Movies, television, video games, or just about anything aimed at a male audience in recent decades frequently feature buttkicking babes who use their unstoppable fighting skills to flatten bad guys.

From the NYT’s account of the report on the knife-packing maniac who jumped the White House fence and ran inside:

As the officer stationed there tried to lock the doors, Mr. Gonzalez “barged through them and knocked her backward.” She told him to stop but he continued on to the East Room. “After attempting twice to physically take Gonzalez down but failing to do so because of the size disparity between the two, the officer then attempted to draw her baton but accidentally grabbed her flashlight instead,” the report said. “The officer threw down her flashlight, drew her firearm, and continued to give Gonzalez commands that he ignored.” Mr. Gonzalez entered the East Room, but then exited, heading down the hallway. Two officers stationed in the White House, assisted by two plainclothes agents who had just finished their shifts, tackled him.

I was flipping channels on the TV last night and came upon a scene where a lunatic stalker had cornered a svelte blonde in an elevator. To my surprise, instead of defeating the hulking brute in a fair fight with a flurry of her martial arts-honed punches and kicks like any normal female movie or television character would, she pepper-sprayed him in the eyes, kneed him in the groin, and ran away shouting for help. What’s Hollywood coming to when they show a realistic way for a woman to defend herself?