How Islamic State seduces teenage girls

In the CCTV images from Gatwick, England, they look like any three teenage girls heading off on a half-term holiday.

Last week, school friends Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15 - all students at east London's Bethnal Green Academy - boarded a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul and disappeared.

It is feared they have already arrived in Syria, intent on starting a new life with Islamic State.

Their families, who had no idea of their plans, are devastated.

Metropolitan police counter-terrorism commander Richard Walton said they are in grave danger, and is very concerned about "the number of girls who have either travelled or are planning to travel to Syria at this time".

But why - with almost daily reports of slavery, rape and enforced domestication - would women want to join IS?

Personal connections

The first "lure" is perhaps a "who", not a "what". Social media is one of the main ways by which researchers can access what is happening to women who join IS, and what they see is women already there actively appealing to others to join them.

For example, last year, twins Salma and Zahra Halane, from Manchester, followed their brother to Syria.

Who they know matters.

Jihadi brides

As a recent manifesto by the women's Al Khansaa Brigade revealed, IS needs women, and it wants them as wives.

For young women, there is the lure of romantic adventure. Sara Khan - from the women's counter-extremism organisation Inspire - describes websites facilitating a jihadi match as a form of "grooming". But IS also wants wives who are committed to the cause. IS rejects the perceived superficiality of the West, along with feminism and gender equality.

It is a land of shared purpose, with none of the complexity or confusion of British teenage life.

IS also promises a chaperone to aid arrival, a home and a monthly allowance.

Violence

Is violence another attraction?

For some women, it could be. But whatever women want - and some certainly express the desire to fight - there are no easy pathways for women to the frontlines in IS. So far, the physical fight is for men only, with women in a supportive role.

Prospects at home

It is important to understand what lures women to IS. But we should also consider what women are lured from.

The three teenagers in the grainy CCTV images are young, vulnerable, but also hopeful. We are told they are grade A students, thoughtful, bright.

What made them consider their prospects in al-Baghdadi's self-styled "Caliphate" better than their future in the UK?

It is a question we must not only ask, but answer fearlessly.

• Pearson is studying gender and radicalisation at King's College London