Women are often used as political currency in nationalist discourses around crime, war, and protection. The dicourses often focus on women from the dominant group as the mothers of the nation and as frail and in need protection. The nation, in turn, is often seen as a  mother who needs the protection of her loyal sons

The lynching campaigns that took place in the United Sates after the end of slavery relied on the gendered idea the protecting vulneralbe white women was crucial to safegurding the sanctity of the nation. When African Americans gained some rights after the end of slavery, an intense reactionary movement developed to try put Black back into subordinate roles, Racist consciouness, which had previously characterized African Americns as happy go luck people who did not really mind slavery, suddenly shifted. The dominant images in media were wildly violent, overly sexual men, intent upong raping white women. Many whites accepted patriotic and nationlist views that claimed that our women needed to be protected from "them" White women became social currency in the struggle of white men to maintain their dominace.

In main nationalist movevements, in which a subordinate group is demanding national liberation, women are also used as a token of national pride. Men are encouraged to fight for national liberation so women will be safe from  outside force.

This puts feminists who advocate for national liberation into tough situation. While men in many groups romanticize the virtues of the nation in demanding liberation, this romanticizing makes it hard to  look at unequal gender relations. Thus feminists are often accused of fostering disunity when they fight for gender equality within national liberation movement.

Many feminists of color  are hesitant to criticize their own cultural groups because they know how this can play in the dominat society's interest n perpetuating negative images of subordinate clutural groups. As a part of their colonial propagand in India, the British focused on the backward practices of of the Indians and the need to protect Indian women form Indian men.