Gendercide and terrorism studies

Bibliographic Data

ID12919232
AuthorsP F Ejiofor (0000-0002-4276-1460, University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume19
Issue2
Pages1-26
Publication date2026-03-15
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Studies on Terrorism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1753-9161 • E-ISSN: 1753-9153
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17539153.2026.2645376
OpenAlexW7136052851
LanguageEN
References cited51

Despite the centrality of gendercide against non-combatant males to terrorists’ aim of achieving political, religious, military, and ideological objectives, the phenomenon has received minimal attention in terrorism studies. Whereas terrorism researchers have underscored that non-combatant males are subjected to gender-based violence in the specific form of sexual violence, the limitation of gender-based violence to sexual violence forecloses us from problematising and comprehending the myriad ways non-combatant males are not invariably perpetrators but victims of gender-based violence beyond the conventional emphasis on sexual violence. This article transcends the existing scholarly preoccupation with sexual violence to critically assess the gender-selective massacres of non-combatant males by terrorists as a strategy to vitiate competition from potential combatants. With masculinity generally framed as a potential threat in conflict situations, terrorists engage in gender-selective massacres of non-combatant males as a tactic in their quest to control communities and territories devoid of opposition. Drawing on the framework of hegemonic masculinity and on twenty-nine (29) phenomenological interviews with survivors and ex-Boko Haram combatants in the conflict-affected northeast Nigeria, I explore the manifestation and rationality of gendercide against non-combatant males in the troubled region where terrorist insurgents have wreaked havoc on communities in an attempt to impose a caliphate where shariah overrides secular politics. This article contributes to terrorism studies by broadening our comprehension of gender-based terrorist violence against non-combatant males beyond the extant theoretical and empirical focus on sexual violence that has been mainly employed to examine gender-based violence against non-combatant males in terrorist insurgencies around the world.

Cycle of violence · Hegemony · Ideology · Masculinity · Poison control · Scholarship · Sexual violence · Terrorism · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access