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Esquire Magazine

October 1997

Lucy Lawless - Throngs Of Praise
 

Xena is fighting fit and ready to crush you between her thighs.

"Move over Tank Girl, Batgirl, Barb Wire and tell Red Sonja the news-Xena:Warrior Princess is the new queen of girl-power icons and every modern guy's fave-rave pin-up.

Played by New Zealand newcomer Lucy Lawless, Xena is Conan with a clitoris;a she-he-man with awesome mammaries and muscle from (as the credits say) "a time of ancient gods...when a land in turmoil cried out for a hero." Along with her sidekick, Gabrielle, (Renee O'Connor) Xena wanders round defending the weak, fighting for truth, justice and the right to kick men in the nuts. Xena:Warrior Princess is actually pretty awful. It looks cheap and cheesy but is redeemed by large doses of comedy and camp. Real fans of Ms. Lawless like to kid themselves that she's a good actress - actually every time Xena raises a sardonic eyebrow you can hear it creak.

Still, she looks great in her leather-thonged skirt, knee-high boots and leather breastplate. She has beautiful blue eyes and big sexy thighs that a man would give his right arm and left testicle to have his skull crushed by. So what is it about these warrior babes that men can't resist? Are we just suckers for psychobitches who, like Xena, can do embroidery, disembowel a bloke, defy gravity, challenge the gods, destroy tyrants and still find time to shave her legs? Yes! Yes! YES!

OK, boys - here's the bad news. Xena probably drinks from the fur cup. Gossip among the Aphrodite set suggests that Xena and Gabrielle are an item - they certainly exchange plenty of smouldering looks, sweet somethings and in one famous episode ("The Quest"), they actually kissed. But don't forget that Xena once had the hots for Hercules and promised her dead mother she'd marry a wuss called Mathias. So, fingers crossed.

 

Interestingly, she has become a cultural phenomenon at the very time when the male-action hunk is fast becoming history. Xena actually started life as a bit player in the series Hercules:The Legendary Journey. Now her show is more popular than his. And none of the new generaton of Sky TV studs - from Sinbad to Tarzan - have captured the popular imagination like Xena. She's not only got her own theme park in America and over 190 websites, but there's an Association of Xena Studies, too.

Xena is that rarest of cultural icons:a unisex sex symbol that can not only make men weak at the knees but women wet with desire too. Mums dads, dykes, dogs and cats - hell, everyone can find something adorable and droolable about Xena. Long may she reign."