Women warriors

I'm thinking about theming my next ENG 101 course around warriors (cheesy provisional title: "From Homer to Xena"). The sections are as follows:

1. The transition from primitive warrior figures to medieval chivalry (Homer vs. Arthur);
2. Martial arts, Buddhism, Taoism etc. - sublimation of kicking ass into spiritual development;
3. Women warriors - trendy gender-bending stuff.

For #3, I could really do with some texts that deal with female warriors without being pretentious, pomo and hard to read. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I love Buffy but ...

... I am amazed that anyone could use the phrase "reterritorialization of The Buffysphere."

In the words of another popular TV series, "That sucks donkey's balls."