You Don’t Liberate People by Killing Them: The Myth of a Feminist War

Opinion article by Cindy Chen and Nancy Javkhlan

No one has wanted to play “Superman” more than the United States. 

In the wake of the United States and Israel’s recent military aggression against Iran, an old narrative has resurfaced: that an unwanted war is somehow justified as service to the targeted countries' women or sexual minorities. The lie? We “care” about women, so we’ll fight for them. 

But that narrative is not only disingenuous – it’s dangerous. 

Exploring the moral dilemma: 

It is absolutely true that the Iranian government has a deep and ingrained history of constraining women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, including a noticeable clamp down in recent history; the Hijab and Chastity Law of November 2024, the Compulsory Veiling Law of December 2024, the Islamic Penal Code of 2013 that includes a death penalty for sexual acts between men, the expansion of morality police to enforce dress codes and behavior, the list goes on. These injustices against women and queer people have become political talking points and convenient tools, used to rationalize military aggression and violence in Iran. 

I am a feminist. But, let me be clear: the mistreatment of women and sexual minorities in Iran should never be used as an excuse to bomb and kill the very same women and sexual minorities that the West claims to be fighting for. You do not liberate people by killing their children, by tearing their city to the ground, by villainizing their nation. You do not liberate people by killing them. 

This twisted narrative – a cover-up for darker interests and constructed carefully by Western media, political interest groups, and an imperial government – relies on the Western savior complex. A savior complex that refuses to listen to its “saved. It almost assumes that violence with (falsified) “good intentions” does not kill. 

Where have we seen this in history before?

After 9/11, during the US occupation of Afghanistan, the oppression and sexual violence against Afghan women under the Taliban became the foundation for this same compelling argument, used by political leaders and Western media. Where are these US forces now? Completely withdrawn from Afghanistan, while women are unable to join the workforce, go grocery shopping independently, and dance or sing. 

Furthermore, when the US invaded Iraq in 2003, Laura Bush claimed that “the fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women.” But, as soon as Saddam Hussein was overthrown, the US “solidified existing patriarchal structures and created the conditions for an increase in violence against women.” 

Now, this narrative is being dusted off to justify American intervention in Iran.

Rhetorical manipulation weaponizes and manipulates Iranian women’s suffering into an excuse for an ulterior motive while, at home, federal protections for bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, and resources for LGBTQ+ youth are being threatened. An administration that openly attacks women and LBGTQ+ within its own borders cannot plausibly claim feminist motives to justify it's moves abroad. 

If the past is prologue, military action and any further intervention will not liberate Iranian women; it will only endanger them. 

What does this lead to?

Complicity: this prevents real action from practically happening. 

Aid agencies, human rights organizations, and media find themselves trapped. Although many opposed the war or saw issues in the Western approach on foreign policy, they still participated in its “nation-building” efforts, bending to fit the narrative and please Western audiences. Force-fed complicity and narratives of moral superiority prevent peacekeeping efforts and prevent aid from reaching those in need.  

This is especially impactful when we recognize that women and girls often experience the worst of war. Women are often treated as “weapons of war,” targeted as symbolic instruments of power and used as tools. Within conflict zones, the United Nations formally recognizes that women and girls especially face increased rates of sexual violence and torture. In areas that are destroyed by conflict, women lose access to life-saving reproductive and postpartum health care and within a strained system, girls’ educations are neglected to prioritize boys.

Cultural Disconnect: Even in the rare instances where government interventions appear to be well-intentioned – which is not applicable with Iran – they fail. 

Western efforts to promote women’s rights are often seen as foreign impositions, and this only deepens societal divisions. Deepa Kumar notes that intervention in Afghanistan was “decidedly imperious,” largely performative to obscure deeper political motivations, and gave “little opportunity for social change from the bottom-up or space for real grassroots civil resistance movements to form.” Change that is forcefully imposed by outsiders, even with seemingly good intentions, backfires. 

What’s the alternative approach to feminism in the midst of global conflicts? 

Women’s rights are not a justification for destruction, but a reason for peace. True support for genuine justice will never come in the form of bombs and missiles. While Western governments and media may continue to adopt this weaponization of women’s rights to justify war, real progress must come from grassroots movements – not from imperial powers. 

Research by Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan revealed that “mass mobilizations are more likely to be peaceful when women play leading roles.” Prior to the US invasion, Iraqi feminist organizers and activists were working for women's rights and democracy, even under Saddam Hussein. Diane Duarte and Yifat Susskind write that “the experience of Iraq reveals that military intervention and the use of force sabotage the efforts of these feminist, pro-democracy leaders and organizations,” as these activists have to bear the grief and trauma of war, experience heightened gender-based violence, and are reduced to “weapons of war.”

The West cannot claim to be feminist while attacking the women it claims to protect. If we truly want to further women and LGBTQ+ rights worldwide, we must stop weaponizing their suffering as a smokescreen for war and corrupt interests. 

Feminism is a movement that has been grassroots since its inception – born of pain, anger, and love.  It is a movement for peace, dignity, and true liberation. We must no longer allow it to be twisted into a tool for empire or used to justify violence in its name.