Who Do I Want *MY* Daughter to be...
So while hunting for WFA links, I found this.
Honestly, a part of me thinks this *has* to be a parody. I mean, seriously, what woman, what *person* would look at that juxtaposition of images...Wonder Woman blushing, being carried by Steve Trevor, throwing a hissy fit versus a strong, confidently standing Wonder Woman, an armed and steely Diana framed by Batman and Superman on both sides...and can ask, with all apparent seriousness, "Which one would you rather see your daughter emulate, your son date?"
I don't personally have the temperament for children, but if I think seriously about who I dream my daughter would be...
If she blushes cutely and likes being carried by a strong man, that's fine.
But I want my daughter able to stand proud and confident, hands on her hips. I want my daughter able to stand with the guys and face challenges unyielding.
I want to know that if the end of the world happens, my daughter will have the strength to pick up a damn weapon and go out fighting.
And I want the same for my son, and whoever either of them date. And I'm pretty sure *my* parents feel the same way.
Besides, it's not like the blushing and being carried by Steve (where'd she even find the one picture where *he's* carrying *her*) and being strong are mutually exclusive.
Honestly, a part of me thinks this *has* to be a parody. I mean, seriously, what woman, what *person* would look at that juxtaposition of images...Wonder Woman blushing, being carried by Steve Trevor, throwing a hissy fit versus a strong, confidently standing Wonder Woman, an armed and steely Diana framed by Batman and Superman on both sides...and can ask, with all apparent seriousness, "Which one would you rather see your daughter emulate, your son date?"
I don't personally have the temperament for children, but if I think seriously about who I dream my daughter would be...
If she blushes cutely and likes being carried by a strong man, that's fine.
But I want my daughter able to stand proud and confident, hands on her hips. I want my daughter able to stand with the guys and face challenges unyielding.
I want to know that if the end of the world happens, my daughter will have the strength to pick up a damn weapon and go out fighting.
And I want the same for my son, and whoever either of them date. And I'm pretty sure *my* parents feel the same way.
Besides, it's not like the blushing and being carried by Steve (where'd she even find the one picture where *he's* carrying *her*) and being strong are mutually exclusive.
posted by kalinara @ 11:15 PM
15 Comments:
At June 03, 2006 10:30 AM,
Anonymous said…
"And I want the same for my son"
You want your son to blush cutely whilst swooning in the arms of a strong, handsome man? Well, okay, but I want to know what he thinks of this.
Word Verification: ylksx, which sounds awfully close to what two men do together when they're locked in a shed on a lonely, rainy Friday night after one too many drinks.
At June 03, 2006 3:13 PM,
Centurion said…
Honestly, when I think about which Wonder Woman is better as a role model I tend to lean toward the more muscular one. Muscles do not mean manly, just physically strong. Nothing wrong with that, but it's a cultural thing I guess.
Besides, it would be a good laugh hearing about how my daughter beats up the innocent boys at school...
At June 03, 2006 4:30 PM,
kalinara said…
crowdedhouse: Sure! If that's his kinda thing. :-)
As long as he's got the confidence and facing the end of the world strength too. :-)
Centurion: I agree. :-)
At June 03, 2006 10:53 PM,
Anonymous said…
Yeah, I vote for the Strong, Confident Wonder Woman as the role-model for my stepdaughters.
Thankfully, so do they.
The comment on that column disturbs me even more than the column itself. Go peddle your Gor novels, buster.
At June 03, 2006 11:04 PM,
kalinara said…
athelind: Egads, yeah. But I find the column worse. It might be sexist of me, but I find the sentiment even more horrifying from a woman than a man.
I guess it's easier for me to believe a man can be that misguided (though naturally, most aren't) than a woman.
I mean...a man idealizing female weakness I can understand. I disagree, naturally, but I can at least understand the perspective. But why would a woman *want* their own gender to be that weak?
Egads.
At June 04, 2006 2:06 AM,
kalinara said…
Adding to this though, what really bothers me is the question of "Which do you want your daughters to be? Your sons to date?"
I can't even comprehend a parent of either gender that looks at a depiction of weakness and one of strength and actually prefers that their children be weak.
