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Women: The Secret Weapon of Modern Warfare?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Abstract

The images from wars in the Middle East that haunt us are those of young women killing and torturing. Their media circulated stories share a sense of shock. They have both galvanized and confounded debates over feminism and women's equality. And, as Oliver argues in this essay, they share, perhaps subliminally, the problematic notion of women as both offensive and defensive weapons of war, a notion that is symptomatic of fears of women's “mysterious” powers.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by Hypatia, Inc.

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