ABSTRACT
In recent years, the rise of Islamic State (IS) and their high-profile use of extreme violence in Syria has been used to shock the public and, in turn, stimulate a militarized response from the wider international community. For many, the violence perpetrated by IS exemplifies a deeply visceral form of insecurity, where the use of social media by the group renders horrific imagery instantly accessible to its geographically disparate audience. What most analyses of this and other contemporary conflicts miss is that gender is vital to thinking about what violence is in global politics, and that conflict should often be viewed in light of what I call the men-masculinity-security nexus.
