Why is it, that when we think about or see terrorism, we do not see women? Women, like men, are capable of violence. Women, like men, commit violence for a variety of reasons, some rational some irrational. Still, when women commit acts of violence, they have been characterized as anything but regular criminals or soldier or terrorists. Rather, women who are violent are discussed in one of three ways - the wife, the mother or the whore – which deny her agency and reify gender stereotypes and subordination. With the rise in global terrorism and female participation within such organizations, the implications of the terms we use to describe away a woman’s legitimate use of violence, are far reaching.