Realistic Fantasy/SF Female Role Model of the Week: Spartan Catherine-B320

A new feature I'd like to offer up (an excuse to peruse pics I guess). Tomorrow we learn the gender of the baby (hopefully!) and if it turns out to be a girl, I'd like to think that the future of fantasy/SF adventure fiction and gaming will hold realistic female characters who wear practical, useful clothes and armor into battle. So in honor of this possibility, I present Kat, from Halo: Reach (yeah yeah I'm a big Halo fan and I'm not 13 so sue me...I also like Black Ops and Gears of War, just for the record!)

The idea here is not to suggest that women can't wear whatever they want (they can, and I am a supporter of women's right and the right to be seen as equal to men in all ways, whether it be through conventional women's liberation all the way to the slutwalk movements of today). BUT! I am also an advocate for realistic portrayals of women in fiction, and I think fantasy and SF artists are notorious for letting libido and marketing direct the image of women in fantastic art rather than the equally cool elements of rational, pragmatic garb. At the very least it looks more realistic and immersive in whatever genre is being depicted, and at best it might teach some of these fantasy artists how to actually draw, and how to actually make strong, intelligent looking female characters that serve a purpose beyond eye candy for men.