Reading From a Position

The Secret History of Wonder Woman was a nice change of pace. While I knew a little bit about women's suffrage and feminism in the late 1800's, reading about it with context helped me understand the subject a little more. The in-class discussion around the movie and book also gave me some insight into modern feminism. It's interesting to see how the lives of different people intertwine to create something that is still enjoyed and monetized decades later, with the core of it still resonating with its readers. While not a comic reader myself, I appreciate the craftsmanship that went into the conception of Wonder Woman, as well as how much history is behind her character. Talking against change and pushing boundaries seemed to be hard for the creators and their colleagues back then, and I'm sure many people now in America still feel the same way.

Reading through Lepore's book, it was surprising to see how "progressive" and "modern" the people involved were. However, I still don't quite understand how Wonder Woman is seen as the fruit of passion Marston had for female supremacy, it seems more like a fetish. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to comics and the culture that surrounds it, so I'm probably quite off, but just making a woman strong and rescue people while claiming it's a comic for the girls doesn't make it empowering. Instead, the snippets of comics in Lepore's book - taken out of context probably didn't help its case - made me feel like I was reading the storyboard of a fantasy BDSM porno with a female dom. It seems like Marston's love of women and his opinion that they were superior come from his family of mainly women, but I don't think it's respect that he has, it's worship. 

As for the charge of sadism: “Binding or chaining the fair heroine, in comics strips, or the hero like Flash Gordon et al, is not sadism because these characters do not suffer or even feel embarrassed.” Wonder Woman teaches the enjoyment of submission to loving authority: ... Wars will only cease when humans enjoy being bound.”

While I don't necessarily disagree with all of this, I don't think this comic is for girls. I don't think any of this has to do with feminism as it was defined in the late 1800's to 2000's. In the quote where Marston tries to justify his inclusion of bondage in every strip, he himself states that "wars will only cease when humans enjoy being bound". Wars were an affair of men and their egos, and I agree with Marston that there's no such thing as freedom, so you might as well learn to love authority. However, what does this have to do with women? If anything, it should be teaching boys that they shouldn't fear not being in control to achieve Marston's ideal world. In the end, it seems like the Wonder Woman comics were an interesting collection of Marston's psychology research and ideals, and should be marketed as such. Labeling it for girls or claiming that it has its roots seeped in feminism is misleading. That, or I'm completely missing the point.