Xena: Warrior Princess in popular culture

Xena: Warrior Princess has been referred to as a pop cultural phenomenon and feminist icon. The character's influence has inspired such academic interest as Kim Tolley's "Xena, Warrior Princess, or Judith, Sexual Warrior? The Search for a Liberating Image of Women's Power in Popular Culture." The subject has also been placed in its broader historical and cultural context in Sherrie A. Inness's Tough Girls: Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture. The television series, which employed pop culture references as a frequent humorous device, has itself become a frequent pop culture reference in video games, comics and television shows, and has been frequently parodied and spoofed. Even Lucy Lawless has participated in several parody sketches, and adding her voice to some animated shows that parodied Xena.

Xena: Warrior Princess has been credited by many, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, with blazing the trail for a new generation of female action heroes such as Buffy, Max of Dark Angel, Sydney Bristow of Alias, and the Bride in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. Tarantino is an enthusiastic Xena fan.

"Xena" has become a synonym for "tough, warrior-like woman" and is commonly used in magazine articles and film reviews. For instance, Guinevere in the 2004 film King Arthur was compared to Xena in a number of reviews. Also in 2005, a Chicago Daily Herald review of a production of Shakespeare's Henry IV in which most of the male roles are played by women is titled "Shakespeare Meets Xena". The reviewer notes that today's audiences can easily accept the feminization of the play's power struggles and battle scenes because of "familiarity with battling babes like Xena.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been nicknamed "Warrior Princess" by her staff.

Astronomy
In 2005, the team that discovered the dwarf planet nicknamed it "Xena" in honor of the TV character. On October 1, 2005, the team announced that had a moon, which they had nicknamed "Gabrielle". The objects were officially named Eris and Dysnomia by the International Astronomical Union on September 13, 2006. Although the official names have legitimate roots in Greek mythology, Dysnomia is also Greek for "lawlessness", perpetuating the link with Lucy Lawless.

Sexuality
Xena has enjoyed a particular cult status in the lesbian community. Some of the lesbian fan base sees Xena and Gabrielle as a couple and has embraced them as role models and lesbian icons. A group called The Marching Xenas has participated in many gay and lesbian pride parades.

A subject of much interest and debate among viewers is the question of whether Xena and Gabrielle are lovers. The issue is left deliberately ambiguous by the show's writers. Jokes, innuendo, and other subtle evidence of a romantic relationship between Xena and Gabrielle is referred to as "lesbian subtext" or simply subtext by fans. The issue of the true nature of the Xena/Gabrielle relationship caused intense shipping debates in the fandom, which turned especially impassioned due to spillover from real-life debates about same-sex sexuality and gay rights.

The sexual nature of Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was discussed in an interview given by Lucy Lawless to Lesbian News magazine in 2003. Lawless stated that after the series finale, where Gabrielle revives Xena with a mouth-to-mouth water transfer filmed to look like a full kiss, she had come to believe that Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was "definitely gay... there was always a 'well, she might be or she might not be' but when there was that drip of water passing between their lips in the very final scene, that cemented it for me. Now it wasn't just that Xena was bisexual and kinda liked her gal pal and they kind of fooled around sometimes, it was 'Nope, they're married, man'." On the other hand, in the interviews and commentaries on the DVD sets released in 2003-2005, the actors, writers and producers continued to stress the ambiguity of the relationship, and Ares was also considered at least as a potential love interest for Xena.