I have

always liked the "woman as warrior" ideal.

Well, I have since I was in college and saw the movie

"Alien" where Sigourney Weaver takes control of

whipping an alien's razor-edged-tail when all the men on

the ship have failed. Using her wits, sans

"sport" or any other bra, her character

"Ripley" showed us women can be tough, sweaty

and devoid of fear when facing the enemy.

I have heard though, that

they edited out an early scene in the movie when she was

piloting the spacecraft and doing her makeup at the same

time. Nevertheless, it is not an entirely new concept

that women can be as strong and tough as men.

The space shuttle has yet

to launch as I write this, but if all goes well, by this

printing, Eileen Collins will have made history as the

first space shuttle commander with two X chromosomes.

There are few glass ceilings left for women to break and

now count the earth's atmosphere as the most literal of

those. I say hurrah for this event just as loud as anyone

yelled for our women's soccer champs.

Speaking of which, are the

girls of summer back from Disneyland yet? I am a big fan,

but I think they have taken the "We are great

athletes but we are still feminine" credo a bit too

far. I'm just waiting for the Playboy, "Girls in

Nothing But Cleats" issue any day now, for the

interviews, of course. Yet, no matter which way you slice

it, they are no doubt one of the greatest American sports

teams in our history.

I do have one question for

all the major newspapers and magazines, though. Why do

you repeatedly mention the husbands of these soccer

women? Almost every time I read about the team,

invariably when they list the profiles of the women, they

always gave reference to the husbands. Did no one else

note this blatant sexism?

When is the last time you

read John Elway's stats and they noted his wife's career

or background? Is he even married? The only time you read

about wives of male professional athletes is when they

themselves make the news for some scandal or trouble. But

then again, if these women were listed it might just look

like a Hooters' reunion.

The ultimate, has-it-all,

woman as warrior is the character "Clarice

Starling" from "Silence of the Lambs."

Vulnerable yet tough, she faced down the devil and pulled

the trigger 'til the clip was empty. She had nice

curtains in her home and soft-looking pajamas, yet the

eyes of a person who would just as soon slap you as she

would fill out a Cosmopolitan romance test. Some live by,

"Never let them see you sweat." Clarice lived

by, "Never let them see you point your

government-issue double-action Glock."

There are more than a few

real-life women as warrior role models for our children

to emulate and they rarely carry pistols. They are the

moms out there, who carry one child on their hip, drag

another along behind them and rarely take off their

shirts when they make it across the street with both

children safely. To the victors goes the gold but to the

mothers goes the aluminum foil.

We should take pride in the

accomplishments of our current leading ladies and hope

for a continued breaking down of the barriers. But, we

shouldn't let all this publicity overshadow the amazing

and continuing accomplishments of the warriors as women

that populate the soccer fields and space shuttles of our

own lives.

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