Female Superhero

My woman superhero would focus on fighting for the underdog. Her superpower would be flight and incredible intelligence. She would be able to calculate exactly what angle she needed to set her wings to gain the most efficient glide. Because she’s so smart, she’s a leading scientist for the research of renewable energy.

Her origin story is that she got tricked into taking a serum containing mutant hawk DNA, causing her body to mutate and grow fifteen foot long wings. They fold neatly into her body so she can hide her wings under her lab coat.

Her fatal flaw will the be the fact that she tries to take on too much by herself. She’s bad at accepting help from others. However, she does work with Batman on occasion. He’s almost as intelligent as her.

The most important part about her is that she’s a mother. She has two kids in elementary school. Her husband is a freelance illustrator that works at home so he takes care of the kids. This shows that women don’t have to give up their career in order to raise a family. They can do both and everything else.

She’s also not a superhero that lives a single sexy life. She doesn’t hook up with the other male superheroes. She has a stable life to come home to because even superheroes need a sanctuary to come home to. Her name would be Starling.

The Secret History of Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman actually had a rich history of feminism. Marston was an interesting guy who really wanted to know more about women. I was fascinated by the relationship that he had with Olive Byrne. And the fact that Holloway stayed. He was also obsessed with his lie detector and that helped create the lasso of truth.

Wonder Woman was really created during a time that women’s rights were firing up. Suffrage activists were fighting intensely and the history of their suffering isn’t really known except in the movie, “Iron Jawed Angels.”

Recently, Wonder Woman was appointed as the ambassador for women and equality at the UN. However, this petition was soon put up: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/741/288/432/reconsider-the-choice-of-honorary-ambassador-for-the-empowerment-of-women-and-girls/, telling Ban Ki-Moon to reconsider. It recognized that Wonder Woman was created to be the symbol for women’s rights, but her outfit was now too skimpy to be considered a true role model. There are actual women in the UN protesting this. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/12/14/wonder-woman-is-ousted-as-honorary-u-n-ambassador-for-gender-equality/

This is the most blatant slut-shaming seen in politics. The fact that people think that someone is not right to be the model for something because of their outfit, not their actions or what they stand for, is appalling. The very role of Wonder Woman is to protect justice and truth and equal rights.

This fuels the belief that feminists aren’t allowed to be sexy. It’s basically telling girls if you’re beautiful, you’re not smart. You don’t have a right to be intelligent and have power because you’re focused on your looks. Right now, across the country, schools are sending girls home for wearing clothes that are “too provocative.” Rape victims are being told that they were “asking for it” because of the clothes they were wearing.

This decision is telling us that your appearance defines who you are. And this is the very thing that we as a country have been struggling to change about our beliefs. I understand that the UN doesn’t want a sexualized symbol. But it’s time to look past the appearance and look at what the character really stands for. The feminist movement includes all kinds of women and men who want equality. Excluding anyone is unacceptable. For those women who are protesting Wonder Woman because of her outfit or even as a passive-aggressive attempt to protest the fact that another man is going to be appointed secretary-general, I hope they realize that they’re just feeding sexist views and hurting the very thing they’re trying to fight for.