Apparently, my new hobby: Critiquing terrible NPR segments.

"We want strong women who can punch and kick ... without taking off their itty bitty strips of cloth." [more]

In the interest of fair & balanced, I present to you 16 strong female lead videogame characters, that are not “over-sexualized” (sic), and the games don’t suffer for having a female lead, either. Oh, and not a damsel in distress in the whole bunch.

1) Joanna Dark (Perfect Dark) - Spy
2) Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) - Adventurer
3) Ms. Pac-Man (Ms. Pac-Man) – Ghost hunter
4) Chun Li (Street Fighter II) - Fighter
5) Jade (Beyond Good & Evil) – Photo-journalist
6) Sonya Blade (Mortal Kombat) – Special OPs
7) Konoko (Oni) – Police consultant/ Investigator
8) Hibana (Nightshade) - Ninja
9) Thyra the Valkyrie (Gauntlet) - Warrior
10) Claire Redfield (Resident Evil 2) – College student/ Motorcycle racer
11) Heather (Silent Hill 3) – Lost teenager
12) Cate Archer (No One Lives Forever) - Spy
13) Flo (Diner Dash) – Entrepreneur
14) Miku Hinasaki (Fatal Frame) - Photographer
15) Carrie Fernandez (Castlevania 64) – Adventurer/ Monster hunter
16) The protagonist for Infocom’s “Plundered Hearts” - Privateer

And technically, there’s Samus from “Metroid,” although you don’t know she’s a she until the end of the first game.

There’s tons more strong female leads out there; those were 16 (and a half) that I just called up off the top of my head, with the internet helping me out with some names. Could this short-sightedness be why girl gamers get so little respect?

"I need to play to get my juices flowing, so I can create my own super awesome sci-fi adventure strategy game where women rule and men are dressed in Speedos."

... sigh ...