The Extreme Other: Men, Muslims, Latent Homosexuals. Media Representation of Terrorists

Abstract

The article highlights the emerging links between terrorism and sexuality in media representations, with a particular focus on masculine homosexuality and a certain vision of homophobic masculinities in the Islamic societies. The aim is to understand how mediated social constructions of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nation and class are intertwined with contemporary hegemonic discourses of counterterrorism, nationalism and homonationalism. The normalisation of some queer subjects and the representations of Muslim sexuality and race as oppressive and violent towards women and gays produce “normative patriot bodies”, on the one hand, and “racialized terrorist bodies”, on the other. Since the 11th of September 2001 until the most recent terroristic attacks in Europe, a profound reorganization of the global hegemonic masculinities in terms of violence has occurred while masculine imaginary has known a significant redefinition. It becomes evident a global racialising thought targeting Muslim men as the “threatening Other”. Through a gendered and racialized perspective their media representation as foreigners, latent homosexuals, homophobics and potential terrorists elicits a figuration of the “absolute enemy” that justifies the “war on terror” and produces new inequalities in terms of power, privilege and wealth.

Keywords: Islamic masculinities, violence, terrorist, homosexuality, anti-Muslim representation, media.