The Female Guerrilla: Between propoganda and exploitation

A recent New York Times article profiled female PKK fighters in Northern Iraq, The images of Kurds and Kalishnikov's overflows with needless romanticism. More than anything it reminded of similar staged photos of the Eritrean female guerillas of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front.
Compare New York Times article to these

                                                               Note markings on check

Note innnovative use for Kuffieyeh scarf

Note hijabi...looks highly staged like someone just thrust the weapons into her hands

                                                Note squeaky clean AK-47...including bayonet

                                                Combination of some of the above themes