim men as “violent,” “oppressive,” and “tyrannical.” — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1244 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Forever Suspect expands on theoretical concepts such as racialization by including cultural traits and gender as central to understanding how racism operates both structurally and through social interactions, and I uncover the ways in which Muslim Americans experience racialization in their everyday lives. It is a complicated process that works in different ways for different people or groups. One of the ways the process of racialization occurs is through the gendered surveillance of their bodies: Muslim American women are watched by their fellow citizens and monitored for transgressing “Western” cultural norms, while Muslim American men are carefully observed for their potential to commit terror. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 92 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: The West’s question should be why it fears Muslims, not why they hate us; I will then consider the demographic factors of fertility rates, age distribution, and migration. Much like conversion, white nationalists view high Muslim fertility rates as a form of jihad. White nationalists use violent rhetoric such as ‘literal baby boom’ (Steyn 2008, xviii) and ‘war of the wombs’ (Kilpatrick 2106, 131) to paint Muslim motherhood as weapon wielded against Western society. This concept of ‘baby jihad’ objectifies Muslim women as baby-producing machines. In turn, these babies will bring about the ruin of Western society through stealth jihad to implement Sharia law, amongst other things such as genital mutilation, rapes, and persecution of Christians. These fears are exacerbated by an aging European population in contrast to a young Muslim population. Finally, migration is viewed as another type of demographic weapon. White nationalists write of the ‘hijra’ as a form of stealth jihad (Corcoarn 2105b), a ‘Trojan horse’ (Solomon and Al Maqdisi 2009) to alter the demographic make-up of non-Muslim countries and implement Sharia law.; The perceived threats posed by female Muslim converts challenge false stereotypes about oppressed Muslim women and create fear for nationalists by challenging Western societal norms of objectification of women. Objectification of women means the West hyper-sexualizing female bodies for mass consumption. (+15 more)
Related
- Terrorist racialization is gendered, targeting men differently than women (similarity 0.90)
- White nationalists fear converts through distinct gendered threat narratives (similarity 0.89)
- The perceived threats posed by female Muslim converts challenge false stereotypes about oppressed Muslim women and create fear for nationalists by challenging Western societal norms of… (similarity 0.88)
- Muslim women are surveilled for cultural transgression while men are watched for terror potential (similarity 0.88)
- The green scare’s fear broadened to encompass converts, not just born Muslims (similarity 0.84)
- White nationalists frame Muslim demographic change as an existential threat (similarity 0.83)
- Muslim women are simultaneously attacked as threats and pitied as victims (similarity 0.83)
- Racializing Muslims as threats sustains a surveillance state with gendered effects (similarity 0.82)
- Muslim immigrants are a ‘fifth column’ of secret ‘stealth jihadists’ lying in wait to overthrow Western society and implement Sharia law, according to white nationalists. (similarity 0.82)
- There is indeed a perceived threat from within Western society due to religious switching, secularism, and lower fertility rates. However, the threat is also viewed as externally imposed on… (similarity 0.82)
- Much like conversion, white nationalists view high Muslim fertility rates as a form of jihad. White nationalists use violent rhetoric such as “literal baby boom” (Steyn 2008, xviii) and “war… (similarity 0.82)
- Western discourse displaces Muslim threats onto obsessing over women’s clothing (similarity 0.82)
- Islamophobic stereotypes of Muslims form a closed gendered loop. (similarity 0.81)
- White nationalists frame religious conversion as a weaponized demographic attack. (similarity 0.81)
- Gendered surveillance watches women for cultural transgression and men for terror. (similarity 0.81)
Broader Connections
- Islamophobia stems from nationalism’s ambiguities rather than fear of Islam
#corroborates(0.90) - Gendered Islamophobia assigns opposite tropes to Muslim women and men
#corroborates(0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1244 - Western discourse displaces Muslim threats onto obsessing over women’s clothing
#expands(0.70) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 356 - Muslim women are surveilled for cultural transgression while men are watched for terror potential
#expands(0.70) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 92 - Sexual objectification of Muslim women fuses desire and military intervention fantasy
#expands(0.60) - Much like conversion, white nationalists view high Muslim fertility rates as a form of jihad. White nationalists use violent rhetoric such as “literal baby boom” (Steyn 2008, xviii) and “war…
#exemplifies(0.60) - Muslim men’s invisibility as Muslims breeds fear of association with terrorism
#corroborates(0.60) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 639 - Terrorist racialization is gendered, targeting men differently than women
#contradicts(0.50) - State-perpetuated fear racializes Muslim bodies as terrorist enemies
#complicates(0.40)