It's a sign of social progress that more and more action movies star women. From The Hunger Games to Kill Bill to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to Hanna, ass-kicking women have become a mainstay in the action genre. But have we really come as far as it seems?

Fandor took a closer look at how women fight in action movies, and it turns out that most of their moves are highly sexualized. The most prominent of them is the "between-my-legs takedown," in which the action heroine tackles her opponent by straddling him or her, making for a great opportunity for a crotch shot.


It would be one thing if this was an extremely sophisticated maneuver that helped the action heroine save the day, but as Fandor notes in the video below, it doesn't seem to serve any purpose whatsoever—except to sexualize the hero.