猫咪社区

The  laid bare . 

 the events of that day, while attempting to thwart any impending attacks.  over the attack鈥攖he vast majority being men. 

In the wake of these events, stories were attributing the violence and destruction to 鈥溾�� 鈥溾�� and 鈥�.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

But what about the women?

To distill the violent insurrection into a tale of angry male rage is to overlook the threat that women in the mob posed to congressional officials, law enforcement, and U.S. democracy that day. 

Long History of Women鈥檚 Involvement

Several women have been identified as alleged participants in the events of Jan. 6. Among those women are a , , a  and a . 

At least  is being investigated for her role in organizing the attack with fellow members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia movement. And , was fatally shot by police while trying to breach the Senate floor.

The women who took part in the siege of the Capitol are part of a long history of women鈥檚 participation in extremist violence, both in the United States and abroad.

Women have buoyed American far-right organizations and causes for centuries. In  on women at the forefront of contemporary White nationalism, author  writes that women are not 鈥渋ncidental to White nationalism, they are a sustaining feature.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Since the late 1800s, women have supported and enabled the terrorist White supremacist organization the Ku Klux Klan, while hundreds of thousands joined its female affiliate, Women of the Ku Klux Klan, and its predecessors. 

 the Klan鈥檚 culture, bolstered its recruitment efforts and manufactured its propaganda. Despite its hyper-masculine ideology, which identifies White men as the primary arbiters of political power, women have also held leadership positions . 

More recently, women have joined the far-right Proud Boys movement, which has . In December, a growing rift between male and female Proud Boys was reported. After experiencing intense sexist backlash from men in the organization, women led by  began their own group, the Proud Girls USA. 

To leave one extremist organization to form another suggests a deep commitment to the far-right cause.

Discounting Is Dangerous

A 2005 study  within American right-wing terrorist organizations and the attention it received from law enforcement. 

Despite a marked increase in women鈥檚 engagement in acts of terror against the state and racial minorities, security officials , search, and interrogate women operatives in these organizations, even after they become known to law enforcement. 

American far-right women might also and tactical knowledge from women engaged in extremist violence abroad. 

Evidence from the global war on terror points to the potential dangers of ignoring the growth of violent extremism among women. In Iraq, for example, female terrorists carried out large numbers of deadly suicide attacks against American assets during the U.S. occupation. 

The rest of the world has since been forced to grapple with the reality of violent women after female terrorists staged lethal attacks in Nigeria, Somalia, Tunisia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and France. 

Recent terror attacks in American cities such as , California, and  that featured women among the perpetrators confirm violent women have already inflicted damage on U.S. soil.

Gender Bias Can Be Deadly

In fact,  suggests that attacks by female terrorists are often more destructive than those executed by their male counterparts.

In an analysis of more than 2,500 global suicide attacks, I show disparities in the severity of male and female attacks are greatest where gender stereotypes suggest that women are neither violent nor political. Such tropes can blind security officials and civilians to the threat posed by women terrorists, causing them to overlook the potential for female complicity. 

Female terrorists, including in  , and , have been able to deflect suspicion because they were women. My research shows that gender bias can become deadly when it stops effective counterterrorism policies, such as surveillance, searches, and interrogations, from being implemented. 

Also, because ordinary citizens played an unusual role in exposing the identities of the Capitol attackers, gender biases among civilians are also relevant. Failure to accept women鈥檚 complicity in the Capitol siege and the broader movement may prevent the identification of female offenders and impedes efforts to punish and deter future attacks.

American women have been key pillars of support for violent right-wing extremists for centuries. They have been right-wing extremists themselves鈥攔acist skinheads, neo-Nazis and Klanswomen. Women are also Oath Keepers,  and Proud Boys. They were Capitol rioters.

To construct an accurate account of the Capitol attack, it鈥檚 necessary to ask 鈥淲here are the women?鈥� And the answer is, 鈥淩ight there.鈥�

This article was originally published by . It has been published here with permission.