Women At War

Okay, so I understand the whole "Red Sonja: sex symbol" thing. But as someone who enjoys fantasy novels and (not as often) movies, I find the Sexy Swordsmaiden stereotype to be REALLY annoying, especially when they're shoehorned into an outfit that lends the impression that their fighting style is likely Mixed Martial Belly-Dancing.

I guess I'm just not in the target demographic.

But the genre can't remain adolescent forever. Which means that they'll have to start finding more intelligent roles for the females characters to play, since they'll lose a major part of their sex appeal when they stop dressing them like this:


And put them in actual armor, like this:


(And, in case you're wondering, yes, those are both women.)