Women among the Jan. 6 attackers are the new normal of right-wing extremism

[AZProgressive]

The days surrounding the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have been rife with analyses about ongoing investigations and lawsuits, strategies to combat domestic extremism in the military and signs of broader threats to democracy amid rising support for political violence. One issue that keeps getting lost in the shuffle is the unusual role that women played in the insurrection — and continue to play in the rise of extremism itself.

(Snip)

Historically, women’s roles in extremist violence have been almost exclusively backstage, with exceptions mostly limited to left-wing extremism. We saw this with the so-called ISIS brides, who were recruited to become wives to militants and mothers to future soldiers. Closer to home, in the U.S. white supremacist movement, women sewed Ku Klux Klan robes and published newsletters with homeschooling tips and recipes intended to help raise pure, white families to secure the future of white civilization.

This backstage role is changing rapidly — especially in the U.S. — in ways law enforcement and observers often overlook or dismiss. Between 1948 and 2018, just 6 percent of violent and nonviolent far-right extremists in the U.S. were women. But that percentage more than doubled on Jan. 6: To date, women reflect 13 percent of the federal arrests. At the Capitol that day, women smashed pipes through windows and posted videos from inside the building saying they were searching for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to “to shoot her in the friggin’ brain.”

Women were likely more engaged on Jan. 6 due to the highly spontaneous nature of the violence and because of the prominent effect of QAnon, which has radicalized millions of women to believe in a network of conspiracy theories. Like most of the men charged, most women who have been arrested appear to have no formal ties to extremist groups. By all accounts, these women were mobilized over a relatively short period of time through mass disinformation about the U.S. presidential election and traveled to Washington from ordinary lives, leaving jobs as health professionals, a florist, a realtor, a school therapist and an elementary school teacher.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/women-among-jan-6-attackers-are-new-normal-right-wing-n1287163

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Could it be that these women found outlets for their work in an otherwise

misogynistic world more than they believed in the ideology?

I've wondered about women who have joined the Third Reich ("Hitler's Furies" https://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Furies-German-Killing-Fields/dp/0547863381). And the women, particularly Angela Atwood, who joined the Symbionese Liberation Army, the group that kidnapped and then recruited Patricia Hearst. Did they join because of the illusion of being partners, not wives or girlfriends? Or was it just more exciting than staying home?

[Abolishinist]

2. I'm also surprised at the number of women who have engaged in altercations

on airplanes over masks, or have shown a complete lack of civility at city council/school board meetings, as another example.

Does this mean the Repukes believe in gender equality when it comes to those whose life goals are to be rancid, disgusting, worthless forms of lowlife?

[dalton99a]

3. +1. Don't forget all the Karens

vigilant defenders of the white race