Logo: to the web site of the Swedish Defence University

Throughout history, war has been associated with masculinity and perceived as an activity carried out by men. Simultaneously, women have been depicted as incapable of committing violence and as helpless victims in need of male protection. However, previous research has shown that women are equally capable of engaging in acts of violence. As such, this thesis aims to challenge stereotypical representations of women in war by disrupting the binary perception of women as inherently peaceful and men as violent. Using feminist security theory and idea analysis as methodology, this study examines the portrayal of female Kurdish fighters from the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) in four prominent Swedish newspapers. The study also investigates whether these portrayals differ from previous research on how the fighters have been depicted in other countries. The study concludes that while the depictions of YPJ fighters largely contradict stereotypes of women in war, Swedish media continues to reproduce stereotypical and gendered expectations of female fighters. Furthermore, it is argued that Western media utilize the female combatants as a weapon in the war against the Islamic State, ultimately stripping the female combatants of their agency.