Revolutionary Warrior and Gendered Icon: Aida Lafuente and the Spanish Revolution of 1934

The article traces the evolution of imagery depicting the activities of Aida Lafuente, a young woman who took up arms to fight on behalf of the insurrection during the Spanish revolution of October 1934. Following the revolt, pro-revolutionary writers, poets, and politicians sought to commemorate her activities. This article argues that commentators resorted to conventional images of women in war in order to counteract the unsettling notion of a woman warrior. In doing so, revolutionary memories transformed Lafuente from an authentic woman warrior into a symbol of purity and motherhood. Despite her radical actions in both a political and gendered sense, memories of Lafuente served ultimately to reinforce traditional notions of proper gender behavior.