Sexual Deviance and Terrorism: Contextualizing the Use of Sexual Offending Within ISIS

• In Event: Advances in Sex Offense Policy Research: Social Contexts of Sexual Offending

Abstract

Research has addressed the use of sexual violence amid conflict situations, examining how sexual violence has become a part of the arsenal of weapons employed by armies and organizations during warfare. While sexual violence has been attributed to terrorist organizations and their members, no studies have examined specifically whether sexual violence is an inherent part of the strategic aims of terrorist organizations or, rather, a result of individual actions by organization members. Given the release of Su'al wa-Jawab fi al-Sabi wa-Riqab ("Questions and Answers on Taking Captives and Slaves") by ISIS in November of 2014, questions with larger policy implications have been raised as to the use of sexual violence by terrorist organizations as a method of inciting terror. This paper, relying on open source accounts of sexual violence by ISIS fighters, addresses the occurrence of sexual offending within ISIS, examining the extent to which sexual victimization is part of the organization's strategic objectives.

Authors

• Michelle A. Cubellis, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Jared Romeo Dmello, University of Massachusetts Lowell / California State University, San Bernardino