Mia Bloom said a woman named Samira Ahmed Jassim had 80 women raped last month to transform them into suicide bombers for a group in Iraq, illustrating female suicide terrorism is on the rise in the Middle East.
Bloom, author of Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror, said women who are "victimized" will often join a suicide terrorism group to become "a great symbol" rather than stay a victim.
Bloom gave the first lecture in the International Speaker Series presented by Penn State's International Center for the Study of Terrorism (ICST), which Bloom said she is planning to join.
In her lecture "Bombshell: Rise of the Female Suicide Terrorist," Bloom discussed how women become involved in suicide terrorism, their roles in groups and the reasons they choose to commit suicide. Female suicide terrorism is growing "within the same conflict zone from group to group," Bloom said during the Friday night speech.
An organization is not "strong" if they have to "force" people to join, Bloom said, criticizing Jassim's recruitment method.
When the role of women in the groups was discussed, Bloom said woman have a certain advantage over men in an attack.
Bloom said a female suicide terrorist had the ability to get close enough to Rajiv Gandhi, former Indian Prime Minister, to kill him and a few others on May 21, 1991.
Between 2003 and 2004, Bloom said women in Turkey claimed they were pregnant by wearing a jacket with bombs around their stomach that gives the "appearance of pregnancy" before they committed suicide. A month after a report was written about this trend, this type of terrorism occurred in Israel for the first time, Bloom said.
When Bloom discussed the women's motivations for suicide terrorism, she said there are four Rs: redemption, revenge, respect and relationship.
Bloom said many women who became suicide bombers "had lost brothers, fathers, boyfriends," adding the "best predictor" of a woman's involvement with suicide terrorism is a "relationship to a well-known Jihadi," someone who practices some form of religious terrorism.
In Iraq, the female suicide bombers are becoming younger, Bloom said, adding this reality is "disturbing."
Bloom said Iraqi police prevented a 13-year-old girl, who had 33 pounds of explosives, from committing suicide in a school, adding the girl's father killed himself before the planned attack.
There is a problem with searching the women to thwart attacks, Bloom said, adding the population would be furious if the women were searched. Because the woman cannot be searched, it makes them the "perfect operative."
During the question-and-answer session that followed the lecture, John Horgan, director of the ICST, responded to whether or not a failed suicide bomber could become a member of society again.
Horgan said "the shame is quite intense," adding the women "will probably not see the light of day."
Some students who attended the lecture said they learned more about a subject that was unknown to them.
Jess Cornish-Berry (sophomore-political science) said it is rare to hear "a perspective of female suicide bombing."
