Another unnecessary gender call-out

I'm sure we've all seen a lot of this picture in the last couple of days:

It seemed all they were talking about on CNN tonight was this now infamous "female suicide bomber." I can understand that the capturing of a potential terrorist is news. What I don't understand is the media's fixation on her gender. Yeah, yeah, I know--she serves as proof that al-Qaida is now recruiting women. And again, I could understand if the media made that particular bit of information the focus of their story on her . . . but they didn't. Instead, they kept saying over and over something to the effect of, "What could drive this woman to strap a bomb to her body and attempt to kill people with it? In this shocking story, we'll discover what motivates a WOMAN SUICIDE BOMBER!"

Um, hello? Even without being privy to all the shocking, late-breaking details, I would venture to guess that what motivated her is pretty much the same thing that motivates any MALE SUICIDE BOMBER. I mean, what does gender have to do with it? I'm not trying to be an apologist for suicide bombers. Call their motivations what you will--heinous, fanatical, misguided, whatever--but I seriously doubt the driving forces behind their actions are different for women than they are for men. What the hell is she going to say that's so "female"?? Would she proclaim, "Unlike the men in the movement, I was doing it for the children!"? Or maybe, "I don't really care about getting occupying forces out of my country--I want to drive and wear make-up!" Do you see what I'm getting at here?

The only potential difference I could imagine is that this woman was coerced by her husband and didn't undertake this willingly. Very possible, but what difference would that make? It certainly wouldn't make people in this country sympathize with her. In the eyes of CNN, she's a terrorist regardless, so why harp on the woman thing? Frankly, I'm surprised the media didn't focus on this angle from the start, because they seldom pass up a "woman as victim" opportunity. But they barely touched on this possibility. They were only interested in getting into the mind of a "female suicide bomber" and discovering "her motivations."

Might I suggest that it could possibly be helpful to ask this question about ANY suicide bomber, regardless of gender, and maybe have a dialogue on that issue for a change? I guess in the eyes of the media, that's just not as sexy as a woman packing explosives.