Is Wonder Woman a good symbol for women?

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Yep, they'll still find a way to get offended by that.

e.g I saw a Cracked video discussing women's roles in action movies. They started by discussing the more traditional role the damsel in distress who gets saved by the action hero. Then they brought up the action heroine. Fair enough. I like watching women kick butt on screen as much as anyone else. But the video took an unexpected turn when they said action heroine's are sexist because they say that for a woman to be the hero she has to give up her feminine qualities.

So in other words if an action movie has the girl as the damsel in distress, it's sexist, if it has an action heroine, that's sexist and if it excludes women entirely, it's sexist. There's no winning with these guys. Maybe the reason why some movies don't have many female characters is because even positive portrayals of strong, independent women still get called sexist.

It's more that the "femme fatale" archetype is traditionally more a male sexual fantasy than something most girls find empowering. Most women do identify with femininity, not with an '80s action hero whose gender has been flipped. Most women don't want said femininity to be framed in a weak way. Instead, it can be part of the framework for a strong, feminine character.

I haven't seen many feminist complaints about the following: Katniss Everdeen, Hermione Granger, Buffy Summers, Korra, Twilight Sparkle, Blossom or Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls. These are figures who are neither "I need to be saved because I'm helpless" nor "I'm an emotionless void who exists to shoot stuff and be sexy." They're both feminine and empowered. They're also pretty widely held role models for young women today.

Last edited by Pravda on 23 Oct 2016, 1:37 am, edited 3 times in total.

Oh. That actually makes sense.

I like your suggestions, but we can't use the cartoons because art depicting people can't go into countries where that is sacrilegious. Hermoine is controversial with religious nuts here in the West, so she's out. In a lot of developing countries, people believe women have an innate advantage in ethics. They'll support a woman politician or policeman sooner than they will support a woman riveter. I think that's a good argument for a superhero. What little contact it has with reality is through science and law enforcement, as such. Backwards-thinking men can accept women in those fields. Let's set aside how backwards scientists can be, but they don't turn to serial killings as often when they get frustrated with women in the workplace. Juarez is a place where lots of women get their first job ever in clothing factories and such, and as that industry grew, so did this problem:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_ho ... u%C3%A1rez

I think a realistic woman would trigger rage, and certain fantasies are off-limits in different parts of the world, so your choices are pretty limited.

How about this?
http://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/

Florence Nightingale, OM, RRC 1820- 1910. Born Florence Tuscany Nightingale to wealthy British family; brought up in England. Social reformer and statistician, founder of modern nursing. "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.

Crimean War - manager of nurses trained by her; organised tending to wounded soldiers; created high standards and gave nursing a highly favourable reputation (as opposed to prior disgusting reputation).

Social reforms, England - Established the first secular nursing school in the world. Believed death rates caused by poor nutrition, lack of supplies, stale air and overworking. Improved healthcare for all sections of British society, helped abolish over-harsh prostitution laws;

Social reforms, India - Demonstrated that bad drainage, contaminated water, overcrowding and poor ventilation caused high death rate. Advocated better hunger relief in India, Improved sanitary conditions of the entire country. Improved medical care and public health service. Mortality of soldiers in India declined from 69 to 18 per 1,000.

Feminism - An important link in the study of English feminism; wrote some 200 books, pamphlets and articles. Worked to expand acceptable forms of female participation in the workforce.

All religions - Despite her intense personal devotion to Christ, Nightingale believed that pagan and eastern religions also contained genuine revelation.

I can't decide. (Thus, I haven't voted.)

Growing up, I was a fan of Wonder Woman (especially as played by Linda Carter) because she was strong, smart, and honorable. I appreciated the fact that she was essentially a fellow Earthling, too--it added a touch of reality that other heroes like Superman lacked. Of course, as I grew up, I came to see that she wouldn't have been nearly as appealing to many people if she hadn't also been such a hottie, so my appreciation for her and almost any other superhero, male or female, dwindled.

I think today that our world does indeed need more--and more realistic--role models, so the UN's focus on a fictitious one is a bit disappointing. I'd like to see how her image and story intend to be used.

There's a recall petition being circulated:

New York Times

I thought this was a joke at first. What a ridiculous and insulting choice.

I also agree. Rosie is a great symbol for women.

But what about her connection to Isis?She's always going on about Almighty Isis...Lol She might be a terrorist sympathizer.

I get the impression from the trailer that the new Wonder Woman has borrowed a little of the look and attitude from Xena.

Maybe minus the screwball comedy and goofy stunts... and general sense of humor.

Don't forget Gabrielle:

...It's the 3d time , I recall , that the UN has selected a fictional , copyrighted , character as a symbol...........

I don't know all the history behind Wonder Woman but a quick search seems to show that she has gained the ability to fly in modern times. Now that she can fly I say yes definitely. No need to know any more.

...Okay , Pravda , I am very interested to see that you have been keeping up with modern DC ! !! !! !! !! !!
I haven't had much money , nor access , and I haven't , for one , followed the main Wonder Woman title post-N52 at all , though I have bought the all-Done-In-One (And " not really " continuity ?) Sensation Comics some , and seen her appearances in other DCU titles (Not the Superman team-up one , either .) ! !
I read of some UN employees staging a protest at the unveiling of the WW-ship .
Is it partly being " anti-commercialism/No Logo " ? Tinkerbell and (If it's the Disney cartoon version , anyway , not the book illustration one , I believe .) Winnie-The-Pooh are Disney's , WW Time Warner's .
Someone pointed the American flag motif on WW's costume as a possible problem , but I think that ws dropped about the early 80s , I recall conservative comic fandom complaining about it .

No, she only appears to be flying. She's actually piloting her invisible jet.

...I don't know what DC's official continuity now is , but I think she's able in modern times to , more or less , " glide " around the air ~ I don't know whether the mainline DC Universe version uses the invisible plane anymore , either .