Media portrayals of female terrorists: a narrative review using ambivalent sexism theory

Abstract

The literature suggests that female terrorists are portrayed through personal and emotional narratives rather than ideological motivations, which obscures perpetrator agency. This study examined these representations through the lens of Ambivalent Sexism Theory (AST) and offers one of the first attempts to systematically link representations of female terrorists to the benevolent/hostile components of AST. The approach was a narrative review. The scope covered Turkish- and English-language literature published between 2000 and 2024 that were searched on Google Scholar and Web of Science; peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and theses were considered. Inclusion criteria primarily covered studies on media representations of female terrorists. Additionally, complementary research on women’s motivations was used to support or challenge media-derived themes. Themes were deductively derived from prior research, and matching with AST was conducted at an interpretive level. The results reveal five recurring frames: (1) Personal Revenge, Family Ties, and “For the Sake of Love,” (2) Boredom, Naivety, and Irrationality, (3) Physical Appearance and Hypersexuality, (4) Insufficient Femininity and Sexuality, and (5) Feminism and the Desire to Deviate from Gender Roles. Benevolent sexism is evident across all themes; hostile sexism is particularly salient in frames (3)– (5). Some studies support these representations as stereotype-driven; others offer alternative explanations. Generally, these frames personalise and depoliticise women’s agency, obscuring ideological motivations. The implications are to recommend prioritising perpetrators’ own words and organisational context, avoiding stereotypical labels, and developing AST-aligned analyses. The originality of this study lies in bridging ambivalent sexism theory with media portrayals of women’s political violence, providing an explicit HS/BS mapping of media frames.