Sexuality and the War on Terror

Sexuality and the War on Terror

Terrorism is generally related to evil, as well as to people displaying abnormal behaviors, promoting concepts that come against ordinariness. Sexuality is one of the domains that influence terrorism, people being tempted to consider terrorists to have a tendency toward sexual deviances. Society has a history in dealing with this kind of situation, originally identifying individuals that perform abnormal activities with animals. In the opinion of the general public, one of the main factors related to atypical behavior is deviant sexuality. It is not certain what drives people to perform abnormal activities, but it is certain that their actions contradict notions such as discipline and normality as accepted as the norm today.

The Western world is considered to be one that involves a higher level of civilization, where abnormal concepts are being condemned or receive little support. Even if Westerners reluctantly accept abnormality, they receive education concerning why it is better to subject to society's rules and why deviations are detrimental for their well-being. In contrast, matters in poorer countries are different, as communities there harshly condemn abnormal conduct. A civilized society relies on theories that teach people why it is wrong to perform certain activities, instead of promoting absurd notions that only serve the purpose of confusing people. Also, the freedom present in Western countries comes along with clear instructions teaching people how to distinguish between right and wrong. People cannot actually understand why some things are wrong as long as their community does not provide them with an education.

Differences of any kind are considered to be reasons for discrimination, making people think that a person that deviates from normality is to be categorized as a monstrosity manifestation of nature. While some might consider terrorists to be deranged individuals that need special help, others believe that there is no point in trying to help, as the perpetrators have no chance of being rehabilitated.

When hearing the word democracy, one most probably relates it to civilization, justice, rules, and generally a whole system determined to keep abnormality from developing. However, the Western society has proven its flaws in promoting democratic principles that involve the concept of normality, since it has also encouraged people to embrace abnormality.

Society has paid special attention to matters like terrorism, attempting to realize what determines people to resort to it and how it can be efficiently prevented. Even though it is extremely difficult and almost impossible for terrorism to be eradicated, it is important to point out that people have identified some of the circumstances where terrorism is most likely to appear. Underprivileged people coming from areas where domestic wars have taken place are predisposed to terrorism. History is an influencing aspect when concerning terrorism, with individuals coming from an exploited community having a greater tendency to perform terrorist activities. While these factors are somewhat logic, there are also others that influence such abnormal behaviors. Sexuality, for example, is not something one would relate to when thinking about terrorism. In order for people fighting against terrorism to involve professionalism in their mission, they first need to study the background of those committing acts of terror.

Terrorism studies refer to an intense analysis of terrorists, their cause, and what are the best methods to discourage them. In contrast, counterterrorism is expected to fight terrorism and resembles a form of discrimination based on the level of understanding that society has of terrorists. The general public has been taught that the main reason for which terrorists act accordingly is that they believe that their actions will eventually intimidate certain people in complying with their demands. However, society has a general anti-terrorist policy and it is considered that one would only succeed in encouraging more terrorist acts if one was to cooperate with terrorists.

In spite of the fact that terrorists are well aware that they basically have no chances of having success in their mission, they stubbornly go on with it. While their real mission is believed to be that of convincing certain influential people in collaborating, it is more feasible that they actually have other motives. People consider terrorism a way out because of various factors such as "self-destructive urges, fantasies of cleanliness, disturbed emotions combined with problems with authority and the Self, and inconsistent mothering." (Jasbir K. Puar and Amit S. Rai) Thus, terrorism can be categorized as an activity adopted by people that have had traumas resulting in a mental disorder. However, one does not necessarily has to be mentally ill in order to perform acts of terror, as the respective person's actions can be caused by the fact that he or she does not have the proper means of conducting conventional warfare.

Most terrorists have suffered various traumas in their childhood and lack a true understanding of their actions. Their devotion is fueled throughout their early lives and goes on to become fanaticism in their adult lives. Society attempts to define terrorism through the incidents experienced by terrorists in their early lives.

Normality is associated with the heterosexual image of the West, while abnormality is related to behavior that is out of the ordinary. Because of the critical state of affairs existing in some of the Muslim countries that promote anti-Western concepts, people there have lesser chances of developing into rational adults. Of course, this thinking is more often endorsed by Westerners and should not be taken for granted. Whereas Westerners tend to ignore the true reasons for which their homelands are subjected to terrorist attacks, Muslims argue that terrorists are actually motivated by the political conditions that they find themselves in.

In its struggle to consider itself almost perfect, the presumably civilized world is ready to discriminate poor countries by supporting false concepts relating to the respective areas. Is it possible that terrorists are primarily motivated by the traumas suffered during their childhood and because of their sexual dissatisfaction? Through such beliefs Westerners plainly demonstrate that they are not willing to consider any other intervening factors, their main purpose being that of discouraging terrorism by claiming that its followers are motivated by matters that lack any sense of logic.

