Outsider Women: Understanding Women’s Roles in White Supremacist Deradicalization

Abstract

Prior scholarship has suggested that women of color and other outsiders (i.e., those not affiliated with White supremacist hate groups) have significantly facilitated the deradicalization of White supremacist hate group members. However, few empirical studies focus on the lived experiences of outsider women who have helped hate group members disengage and deradicalize. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to explore the experiences of women who facilitated the disengagement and deradicalization of White supremacist hate group members. The first author conducted interviews among four women who had significant experience regarding the phenomenon of interest. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as a methodological framework, the authors identified five themes from participants’ rich descriptions of their experiences facilitating hate group exit: (a) identifying love as driving force behind exit facilitation, (b) developing their exit facilitation approach, (c) experiencing costs of helping others exit, (d) identifying areas for increased external exit support, and (e) offering recommendations for hate group exit facilitation. By examining this specific population, we hoped to gain insights into new avenues of development for disengagement and deradicalization interventions.

Keywords

• women
• white supremacy
• preventing and countering violent extremism
• deradicalization