If the United States is to win the “War on Terror” they must identify all the “masculine” boys in Kenya and retrain them to get more in touch with their feminine side. If they fail to do so, those boys could be radicalized and become Islamic militants.
The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism is offering about $600,000 of U.S. taxpayer money to a nonprofit group to “explore gender identities of boys and men in Kenya.” According to the grant documents, Kenyan boys who show signs of being “tough, heterosexual, aggressive, unemotional, and achieving” are likely to joining radical Islamic groups.
“Gender is increasingly recognized as an essential aspect to understanding and countering violent extremism throughout the world,” the State Department claims. “To date, research and interventions on gender in Kenya have predominantly focused on the role of women and girls in violent extremism. However, men and boys are disproportionately recruited by and join terrorist groups and carry out terrorist operations. In Kenya, there currently exists no CVE [countering violent extremism] programming dedicated to the role of gender of boys and men and vulnerability to violent extremism.”
Specifically, masculine Kenyan boys grow up to become men seeking membership in “al-Shabaab and more likely to be both operators and victims of terrorist acts.”
That’s right, America. If you don’t pay for people to study the grasp traditional gender roles has on young men in Kenya, you will have to pay billions to protect your homeland from them when they become Islamic militants directing their hyper-masculine aggression toward the U.S.
The “Masculinity and Violent Extremism“ study will “determine existing knowledge and gaps on male gender and violent extremism as well as explore gender identities of boys and men in Kenya.”
Who knows? Maybe taxpayer money will discover some Kenyan boys who identify as girls and we can use that information to encourage other, more macho Kenyans to question their sexuality.
All in the name of national security, of course.
As the Bureau of Counterterrorism’s website explains: “The primary mission of the Bureau of Counterterrorism is to forge partnerships with non-state actors, multilateral organizations, and foreign governments to advance the counterterrorism objectives and national security of the United States. Working with our U.S. Government counterterrorism team, the Bureau takes a leading role in developing coordinated strategies to defeat terrorists abroad and in securing the cooperation of international partners.”
In the meantime, the money will go to discover how to disrupt the “patriarchal” society of “tough, heterosexual” men in Kenya that has contributed to the radicalization and poverty of the African nation.
“Kenyan males are expected to head the household as well as provide for, protect, and maintain the family,” the department continued. “Socially, males are expected to be tough, heterosexual, aggressive, unemotional, and achieving. The practical and social pressures to fulfill these expectations can be immense and create vulnerabilities that are exploited by violent extremist groups who appeal to these characteristics and offer the opportunity to fulfil these roles.”
The grant goes on to describe how the culture of Kenya contributes to anti-U.S. terrorism.
“Kenyan society, while diverse in its ethnic and cultural composition, is uniformly patriarchal and highly prescriptive of gender expressions and identities.”
One wonders if such studies could be used in the United States to accomplish similar goals of getting rid of their traditional Western notions of patriarchal order, Christian commandments concerning the roles of men and women, and the “vulnerabilities” these traits create in American boys and girls.
Perhaps this gender-role realignment could be added to future U.S. Department of Education curriculum mandates so as to identify and isolate any American boy who might grow up and commit acts of domestic terrorism.
Photo of political demonstration in Nairobi, Kenya: AP Images
