Unarmed Childhood: Rethinking Youth Through Feminine Eyes

In this emphatic episode, we confront the growing problem of youth militarisation in the 21st century – a global issue that continues to blur the line between childhood and war. From camouflage school uniforms to patriotic indoctrination and media glorifications of war, we explore how military culture quietly infiltrates young minds, shaping their identities before they fully form.There is some spotlight to the feminine resistance, drawing on the voices and works of influential thinkers and artists. Feminist political theorists Cynthia Enloe and Judith Butler help us unpack how ideologies use women and children as symbolic tools to justify violence. We examine how artists like Barb Hunt, Marianne Jørgensen, and Gülsün Karamustafa wield soft materials – threads, fabric and fibre – as quiet but profound weapons against the culture of violence.Together, their work challenges us to ask:What happens to a child’s psyche when war becomes part of play?What is lost when innocence is drafted into ideology?And how can maternal, artistic, and philosophical voices create spaces of healing and resistance?Music: Lidérc - Aesthetic Boomopera