Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Women in Combat: A Gendered Perspective
Chapter 2 - Violent State Actors in Feminist Research and Critical Studies
Chapter 3 - Listening to Narratives of Security and In-Security
Chapter 4 - The Politics of Trauma, Gender and War
Chapter 5 - Body, Sex/Gender and Integration of Women into Combat Roles
Chapter 6 - Narratives of Security and In-Security
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Ayelet Harel-Shalev is a political scientist. She is Associate Professor at the Conflict Management and Resolution Program and The Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Harel-Shalev is the author of The Challenge of Sustaining Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies and co-editor (with Arthur A. Stein) of Affect, Interest, and Political Entrepreneurs in Ethnic and Religious Conflicts.

Shir Daphna-Tekoah is a senior lecturer in the School of Social Work of the Ashkelon Academic College, Ashkelon, Israel, and the Head of the Social Work Department, Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, Israel. Her academic interests include Gender, Health and Violence, Women Combatants, Child Abuse and Neglect, and Dissociation and Trauma.

Reviews

"This book fills a gap in knowledge about the roles and experiences of women combatants and raises important questions for future research in international relations, gender and militarism, violence, and critical military studies." -- Wendy M. Christensen, Contemporary Sociology
"Breaking the Binaries in Security Studies upends multiple conventions that deserve to be questioned. The book interrogates simple gender dichotomies as well as those that contrast war versus peace, combatant versus victim, and state versus society. Ayelet Harel-Shalev and Shir Daphna-Tekoah present gripping material drawn from interviews with 100 women who served as Israel Defense Force combatants or combat support personnel. An invaluable
contribution to feminist research, this study is among the first to illuminate how combat soldiers cope with trauma in a strong military and, later on, as civilians in a highly militarized society." -- Sylvia Bashevkin,
author of Women as Foreign Policy Leaders
"This fascinatingly graphic book is sure to enliven our current conversations about securityDLwhat is security, how do we promote it, what undermines it. These wonderfully diverse narratives from women in military combat roles provoke fresh thoughts about the tangled relationships between security, violence, silence, masculinities, femininities, peace, and militarism." -- Cynthia Enloe, author of Globalization and Militarism
"The authors enter unexplored areas in this book. Rather than the often-studied topic of women and peace, this work looks at women combat soldiers. Moreover, by employing a psycho-linguistic analysis, placed within the framework of feminist international relations studies, the authors probe the subtleties and depth of gender responses in a situation of ongoing warfare. This is a very worthwhile, and enlightening, treatment covering new ground." -- Galia Golan,
Darwin Professor emerita, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"This brilliantly illuminating book challenges a series of familiar binaries in a highly original way. The authors distinguish multiple voices, and by doing so, arrive at a new and far more nuanced understanding not only of gender but also of security and insecurity, conflict, and trauma. Written by two of Israel's most courageous thinkers and foremost feminist scholars, this is a vibrant and vital addition in a wide range of fields." -- Carol Gilligan, author
of In a Different Voice and Why Does Patriarchy Persist?