In this paper we ask how changing gender norms influence the recruitment and usage of suicide bombers. We answer this question by analyzing the process by which gender norms shaped suicide terrorism in the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in Turkey. We found that norms surrounding masculinity and femininity in Kurdish society motivated both men and women to join the PKK. At the same time, we also found that the PKK utilized norms concerning duty, honor, equality and liberation to recruit both sexes. Second, the exact process through which gender norms encouraged recruitment in the PKK evolved overtime as Kurdish society and the PKK itself modified their conceptions of gender. This is significant because people's gendered motivations to participate were context specific to the case of Kurdish society. Finally, we also found that norms of masculinity shaped the process by which the PKK selected and deployed suicide bombers.