From a few people I've talked to at some of the sport shops in different areas of the country, women are not buying little girly guns. They are buying large caliber side arms, and they are learning to use them.
My experience is they're buying some of everything (and buy a LOT of them), but most often small, semiauto .380's which require a lot of practice to master due to their recoil, small grips, and short sight radius.
Very few first time shooters are comfortable with micro 9mm's.
