Minutewomen, Victims, and Parasites: The Discursive and Performative Construction of Women by The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps

Abstract

This study uses data from 40 interviews and 80 hours of participant observation to examine the discursive and performative (embodied, enacted, and nonverbal) position of women in twenty-first-century militia–nativist organizations, using the case study of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC). The case of the MCDC demonstrates that the organization produces competing narratives for understanding the role of white and migrant women in U.S. society. White American women are constructed as victims of immigration, while white women within the organization are viewed as capable colleagues. Migrant women are produced as both parasites on American society and victims of Mexican male sexuality. As this article shows, women's demands for agency, their political drives, their ascribed race, and their intentions shape their discursive production.