Women moving to the left is a global phenomenon. This shift signals a susceptibility to ideological extremism

Overrepresentation of young women has become the norm in progressive activism.

This shift signals a susceptibility to ideological extremism, says Julian Zelizer .

Women moving to the left is a global phenomenon, he says.

Zelizer: We find it easy to recognise radicalisation in young men, while romanticising or ignoring the same phenomenon in women.

Greta Thunberg was named the youngest-ever recipient of Time ’s Person of the Year honour in 2019 .

She has since received multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations and an array of awards from media, philanthropic, scientific, and academic institutions, including several honorary doctorates.

Author Clementine Ford , a feminist author with a large social media following, has spread conspiracy theories about Israel , dismissed the mass rape of Israeli women on 7 October as unverified.

Gen Z girls have been socialised online in a culture based on hypervigilance toward harm, accompanied by demands for moral absolutism and purity.

This represents a new form of radicalisation that operates differently from its male counterpart.

A formal study of female radicalisation would need to examine evolutionary psychology, social psychology, and incentive structures that reward extremism.