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F.A.Q.

• What's this "Girls With Guns" thing all about then?
  I'm a long-term fan of action movies, and it seemed to me that with very limited exceptions, those with women in the lead role never got a fair shake. This site is designed, in its broadest sense, to rectify that situation. But I use the term "Girls With Guns" loosely: martial arts films are also just as valid here.

• But it's really a fetish thing, isn't it...
  Not as far as I'm concerned.

• C'mon...you can tell us...
  No, really. I can say, with total honesty, that I do not get an erection at the sight of a woman with a gun, nor have such thoughts ever crossed my mind during sex (solo or otherwise!). I've no doubt such people exist - you, dear reader, might even be one - but my interest is aesthetic and strictly platonic.

  Not that it stops certain people from insisting otherwise, as this email I received shows:

  "I'm currently researching for a programme called Sin Cities at UK television production company, Shine... In series 4, we shall be going to the Czech Republic and would like to film a feature in the same vein as 'girls with guns'. I was wondering if you had any affiliations in Europe, or were aware of any websites who make a similar type of porn?"

  Sigh. Look at the frickin' site, people. Does it really look like I have ties with European pornography makers? Sheesh...

• So it's not a domination fantasy?
  Nope; my wife worried about it for a while, but I think (hope!) she now accepts it's just an offshoot of my general interest in trash pop culture - she even bought this domain for me! But, no: I have no interest in BDSM at all. Indeed, any attempts to read into my psyche from this site are doomed to fail, because it represents only a subset of my interests. For example, I like Jackie Chan every bit as much as Michelle Yeoh, but he won't get mentioned here (er, except in this sentence!).

• Is it just movies?
  No. As time and opportunity permits, I want to cover the whole range of such things: TV shows, books, pro wrestling. whatever. Films remain my first love and will likely form the majority of the contents.

• What are the grounds for inclusion?
  For want of a better phrase, they must have central female characters with a fondness for violence. Or appear to have - some video companies know it sells, and will put any such image on the sleeve, regardless of relevance; such films will be included, but largely only to warn the unsuspecting. Terms such as "central" and "fondness" are ill-constrained, and it's much like pornography - hard to define, but you know it when you see it. Villainesses are also more than welcome, as in Terminator 3, for example.

• There are plenty of girls with guns sites out there already, y'know...
  Oh, believe me - I know! See our links page for details. However, most of these seemed to concentrate on the more, ah, visual side of the genre. I felt there was a gap in the market for a site which acknowledged that appeal, but also had a stronger emphasis on critical writing. And didn't require a credit card. :-) Indeed, I even took the site out of Google's image search, when I realised half the visitors were merely after pictures. Go somewhere else, please, and stop wasting my bandwidth.

  

• As a novice, where should I start?
  Scattered throughout the site, you'll see the logo shown at right, marking entries which are particularly worth your attention. These titles are also marked by cross-hairs on the contents page - the best get two cross-hairs. Their merits extend beyond the "girls with guns" aspects, and can thus be enjoyed by both fans and the more casual viewer. If I'd to pick five films, it'd be Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Nikita, The Heroic Trio, Ms.45 and Aliens. Build outwards from these!

• What are the ratings?
  We score from 0 to 5, with a (vaguely) appropriate graphic to indicate the score, and rough genre: bullet-holes, swords, rayguns, nuclear explosions or whatever other icons Chris and I can filch off the Net. At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, 0 is irredeemable, while 5 is irreplaceable. Both ratings will be rare - particularly 0, since I tend to try and look at least slightly favourably on any genre entries.

• But you haven't included...
  This site isn't intended to be comprehensive, nor is it even quality-selective. If a title isn't here, it's because I haven't watched it since starting this project in August 2001. There are certainly lots of films I'd love to watch again, it's just this tricky problem of there being only 24 hours in a day. I also have other websites to maintain, both for pleasure and business. But feel free to give me an encouraging nudge towards any title. We have a rough to-do list, which includes other titles we hope to cover in due course.

• Any idea where I can get hold of one of those DVDs that is just girls in bikinis, firing fully auto machine guns? Never seen one before, but they sound ace!
  That's Rock N' Roll, Volume 3: Sexy Girls and Sexy Guns. Not aware of it being available on DVD, but having discovered Brawlin' Broads on DVD during our last Best Buy trip, anything is possible! We've got a tape lurking here in our "pending" pile, so it'll get reviewed eventually!

• What guns does Kate Beckinsale use in Underworld?
  From what I've been told, she used a range of guns, including a Walther P99 and the Beretta 92FS.

• Can I help?
  Sure! I have a day job, so contributions are welcome, though obviously no guarantees of publication can be made. Pieces of any length are welcome, either short reviews or longer pieces, especially if you can supply illos for them so I don't have to! Pointers to areas worthy of coverage, pics, links, news stories, etc. are all welcome. Our contact information is on the home page!

• Who are you?
  Originally from Scotland, now living in Arizona, by way of London. Ran a printed pop-culture magazine called Trash City for a decade, which now exists on the net. Married to Chris (a name you'll see cropping up quite often here), two step-children, currently no longer working for a large domain name registrar (for reasons explained here), and all in all, very content.

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