The 9/11 events have made it possible for terrorism to get the attention that it never got until then. U.S. citizens considered this as an attack performed by unbalanced individuals that did not have the ability to conceptualize the true consequences of their actions. For the American people, terrorism dropped unexpectedly, out of nowhere, completely unjustified (if terrorism can ever be justified), resembling the plague for the Europeans, during the Middle Eve. The officials as well as the American public immediately considered that this was an attack of their normality, performed by men whose state of mind and current social involvement acted like a psychosis for them.

One of the first things to reflect on had been that these disturbed people had little success in their sexual lives. The concept that terrorists were performing their missions because they expected the heavens to reward them with a large number of virgin women did not seem awkward for Westerners. Moreover, this came as a potential solution to the problem, making U.S. authorities think that the terrorists they were fighting had actually been stimulated by their desire to achieve sexual pleasure.

It is not strange or unexpected that the civilized world displayed the tendency to disrespect terrorists and their objectives. It is obvious that such acts could not be considered justified, no matter the cause the authors and players in terrorism acts have. However, the reaction that the civilized world has consequent to the 9/11 terrorist attack has its roots embedded in history. Most individuals from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that had not been allowed to integrate society properly because of their dissimilarity with civilized white people were not only discriminated depending on their appearances, but also based on other absurd premises, such as their inclination to perform deviant sexual activities.

The September 11 events triggered a wave of discrimination across the U.S., based on the fact that U.S. citizens considering themselves normal had been encouraged to express their hatred toward everything that seemed out of the ordinary. While civilization has given the impression that it brought people to the point where they are all equal, matters are actually different. Differences in color, gender, and ethnicity are presumably ignored in the twenty first century. However, this century is also responsible for the popularity experienced by the issue of terrorism. In spite of the fact that governments of western countries are making efforts to persuade historically discriminated people into thinking that they had received the right to express freely, they had actually enforced certain elements of discrimination into the process.

Some Westerners can go as far as believing that the people that are being discriminated because of either their skin color, their social backgrounds or their ethnic origin are predisposed to various deviant behaviors. The civilized world fails at understanding the terrorist psyche because of the fact that it is constantly trying to turn to principles related to hetero-normativity.

Because of the heterosexuality promoted by the U.S., Osama bin Laden has been often related to homosexuality and sodomy in the years following the 9/11 incident. Those taking part in the process of linking terrorists to deviant sexual behaviors did not realize that they were, in fact, addressing a much greater number of minorities. People could have the feeling that their reluctance to pro-war convictions would suggest that they tend to display homosexual tendencies. Moreover, those that actually had homosexual affinities became harshly discriminated against because of their presumed similarity to terrorists. Brown skin had also become a main reason for people to be discriminated. This amount of distrust showed toward groups that had no connection whatsoever with terrorist attacks actually worked in favor of mobilizing the whole nation against the deranged terrorists. One can almost say that the unfounded connections made between terrorists and deviant sexual behavior had been a marketing solution to the problem. U.S. citizens were tricked into thinking that some of the most antisocial behaviors had a lot to do with terrorism.

To some level, heterosexuality is considered to be related to nationalism in the U.S. The masses are easy to control, especially when one knows exactly what they like and what they don't like. People lacking a good education feel that most information coming from the authorities and from the media is perfectly trustworthy and that there is no need for them to attempt to contradict it.

When an entire country is turned against a minority, it is extremely difficult for someone to bring things back to normal. The respective minority is attacked through every possible means and the perpetrators feel as if there is nothing to stop them from expressing their extreme dislike. The general public has been constantly fed with anti-terrorist and anti-Muslim propaganda linking the attacks to homosexuality ever since the 9/11 events. This campaign of misinformation succeeded in accomplishing exactly what its advocates wanted it to.

It did not seem strange that the American authorities had suddenly become interested in the way that Afghans treated their women. The U.S. has a history in discriminating certain minorities, in spite of the fact that it promotes freedom and equality. However, there have been a small number of American citizens actually interested in getting actively involved in the singling out of others. American leaders took advantage of the 9/11 opportunity to present terrorism under a very different form, persuading people that their hatred for various minorities can be related to anti-terrorism.

Homosexual communities have felt the effects of the 9/11 materializing into the fact that streets no longer provided them with a safe place for them to be in. This happened in spite of the fact that the gay groups reporting an increased mistreatment as a result of U.S. citizens being influenced by the media have not had the slightest resemblance to actual terrorists. It would have been partially logical for them to be harshly discriminated against provided they would have fitted other patterns, like having a brown colored skin, coming from South Asia, or being Muslim. Moreover, among the groups claiming that they were persecuted in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there had also been whites, Latinos, and several other randomly chosen people that posed no threat to the national security of the U.S. It seemed as if the government and virtually the whole population had been determined to intimidate anyone that they thought was connected to terrorists, even when undergoing the risk of being wrong and persecuting innocent victims.