If you’re looking for a man to be cast as the lead role in an action-packed Hollywood thriller don’t expect him to be an American, says Amanda Fortini. Because Americans raise weak and wimpy men Hollywood producers have no other choice than to look for Europeans or Australians.

In a recent Details Magazine article titled, “Why All of Hollywood’s Toughest Stars Wear Stilettos,” [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]  Fortini says:

“For years we’ve been on first-name terms with our male action stars: Sly. Bruce. Jean-Claude. Ah-nold. But until recently, you could count the memorable female action heroes in mainstream American movies on one hand: Sigourney Weaver as the smart, self-possessed Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise; Linda Hamilton as the reluctant, super-buff Sarah Connor in Terminator 2; Uma Thurman as the barbarously vengeful Bride in Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2. Women were usually on the receiving end of the action—rescued, ogled, or swept off their feet—but now they’re often the instigators. In addition to Hanna (Saoirse Ronan plays a teen assassin; Cate Blanchett, the agent trying to capture her), there’s Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, a hyper-stylized tale about a group of young women (Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, and Vanessa Hudgens) who must battle samurai and serpents to escape a mental hospital.”’

There was a time in Hollywood when women were swept away and rescued by strong leading American men. Those days are apparently over. Part of the explanation for why American women today dominate action hero roles is that in America women are simply tougher than men.

Read More: http://online.worldmag.com/2011/04/06/american-men-arent-tough-enough-for-hollywood/