ABSTRACT
This chapter explores three theoretical modifications to the research agenda on political violence. It argues that using the term radical as a synonym for all political violence imbues this violence with a normative element that limits scholarly advancement. Interested publics do not always perceive political violence as radical. Political violence is only radical when it deviates from what is acceptable to a specified group. The chapter explains gender narratives may be particularly effective at radicalizing or de-radicalizing public perceptions of political violence over time and across space, because of the extraordinary consistency in cross-cultural associations between gender and violence. Political violence committed against women is generally considered an outrage, especially when it threatens men's traditional control over their own women's sexuality. In the case of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), narratives of sexual violence against women, and the presence of women combatants, were central to building a public image of the FMLN as a righteous organization.
