Osama Bin Laden and His Jihadist Global Hegemonic Masculinity

Abstract

This article examines for the first time the jihadist global hegemonic masculinity of Osama bin Laden. Based on Bin Laden’s public statements translated into English, the authors examine how in the process of constructing a rationale for violent attacks primarily against the United States, he simultaneously and discursively formulates a jihadist global hegemonic masculinity. The research adds to the growing interest in discursive global hegemonic masculinities, as well as jihadist masculinities in the Middle East, by scrutinizing how Bin Laden’s jihadist global hegemonic masculinity is produced in and through his public statements. The authors close their discussion by demonstrating how Bin Laden’s discursive practices are embedded in a clash of competing global hegemonic masculinities on the world stage.

The Hegemony in Masculinity

“…Scholars have taken diverse approaches to recognizing the hegemony that masculinity can gain for gender inequity. Some use “justification” and “legitimation” to indicate rhetorical attempts to persuade groups to consent to their marginal status (e.g., Messerschmidt and Rohde 2018, 664; Schippers 2007; Weitzer and Kubrin 2009, 19–20). Much of that research stops short of demonstrating hegemony as outcome, however.…”

What’s Hegemonic about Hegemonic Masculinity? Legitimation and Beyond

“…The proximity between positive masculinities and egalitarian male sex roles points to another risk: this omission can distract the analytic focus from the shifting relations between masculinities to the internal contents of a single masculinity . According to the regressive interpretation of the concept, we can label a masculinity as hegemonic as soon as we find it epitomizes male chauvinism (Logan 2010) or legitimates patriarchy (Messerschmidt and Rohde 2018), without even considering the other side of the equilibrium: other masculinities that are subordinated by hegemonic masculinity, but shape hegemonic masculinity by pushing it to hybridize (Demetriou 2001). However, in Connell’s (2005b:78) formulation, heterosexual masculinity is hegemonic relative to the subordination of gay masculinity, as manifested in the “political and cultural exclusion, cultural abuse .…”

Sociological perspectives on Islamist radicalization – bridging the micro/macro gap

“…Pearson and Winterbotham (2017: 67), in a somewhat similar vein, argued that 'Daesh [the Arabic name for ISIS] propagates hyper-masculine norms, with strict division between male and female roles, and limited freedoms for women'. Messerschmidt and Rohde (2018) analysed how Osama bin Laden constructed an alternative and oppositional form of jihadist hegemonic masculinity. This masculinity is tough and militant -even violent -but it is articulated as a necessary defence against Western military aggression in the sense that 'Muslim men "must be tough" so as to collectively "liberate the holy places of Islam"' (Messerschmidt and Rohde, 2018: 9).…”

“…This masculinity is tough and militant -even violent -but it is articulated as a necessary defence against Western military aggression in the sense that 'Muslim men "must be tough" so as to collectively "liberate the holy places of Islam"' (Messerschmidt and Rohde, 2018: 9). The jihadist masculinity is further constructed as a heroic masculinity because it is forged to defend Muslim women and children and, in broader terms, to defend the Umma, 1 which is described as feminine and suffering from Western attacks (Messerschmidt and Rohde, 2018).…”