ABSTRACT
Since approximately 2012, large numbers of Western European women have travelled to join IS. From Sweden, over 24 percent of the FTFs were women, which makes Sweden stand out as one of the proportionately largest contingents, according to population size. By conducting an online ethnographic study of the unofficial propaganda narratives posted on Facebook by Swedish women affiliated with the Salafi-jihadi movement, Henriette Frees Esholdt explores and analyses the female-specific attractions of Salafi-jihadism within a Swedish context. In addition to the promotion of sharia law, gender segregation, as well as the maintenance of a patriarchal gender order, Swedish female supporters of the Salafi-jihadi movement clearly counter-narrate the common view of Muslim women as oppressed, and present themselves as strong, free, and empowered individuals – who wish to submit themselves to traditional gender roles. Accordingly, Frees Esholdt argues that Swedish women seem to be attracted to Salafi-jihadism, not despite, but rather because of its patriarchal norms and ideals. As such, Salafi-jihadism constitutes a gendered counterculture to the Western ideal.
