ABSTRACT
Women hold a perplexing role in modern organized racism. Historically, racist groups in the United States, with only sporadic exceptions, have been the province of white men. This is not surprising, given the deep misogyny and exultation of white-male privilege that underlies much racist rhetoric. Yet in recent years, organized racist groups in the United States have increasingly recruited white Aryan women as members. It is difficult to ascertain the exact membership of the racist movement, but it is likely that women are between 25 and 50 percent of the new recruits in a number of prominent racist groups. Women are sought as members to bolster the size of floundering racist groups. A number of male racist leaders also regard women as safer recruits than men, less likely to commit nonracist crimes or to have past criminal records that would draw them and the group to the attention of the police.
