Not just women warriors, but also cool chicks, bad gurls, anti-heroes and female villains reside on this page. And there are also a few specialty links here as well.

You know, why is it that when women act like men (i.e. expect to get what they want, expect to have their opinions and ideas taken seriously, and actively pursue their business and personal pursuits, including sexual ones) that they're labeled as difficult, domineering, bitchy or a slut?

These are the things that make my brain twist up, kids. I have to suspect that anyone doing the labeling has more issues than the women they are attempting to label.

I have realized that I identify more and more with strong women as I get older and decided to offer this page in tribute to some of my personal fictional and historical favorites.

Quote I recently found (from the film Youth Aflame, 1944):
Good Girl: "If you get a high school diploma, then you can earn things for yourself."
Bad Girl: "With what I've got, I don't need a diploma."

Click on the titles for a link related to each (each link opens in a new window). There's also an interesting link regarding the Good Woman/Bad Woman Dichotomy in Disney's Sleeping Beauty - click on Maleficent's pix to get there. Enjoy!

Maleficent -- I loved the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty, but was always rooting for Maleficent. I figured as a dragon she'd just squash Prince Philip, but no. She gets a sword in the heart for her troubles. Who wouldn't be upset at not getting invited to the party? The whole frickin' kingdom is asked to show up, but they conveniently forget you. Just 'cuz you can transform into an enormous fire-breathing dragon, have a crow for a familiar, live in a creepy castle with troll-like henchmen, wear black, have a slightly green complexion and prefer pointy headgear is no reason for everyone else to get all shirty about it.

Heavy Metal The Movie/Heavy Metal 2000 -- Both of these movies have take-charge female characters. My favorite has to be Taarna from the 1981 animated film. And F.A.K.K.2, voiced by Julie Strain, was interesting. Yeah, I know, they're mainly the result of male artists and the Heavy Metal Magazine genre, but I still think these girls kick ass and they look hot, too.

Tank Girl -- I finally own one of the comix (The Odyssey) and have the film adaptation too. Even though I know the movie version starring Lori Petty was not what the creators envisioned, I still thought the character kicked butt. Jet Girl was also sexy cool. Definitely not mainstream stuff, but that's what I like about it. Besides, who can tell me what "normal" is anyway?

Demona -- of Gargoyles animated fame. Yeah, she has an anger-management problem, but I always liked her in the series.

Lara Croft -- mainly 'cuz I thought the first movie really kicked ass. I don't know much about the game since I'm not a gamer sort of chick. Anyway - there's an interesting article about the game version of Lady Croft located on the name link up above. Check it out and find out if she's a "feminist icon or cyber-bimbo."

Catwoman -- the version that I grew up with was on (POW - KERSPLAT!) the live action TV show Batman. I barely remember Julie Newmar portraying the twisted kitty, but remember Eartha Kitt due to her voice. Catwoman was naughty and even young, innocent me picked up on her wanting Batman in a big, bad way. *Meow* The link above focuses on Catwoman in comix, film and TV - purrfect!

Maureen Birmbaum, Barbarbian Swordperson --This wacked out character was written by the late George Alec Effinger. Take a sort of prep-school/valley-girl and throw her in a number of parodies for sci-fi/fantasy and you get a bunch of good laughs.

Rachel Morgan & Ivy Tamwood
...of the Dead Witch Walking series - click on the banner below to go to author Kim Harrison's site.

Perrin Hawtrey -- I don't know if she should count since she's my own creation, but I'll list her here. So far I like how the character is developing in the fanfiction she is included in. And Malin's a pretty tough cookie herself.

Freyja -- we'll put her in between fictional and historical since she's probably a bit of both. Freyja is the Norse goddess of fertility and war. She inspired a good bit of the character development of Perrin and Malin. Except that Perrin rides a horse and not a wild boar. The link above will take you to the Old-Norse Mythology site's description of her.

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Christine de Pisan, Sammu-ramat (aka Semiramis) -- I got interested in Eleanor due to my medieval interests and the movie The Lion In Winter. I've read a translation of one of Christine de Pisan's books and it gave me insight into the way medieval women were treated and expected to behave. Christine is unusual in that there were few medieval women writers. I first heard of Sammu-ramat during the Medieval Congress that I attended awhile back. She sounded rather intriguing as well. The link above will take you to the Distinguished Women of Past and Present website. You'll find info about these three and many other interesting women there.

Women Warriors Throughout History (3500 BC to the 20th Century) -- This is a fantastic resource housed on the Lothene Experimental Archeology site. Lothene is an Edinburgh based group involved in researching and recreating aspects of life in Scotland in the 11th Century. My favorite has to be "Black Agnes" - mainly because my (very strong and feisty) grandmother was named Agnes as well.