Moral Policing of Gender Norms: Honor-Based Violence as a Mobilizing Factor Towards Militant Islamism

Honor culture, in which the virtue of the family—if not community—
depends on the “purity” of its female members, enforced through
“moral policing” of gender norms to collectively control women’s sexuality
and uphold a patriarchal gender order, is a central aspect of
both honor-based violence and the Salafi-jihadist culture in militant
Islamist milieus. Drawing on interviews with 1) an imprisoned Danish
woman convicted of ISIS-related terrorism, 2) a mother of a deceased
Swedish ISIS foreign fighter, who herself was previously part of the
Salafi-jihadist milieu, and 3) “professionals” (e.g. police officers, social
workers and municipal employees) conducted during ethnographic
fieldwork in Sweden and prison ethnography in Denmark, this article
explores how honor-based violence can constitute a mobilizing factor
for Western Muslims towards militant Islamism in three distinct ways.
First, isolation of Muslim women and children through gender segregation
and restrictions on accessing public space to “moral police”
gender norms enables the Salafi-jihadist milieu to cement and extend
its ideological, religious, and physical control. Second, in an honor culture
with intense pressure on men to defend and restore family
honor whenever it is challenged, joining ISIS can be perceived as a
means to fulfill this obligation, thereby affirming “real” Muslim masculinity
and upholding a patriarchal gender order. The deeply ingrained
cultural expectations to defend honor can even be exploited by militant
Islamist milieus in their recruitment efforts. Third, besides providing
a “safe space” where one cannot be persecuted and punished for
dishonoring one’s family by leaving it as an unmarried woman, ISIS’s
multiethnic diversity and embrace of interethnic marriage can be
appealing for someone who wants to escape forced endogamous
marriage. Given that honor-based violence strikes at the individual
freedoms and rights, thereby undermining liberal democratic values
and the rule of law, our article contributes knowledge on the broader
threat to democracy from anti-democratic forces in the context of
militant Islamism.