athenabodicea wrote:Wonder Woman was definitely a female character that I considered to be a great role model while growing up. I was 6 years old when Wonder Woman came to network television in 1976 and when I got older, I was continually reminded of how annoying I had been to my parents for constantly asking "Is Wonder Woman on tonight?".
But come on..... I mean.. Can you blame me??? Every boy I knew had a crush on Wonder Woman and every girl I knew wanted to be Wonder Woman. I was no exception to this observation. I even made my mother buy me Wonder Woman underoo's...
(THAT'S RIIIIIIGHT... I WORE THEM LOUD AND PROUD!!!!)
which I would wear whenever I was watching the show. I also had a cape which was really just a pillow case that I tied around my neck.

I made my own bullet proof bracelets out of aluminum foil and even cut a piece of rope off my mother's clothes line to make myself a magic lasso of truth. Boy did I catch hell for that.... lol
It was (in fact) Wonder Woman who inspired me to become so interested in Greek and Roman mythology and inspired me to learn more about the Amazonian (???) ways. Amazon women were big, beautiful, intelligent, honorable and brave. They stood together as a single nation unified against sexism and stood for the very essence of what a strong, independant woman should be. I must admit that I was not an avid comic reader when it came to Wonder Woman, though I did get my hands on an issue every now and again and loved them. Most of what I know about Wonder Woman comes from the television show and from reading/research. It is my understanding that the tv series stayed pretty faithful to the comic book.
William Moulton Marston is credited with the creation of Wonder Woman. He was a psychologist who studied at Harvard and invented polygraph/lie detector test. (I like how he incorporated the lasso of truth into the story-Very interesting) He had an idea for a female superhero who could be a role model for girls and then sold that idea to the editor at D.C. by showing what he believed to be "
the most powerful feminine qualities, "sexual allure' and 'domination via submission,' in which women made themselves so irresistible to men that men would willingly allow women to rule them".
How fucking cool is that???... and this was back in the 1940's during WWII.....
These are his exact words which were published in "The American Scholar" in 1944:
"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with the strength of Superman plus all of the allure of a good and beautiful woman."

Whoo hoo!!!!
BTW.... Did anybody know that Wonder Woman often called upon a group of sorority women known as the "Holiday Girls" in emergencies??? Etta Candy (I just learned this..lol) stood out of this group because of her distinctive figure and because she was known to say "Whoo hoo" all the time...lol.. Sorry, had to share...William Moulton Marston created the character Wonder Woman (aka Diana of Themyscira/Goddess of Truth) under the pen name Charles Moulton in 1941.
For those of you who don't know...this is my understanding of how Wonder Woman came to be:The original Amazons were born from tortured souls that were made to rise in the form of clay from the bottom of the ocean. They became flesh and blood upon reaching the water's surface. The amazons then founded the city of Themyscira with Hippolyta (Wonder Woman's mother) as their Queen. Hippolyta's father (Ares) wanted to humiliate the Amazon women and so he sent Herakles and his army to invade their nation. Hippolyta was able to avoid physical confrontation by offering peace and inviting Herakles to dinner among the Amazon women. Herkales drugged the wine at the dinner and took the women as prisoners. They were beaten, raped and disgraced. Hippolyta then called upon the Goddess
Athena to help them escape. Athena said that she would indeed help them as long as they promised to forgive Herakles and not seek revenge for the horrible acts they were subjected to. They agreed to Athena's request and were set free. Some of the Amazons were still angry and sought out revenge. They destroyed the army but Herakles was not there. Athena was angry with the women for disobeying her request and told them that they had to seek forgiveness in the form of penance from the Olympian Gods for their actions. Their punishment was immortality (???How is that a punishment exactly???) and they were to spend all of eternity guarding the underwater world called Dooms Doorway to pay for their actions.
The Amazon women were eventually released from their punishment and allowed to go back into the world
as immortals living life however they wanted. Hippolytas began to think about motherhood and wanted a child. The Gods were able to take the soul of her unborn child from a previous life (she was murdered while pregnant) and create a daughter from clay in the same way the original Amazons were born. The baby girl was named Diana.
So how did Diana of Themyscira aka Wonder Woman end up in our world??? Steve Trevor (an intelligence officer for the U.S. Army) crashed on the Themyscira island (which btw was located in the Bermuda triangle....ooooooh...) and Diana nursed him back to health. While she was caring for him, she fell in love. It was later decided that the Amazon's should travel to Steve's world to help fight in WWII against the evil Nazi's. But only one would be allowed to go. They held a tournament and decided that the winner of the contest would be the one to go. Hippolyta would not allow her daughter in the competition and so Diana entered the contest in disguise as "Wonder Woman". When she won the tournament and removed her mask, Hippolyta had no choice but to let her daughter go and become Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman brought Steve Trevor back to his world and continued to nurse him back to health. She somehow aquired the secret identity of Diana Prince (a nurse-go figure) and together with Steve the two became unstoppable crimefighters. Wonder Woman wanted to capture criminals and from there hoped to take it one step further by reforming them. There was a rehabilitation facility built back on Themyscira island where the criminals she caught were sent to be reformed.
William Moulton Marston aka Charles Marston died of cancer on May 2, 1947 in Rye New York (that's the town I grew up in believe it or not) and a new writer took over........
Wonder Woman's character went through many changes during her existance. There was a period of time when Wonder Woman was not allowed to speak out in the feministic ways she always had. This was due to government censorship and the Comics Code Authority
Click here which took effect in 1954. In the 1960's Wonder Woman was written as having surrendered her powers. She began studying under I Ching learning martial arts and weapon skills. Wonder Woman got her power's back in the 70's.....
I cannot wait for this movie...I have been waiting for it my whole life it seems.....
I hope my expectations are not too high..

Wonder Woman was a pioneer in the world of female comic book characters and role models. I see the upcoming movie as a great opportunity to bridge the generational gap between mothers and daughters and also to give Wonder Woman a fantastic re-birth. She was the first female superhero to have her own comic book and should be considered an important icon to girls everywhere, of all ages. She was also the only female superhero to never have had her comic book cancelled and to have been published continually since its debut. I look forward to someday being able to take my own daughter to see this movie (I don't have any children yet...but someday). Wonder Woman was based on a strong, beautiful, intelligent Goddess. She had courage beyond what should have been expected from a woman of her time. She was strong, yet feminine. She was and is the perfect role model for girls (IMO) and the epitomy of what a strong, independant, liberated woman should be.
EDIT:
Whoa!!!!
That was huge....lol
Hope everyone likes it...




VIVA LA WONDER WOMAN!!!!!!