Even sophomoric comedies like Penny Marshall’s “Big” and Amy Heckerling’s “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” long cherished by pimply teenage boys, have made their way onto the screen thanks to their female directors.

In the past decade, perhaps no film has held such a hyper-masculine allure as “American Psycho.” You’ve no doubt seen a broseph’s Facebook status or two pulled directly from its cheerfully insane dialogue. The film’s commentary on modern materialism via the sick machinations of a yuppie serial killer has found a lasting appeal in an overwhelmingly male audience in its second life on DVD after a modest run at the box office.

That audience might be surprised to learn that the film, written off in 1999 as “un-filmable” by Hollywood insiders, was adapted to the screen and directed by Mary Herron. Through her screenplay and direction, Herron launched the career of star Christian Bale and created one of the most identifiably male films of the early 21st century.

Herron going unrewarded for her efforts probably wasn’t in itself a marked injustice; the film was highly divisive in its initial critical reception for the supposed nihilism of its extreme violence and sexuality, and it retains its detractors today. Three years later, however, another gruesome film was widely lauded upon its release.

“Monster,” starring Charlize Theron, told the story of Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who murdered seven men during the late 1980s and early 1990s. For her de-beautified performance as Wuornos, Theron swept the awards circuit, winning the Best Actress award from the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes and even the mighty Academy. But the woman who made her performance possible, writer and director Patty Jenkins, went unnoticed.

On Jan. 30, Bigelow’s peers named her the best director of the year at the Directors Guild of America Awards. In the 61-year history of the DGAs, only six winners have not been similarly honored at the Oscars. Less than a month later, “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar” went head-to-head in eight categories at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards. “The Hurt Locker” won six, including Best Picture and Best Director. If Bigelow wins the Oscar, it won’t just be another statue in her growing collection. It will be a landmark victory for all the filmmaking women of the world.