somerset | absinthedisco | fuckyeah-nerdery

Saw this picture on imgur and just had to post it here, because this is without a doubt, one of the most badass women alive. Meet Katrina Hodge, a corporal in the British Army and Miss England 2009. According to Wikipedia, she enlisted back in 2004 after her brother challenged her to and earned the nickname “Combat Barbie” after showing up at her assigned unit wearing false eyelashes, kitten heels (whatever those are) and carry a pink suitcase. In 2005 her unit, the Royal Anglian Regiment, was deployed to Iraq, where she saved the lives of her comrades from a prisoner by wrestling not one, but two rifles from him and then knocking his ass out with her bare hands.

With her bare hands.

Then in 2009, she decided to compete in the Miss England competition to destroy stereotypes about women in the military. She didn’t win (she placed runner-up), but still became Miss England after the woman who did got into a fight and gave up the crown. While Miss England, Hodge convinced the people running the competition to ditch the bikini contest, because she felt that it was more important to be a role model than looking good in a bikini.

In 2010, she handed over the crown and returned to military service, being deployed to Afghanistan.

This woman is both a BAMF and a HBIC. Damn.

okay yes but that…still doesn’t make me feel good about their military presence in iraq and afghanistan…? i mean the uk =/= the us but…yeah…tell me if i’m misunderstanding.

also, are we still at a point where we need to prove that women can be tough? that we can be conventionally “attractive” (aka fulfilling patriarchal standards) and tough “at the same time!!”? oh, combat blah blah and pink, how radical! no bikini contest?? WOW!!!!!!!! FINALLY, SOME PROGRESS!!!!11 \o/ gold stars for erryone~*

the fact that pageants still exist at all…you know what never mind. it blows my mind that this is considered “badass,” but we can’t very well start calling white people backwards or, heaven forbid, demand more aggressive (actual) progress, now can we.

Hey look everybody feminism! She can walk in a straight line in heels while inhaling hairspray fumes AND be a soldier like oh I don’t know the millions upon millions upon millions of other human beings in all of human history who have also been soldiers. She satisfies all of patriarchy’s dictates for women (skinny, white, pretty, proper) AND she gets to physically take part in imperialist occupations of brown people, it’s like a dream come true. Champagne all around.