Amy is a fool. Her boyish haircut, twig body, and desire to help in important business betrays her worst fault - she doesn't act like a proper woman. If she spent half the time she stalks Sonic in front of the mirror applying curlers to her hair and heavy makeup to her face and padding to her bra she wouldn't have to stalk anybody, boys would be lining to streets to get with her. Princess Peach knows how to act like a true dignified woman, what with her dolled-up appearance and her curvy dress, and her moaning 'Mario, save me!' whenever she gets the chance serves a two-fold purpose - she gets what she wants done done, and she's seen as attractive and womanly because of her adorable helplessness. Peach knows how to get her beau, more than I can say of poor Amy who's unrequited love seems to be likely to forever haunt her. And as proven in Super Princess Peach for the DS as well as well as other fighting and consul games, Peach can hold her own quite well if she chooses to, and that she is actually quite able to solve her own problems if she chooses, but she chooses not to most of the time and from this we can easily deduce that Princess Peach acts like a damsel in distress in order to attempt to get Mario to 'jump down her pipe', so to speak, not because Princess Peach is shy in the face of danger, nor is she lacking of the ability to kick ass. Amy's lack of tact can be explained easily, however. On her wikipedia page it mentions that she's 12 years old. Obviously she's too young to understand that her obnoxious tomboyish behavior will not serve to get her any man whatsoever, and certainly not the man that she tries so desperately to obtain.