But just before I end it I was thinking about a conversation I had some time ago, were a friend was actually trying to prove _with rational arguments_ that men are more fragile_ physically_ that women. In that context he mentioned the extreme vulnerability of male's genitals.
By the time I mentioned women's breasts as being more exposed and fragile enough, but the subject remained in my mind.
Visual fiction do explores the kick in the balls without necessarily have a ideological motivation for it, just because the image works. As every man knows the mere image is a little painful, and use that to tell stories is perfectly fine. At same time there was a trend to avoid scenes were women are kicked or punched in many genders (those scenes do happen from time to time but are less common). Traditionalists (the ones some like to call "sexists" implying a heavy moral accusation) would not place their heroines in physical altercation if they could avoid it, and if they had to then the lady villain would be fighting with a good girl. Feminists today do love to put "strong women" in body fights_ specially_ against men, and the fictional convention is than women are not as good fighters as men, but far better than them.
Until that conversation I had never considered the possibility that this repeated image could distort the perception of reality of adults. Children is one thing, when you have 10 you can play Dungeons and Dragons and question yourself is would me possible to actually kill someone with a hammer "maybe one need a blade", all right, no problem. Eventually you find the News, make the basic Math, and reach the one and only possible answer for that conundrum.
Is as possible to kill someone with a hammer as it it to kill someone with a knife, and our specie has being proving both possibilities since hammers and knifes became available.
Women are, in general, far worse in corporal fights than men. Biological species do not evolve to fit abstract ideal, such as gender equality, "women can do everything as good as men, or better" only became a plausible fantasy recently. Up to Modern Age men had to be the ones fighting, liking it or not, because women could not replace them in war any more than men can replace women in pregnancy.
That separation of tasks was a matter of survival. As a matter of fact now_ in part_ the need for corporal fights is in the past and the separation can be abandoned. But neither men became fragile as crystal in the last 30 years nor women are now made of steel.
By the way, I almost forgot the point but, yes: a hard kick between the legs has a fair chance to put a Sonja Warrior out of combat as fast as it would do the same for your average Conan).
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