[Lalaith]

Durelin, I was going to put a smiley on the end of that plea to signify that it was only intended as semi-serious in tone, but then I thought it might look flippant and inappropriate. But if there were such a thing as a semi-serious smiley, please take it being there...

But in fact, I think that the discussion is getting a bit bogged down in our own, contemporary reality. So, instead of allowing our imaginations free rein and investigating the characteristics and possibilities inherent the different races Tolkien created, within the boundaries of Middle Earth, some of us are getting tied up in knots about ERA and sexuality aboard submarines and periods and heavens knows what else.
Surely, this thread is not just about whether you, or I, or any other modern human female in the real world would be able to cope on such a quest, and how there would be no face cream or tampax in the backpacks and Legolas would get this big crush on us and all the boys would fight about it and everything.
I'm personally more interested in the different races Tolkien created, what gender differences *they* had. Tolkien had some very interesting ideas on this issue - female elves could and did fight, for example, but not after having children. Also, no elf, male or female, who was involved in healing could fight as this was seen as contradictory.