Today I am going to discuss something that has gotten me pretty flustered. This past year has marked the 75th anniversary for SEVERAL key comic titles. Just a few months back in October, the world celebrated 75 years of the first female super hero: Wonder Woman. In celebration of this the UN declared Wonder Woman an honorary ambassador of women to the UN which was HUGE. However, in the past few days the UN has decided to revoke that honor. This is a slap to the face to the moral fiber that glues the DC Trinity together, and quite possibly one of the most iconic pillars of feminism and female empowerment.
Before blowing this up, it's important to first understand the reason for being stripped of this title. A petition of over 45,000 names made its way to the UN assembly taking issue with the "over sexualization" of the character. Her revealing design was seen as one that women of all ages should not look up to and for all intents and purpose found it's argument in essentially "slut shaming" the icon of female empowerment that set the gold standard for what it meant to be a super-heroine.
When I first heard that Wonder Woman was stripped of this title, I expected a COMPLETELY different reason. I expected it to be world leaders who were intimidated by the presence of another strong female being recognized on the global scale. A position like that, even an honorary one to a fictional female, is one that can shake the very foundation of a world dominated predominantly by men. However, I was shocked to find that most of the protesters were women. I cannot fathom how in the 21st century, a women would look at a character like Wonder Woman, a character who has stood for truth, compassion, and strength of will for almost a century, and see someone not worthy of representing female empowerment on globally. A character that in the span of the past year has ALSO become a pillar of the LGBTQ movement as it was revealed (not too shockingly being that she is from an island of only female inhabitants of a race of super women that in mythology were known for lesbianism) that she is bi, and yet still she apparently does not befit the role for which she was appointed as a pillar of female strength because, well, she shows a little too much skin.
Politics are going to be something that I am generally going to steer away from, especially early on as I try and build a viewership; however, I feel that this is important enough an issue. We are in an age where self expression is an issue of greater relevance than it has ever been before, and we NEED heroes that stand true to that message. What does it say about us, as a society, when we tear down a woman (fictional or non) for the apparel she is in rather than the integrity of her actions? This is a woman that has saved the world alongside the best of the DC universe a thousand times over, who even, for a brief time, LITERALLY fought villains who were the embodiment of patriarchal values that stood in the way of women's rights. Yeah these achievements lie within the realm of fiction, but if we allow for dress codes to speak louder than action we are sending the wrong message to the next generation. Personal Appearance should NOT be the defining trait of how we perceive a person, whether that be their dress code, their skin color, or their gender. What defines a person is action, and Wonder Woman's has more than earned her the title she was rewarded. This might be me shouting in the dark here, but the UN needs to give her this title back otherwise we are dooming the next generation to maintaining a close minded view on perception and we hurt the very progress for which we are striving to achieve in human equality.
This is your first piece of Comic Relief! I hope that you guys stay tuned for more I have coming your way! Next post will be sometime around Christmas!
(all images are owned by DC comics!)
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