The media frenzy over the women fighting ISIL is bizarre, myopic, orientalist and cheapens an import


Dilar Dirik is a Kurdish activist and a PhD student at the University of Cambridge. Her research focus is Kurdistan and the Kurdish women's movement.
The media frenzy over the women fighting ISIL is bizarre, myopic, orientalist and cheapens an import

Why are Kurds, who displayed the most efficient resistance against the Islamic State, labelled as te
![Kurdish female fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPJ) at a military training camp. [Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/2014929264618734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)