Female Political Dissidence: Mediating and Gendering the Arab Spring in Jordan

Abstract

This is a critical feminist analysis of how the Jordanian state deployed the ideology of honour through various media channels to silence female political dissidents during the Arab Spring protests in Jordan. In this effort to understand state-media-gender dynamics I find overt and covert cases of this strategy, including the high-profile case of Enas Musallam in 2012, and accounts from various female activists that reveal the myriad ways they have been intimidated, harassed, and trolled by state agents in order to stop their political engagement. The consequences of these covert and overt campaigns illuminate the contradictory position the Jordanian state holds both towards gender equality and female political participation, and point to a real discrepancy between the Jordanian state’s declared position and its actions on the ground.