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Trying to be Wonder Woman
Whenever I'm looking around for Wonder Woman stuff on the Internet, about two thirds of it is actually about the comic book character. The other third is women who use Wonder Woman as a term for women who "have it all" and "make it work." They're trying to balance the career, the kids; all that jazz.
I might get myself into trouble here and I certainly welcome feedback on what I'm about to say, but I think it's sad for a couple of different reasons that Wonder Woman is used that way. First, I think it's sad that career women with families (there's probably a better term, but hopefully you know what I mean) feel like they're the ones who have to make it work. Isn't it horribly outdated to think that only the wife has to balance her career goals with children? Where are the husbands while their wives are comparing themselves to a superheroic ideal?
Secondly, it's sad because Wonder Woman isn't a career woman with a family. She not only doesn't have kids; she's not even in a serious relationship where she has to balance someone else's needs with her own. She's a beautiful role model for women who need to have more confidence in themselves, but she's got it frickin' easy when it comes to "having it all."
Having said all that, Susanne Middelberg has a great photography gallery that includes photos of models dressed as Wonder Woman and the Flash trying to live everyday lives. I like it because it includes Dads, who ought to be just as harried and frantic as their wives.
It's all very tasteful and artistic, but I still feel like I should mention that there are naked people in the link.
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The Justice Heroes League! When do we get the comic series?
Free Atomic Robo
If I've done my job at all, I've got a couple of you curious about reading Red 5's Atomic Robo. And if your local comics shoppe is any good, you'll be able to get a free copy on May 3rd.
4 comments:
Well said about the Wonder Woman ideal. I wish more people felt this way.
Thanks! It's nice to know I'm not completely nuts. :)
Given that a lot of the working mother demographic is about my age (30s/40s), I wonder how many of them are thinking of the 1970s Lynda Carter Wonder Woman. She didn't have kids, but she did have a full-time job and a relationship that often conflicted with her duties as WW. I know I can't be the only one who watched the show as a child and pictured my adult self as a super-efficient office worker in big glasses and a bun who could become glamorous and powerful at the drop of a (floppy-brimmed) hat. :-)
I had no idea until I married a man who's been reading the WW comics his entire life that there was more to Wonder Woman than that, and I suspect that a lot of working-mother bloggers have a very generic idea of who Wonder Woman is.
That's a really excellent point and it shows that I'm more tainted by my history with the character than I realized.
I didn't read the comics as a kid, but the modern version of Wonder Woman that I'm most familiar with has traditionally not had to balance a secret identity with her superheroing. She does now, but that's a new status quo. I'd never thought taken the Lynda Carter/old school version into account.
Thanks for that insight!
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