After numerous reports of young women in Western culture traveling over to Syria to join the anti- Western extremist group known as ISIS, the question has been raised: How and why are these women being convinced to join these violent fighters?

ISIS (Islamic State) was established in 2004, much like Osama Bin Laden’s Al- Qaeda and the Taliban. The two groups share many similarities, such as doing whatever it takes to establish an independent Islamic state. However, ISIS has been reported to be even more brutal than even Al- Qaeda. Using brutal scare tactics, ISIS has released various videos of beheadings and other torturous exercises against non- ISIS citizens to gain power.

Receiving a negative reputation of violence and terrorism in the West, many are wondering why anyone would go join this radical extremist group.

“We’re seeing young women from across Western countries both expressing their support for and migrating to Syria now in totally unprecedented numbers,” Sasha Havlicek, chief executive of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said. “And I would say this is the result really of an extremely sophisticated propaganda recruitment machinery that’s targeting young women very specifically.”

Social media seems to serve as a way for ISIS to communicate directly with young recruits. Women of ISIS use their Twitter and Facebook pages to lure in “at risk” young girls who are longing for a place to belong. These social media pages consist of positive posts about how wonderful life in ISIS is.

After three teenage girls from Colorado fled to Syria to join ISIS, federal officers began wondering how these girls were convinced to leave their safe homes in the United States to join a dangerous extremist group in the Middle East. It was found that the girls began talking with a wife of an ISIS fighter through her Twitter page. Her tweets described the comfort of sisterhood that ISIS brought women and the responsibilities as a wife of a fighter. The three American girls were caught before entering the Middle East and have been returned home, however this is only one of the many events that have been reported where young girls from the West have directly supported ISIS.

According to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College London, about 550 young women, some as young as 13, have already traveled to Islamic State-controlled territory.

Once being convinced to join the fight, girls stay in communication with their soon to be ISIS “sisters.” The young girls are encouraged and prayed over for safe travels by the women. They remind the girls of the duties they have once they arrive, which is to support their fighter husbands and continue to bear the children of the future jihadism, the generation of those who will live out their religious duty. The idea of a Utopian society where loyalty and unity is a main moral is portrayed to outsiders looking in. However, between the violence and lack of freedom that surrounds ISIS, the lifestyle is anything but perfect.

An anonymous former female ISIS member sat with CNN to explain life in the Islamic State. She spoke of growing up in Syria and how joining the terrorist group first seemed like a normal uprising where members spread their message through peaceful protests. Soon, though, the group spiraled into chaos as they began using violent and inhumane war tactics.

“At the start, I was happy with my job,” the former ISIS member said. “I felt that I had authority in the streets. But then I started to get scared, scared of my situation. I even started to be afraid of myself.” She began to tell herself: “I am not like this. I have a degree in education. I shouldn’t be like this. What happened to me? What happened in my mind that brought me here?”

As her workload began to increase, she saw more and more of the dangers of ISIS.

“The foreign fighters are very brutal with women, even the ones they marry,” she said. “There were cases where the wife had to be taken to the emergency ward because of the violence, the sexual violence. So it was at this point, I said enough. After all that I had already seen and all the times I stayed silent, telling myself, ‘We’re at war, then it will all be rectified.’ But after this, I decided no, I have to leave.”

Leaving just days before the airstrikes in Syria in 2014, the former ISIS member was smuggled across the Turkey border where she was later able to share her story for the first time with CNN. Exposing the truth about the brutality in the ISIS lifestyle, this former member serves as a reminder to all citizens contemplating supporting ISIS of the dangers and violence taking place.

In order to stop the online movement, United States officials are constantly monitoring these social media sites. In fact, Ben Kalasho, a local California man, has decided to participate in his own way.

Speaking with Fox News, Kalasho explained his efforts in ending the online recruitment process. By reporting dangerous media pages, Kalasho and his team have already shut down multiple ISIS accounts. Fox News wrote that Kalasho and his team are willing to do whatever they can, even if it is simply a dent in the Islamic’s state social media efforts in order to stop the group from spreading their message across the world.

While the United States forces work to stop ISIS and its cruel activities, a handful of Western citizens are agreeing to join the terrorist group. Raising awareness on the risks of supporting ISIS will only discourage Western citizens who are pondering joining the group. Organizations such as Sons of Liberty and that of Ben Kalasho’s are made of United States citizens that are working towards shutting down the terrorist group. Specifically, Sons of Liberty focuses on assisting countries who are fighting against terrorist groups. Their website explains how citizens can support their efforts.