Gender differences and deviant idealism in terrorism

Abstract

In the light of the concept of perverted idealism, the different gender element - quantitative and phenomenological - in different types of terrorism is analyzed. The concepts of "religious terrorism" (doing evil "in the name of God") and "secular terrorism" (doing evil for social change) are distin-guished and explained. The lower share of women engaged in religious terrorism compared to the female component in secular terrorism is underlined and possible explanations are given. In particular, the comparison allows to highlight how gender discrimination is also reproduced in the phenomenon of terrorism. The study reports an interview with a former terrorist.