I hate the argument that “women aren’t strong enough to wear armor” or “women
are agile, not strong.” First off, this is stupid. Secondly, besides the fact that armor is more maneuverable than most people assume, female armor mostly shows up
in fantasy, a genre often known for its poetic or cinematic breaks from reality. A man can cleave his foe in twain in slow-mo, but a
woman with good upper body strength breaks suspension of disbelief? Wut?
Besides, fantasy isn’t about what people “should” do. If you think
about it, an illiterate, but pure-hearted peasant really shouldn’t
become the king. Maybe the heroine should have learned a more
agility-based fighting art. But she didn’t, because she must be a
knight, like her father before her!!!111 Well, why not? If you can use
“it’s not real life” to justify skimpy armor, you can use “it’s not real
life” to justify a 16 year-old waifish elf girl in full plate
one-handing a zweihander.
Playing the devil's advocate, yes, skimpy armor occasionally allows people to "dodge," though not as often as video games would have you believe. Real life sometimes imitates art. There’s an
Indian martial art called Kalaripayattu that emphasizes flexibility and
flying leaps. It’s amazing to watch. Weapons include swords with
shields, daggers, and a whirling, whip-like sword. The male
practitioners fight in thongs or loincloths, and give each other
therapeutic oil massages as part of their Yoga practice! If these were ladies in D&D, people would
be screaming “sexist”. Ironically, the women practitioners IRL are more
modestly dressed due to religious conservatism. So yes, in certain traditions, fighting naked or in little clothing is
perfectly feasible. But I’d still rather have a woman be unarmored than stupidly
armored.
I personally dislike the idea that skimpy female armor is to distract
men. Not from a realism perspective but from an artistic one. A good
action hero has agency. His badassery stems from doing things, not in
the influencing of other people to do things. If a lady warrior wears
impractical armor to mess with men, it’s exactly the same stupid, sexist argument that was mocked in a widely-linked anti-feminist bingo card: “Women have all the power over men- you can reduce us
to an uncontrollable jelly of lust!” I’m not like, outraged that a woman
warrior is sexy- that’s appealing also- but I like to see a female
warrior, when she’s on the field, rely more on her skills than on
head-gaming men.
In a non-sex-related example, sensitivity is important in a female
surgeon, both as a doctor and as a woman. But in her professional life,
more emphasis should be placed on the job’s primary medical skills, not
secondary social skills. If some medical drama about her only showed how
damn NICE she was and didn’t show much actual surgery, I’d be pissed.
An anthropologist once noted that in all societies she’s observed,
little girls aimed to please. Little boys aimed to excel. I want my
women heroes to excel.