Agree with the fakeness. The authors seem to feel that a woman cannot be strong without having it arise out of trauma, which is just another way of reiterating that female strength is exceptional, anomalous and ultimately, pathological. For whatever odd reason, one doesn't generally get that sense from the wuxia heroines of the Hong Kong cinema. Possibly because they do not generally have soft centres.

And Ripley's toughness is, initially at least, presented as quasi-maternal, thus also conforming to ancient stereotype. There has never been anyone in the US media or genre literature to match Servalan, my touchstone for female toughness, who as far as I recalled, never allowed an expletive to cross her lips. Though of course technically she was a villain. But she won anyway, so that's OK.