" Well, maybe it wouldn't happen so often if you just didn't dress so- so-"
"So what, Kevin?"
He shook his head, miserably embarrassed, wishing he'd kept his mouth shut. "You know."
"Ah, our little bardling is a prude!"
"I am not! But you-"
"Go around asking for it? Is that what you're trying to say? Listen to me, and listen well: I am a woman in a man's world. I'm not complaining; that's just the way things are. And as a woman, sure, I could wear a nice, proper gown that restricted every step I took, the sort of thing a lady wears - and get killed the first time I needed to move quickly. I could wear full armor, too, always assuming I could afford the expensive stuff - but I spend a lot of my life on board ships. People who wear full armor on ships tend to have really short lives if they fall overboard!
"I ... uh... never thought of that..."
"I realize that!" All at once, Lydia grinned. "Besides, when I do have trouble, the fools generally so busy looking at my... ah... endowments that they never see my knee or fist coming. So now, enough lecturing. We still have some rat-hunting to do! "

― Mercedes Lackey , Castle of Deception (The Bard's Tale, #1)