Violent Female Action Characters and Gender Stereotypes

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It's two hours past my bedtime. I'm only gonna get 6 hours of sleep, and I'm an 8-9 hour girl. But there's so much interesting content being posted right now, how can I sleeeeeeep?????? Ahem.

Anyway, check it out:

The debate continues as to whether the few action heroines that we are familiar with, such as Lt. Ripley, Sarah Connor, or Lara Croft, have broken down gender barriers in action films. This research provides evidence that the majority of female action characters shown in American cinema are not empowering images, they do not draw upon their femininity as a source of power, and they are not a kind of "post woman" operating outside the boundaries of gender restrictions. Instead, they operate inside socially constructed gender norms, rely on the strength and guidance of a dominant male action character, and end up re-articulating gender stereotypes.

From Women & Hollywood. It's an interesting read.