Pardon, they want their daughters weak and their sons to value weakness over strength.
I can't imagine this. In my opinion, every parent should want his or her child to be *strong*.
At June 04, 2006 3:34 AM,
Anonymous said…
I wouldn't want my kids to be like GA Wondy; according to that second picture, she's only got one hip.
How is that one picture of Batwoman 'she-male monstrosity'? I was thinking earlier that aside from the bit of a square jaw she's got going on (but it's Alex Ross, he always does that), it was a great example of a muscular female figure in spandex (the 'my costume is paintede on yay' style bugs me--legs in cloth shouldn't look exactly the same as bare legs).
That comment is a bit...creepy? 'An underlying message to young girls seems to be that "you are powerful", "you are invincible", "you don't need a man". It's kind of sad really that there are actually grown women who also believe that child's fantasy.' 'I would guess that this Lesbian Batwoman trend will only increase as we spiral toward the end of days.' Lesbian fictional characters = the end of the world. Right, I think there's a few people showcased on fstdt.com you'd get along great with...
At June 04, 2006 3:55 PM,
Anonymous said…
The comment on that site was the creepiest part.
Wonder WOman's attractive characteristic was her perfect femininity and weakness?
I think it was more along the lines that she was a thinly-veiled lesbian fantasy who could kick a man's ass and tie him up.
At June 05, 2006 10:51 AM,
thenutfantastic said…
There were sooooo many things wrong with that original column that would take an entire post by me to address, so I'll definitely serve it up in the Carnival and see who takes a good whack at it.
Just the very idea of saying Wonder Woman is now "manly" therefore a "lesbian" is, well, stupid and a bit ignorant. (Okay, it's a lot ignorant I'm just trying not to get started on that route.)
At June 05, 2006 3:25 PM,
kalinara said…
Anon: I'm not sure about the lesbian fantasy part (as a primarily straight-identified woman, I've had the fantasy of being that strong, kicking men's ass and tying them up. :-)) But yeah, since when was Wonder Woman weak?
I love Golden Age Wonder Woman and the pictures she posted were very few and far between. The whole point of Wonder Woman was that Marston wanted a character that embodied his idea of the perfect feminine ideal: one that was strong and powerful.
He originally wanted to name her *Suprema, the Wonder Woman* for goodness sake, that's not a character intended to be weak. I think Marston would weep to read someone so misreading his creation.
the nut: Ooo, a bunch of Carnival folks taking a crack at this piece of work sounds like a blast. I can't wait to see what happens.
Hmph, I don't understand the manly/"he/she/it" insult at all, she looks undeniably like a woman in both of those pictures to me, especially the sword one next to Clark and Bruce. She's still recognizably Wonder Woman, no question.
Even if she *were* manly though, what in the world would that have to do with lesbianism. Goodness!
At June 05, 2006 8:35 PM,
Anonymous said…
The real irony with your link is that Golden Age Wonder Woman beat the hell out of men more often than later incarnations did. Virtually any significant male in a GA Wonder Woman story was usually vermin who had to be forced into submission. The whole 'loving submission' fetish of the GA materials was not the kind of submission that author was thinking of.
I'd actually argue modern Wonder Woman is probably a bit closer (if only a bit) to traditional ideals of femininity, since she's no longer a vessel for Marston's bondage fantasies and her kindness isn't tied to sexual submission.
That and it would be really easy if one tried to find lots of pictures of GA Wonder Woman kicking butt, as people pointed out.
At June 06, 2006 8:49 PM,
Anonymous said…
I...wow. Just. WOW.
Catrina already pulled the quote from the comments about that guy finding it lamentable that "you are strong" is a message we're sending to little girls, so here's another gem:
They believe that this facade called civilization, built by men, just somehow appeared by magic and that it will last forever.
No dude, you're totally right, which is why all those black slaves just should've been grateful for the civilization the white man had built! Ungrateful punks!
::headdesk::
At June 06, 2006 9:55 PM,
kalinara said…
anon: heh, Golden Age Wonder Woman was a very bad example when you think about it, wasn't she?
vasu: Heh, really. Don't forget the natives we've infected, murdered and supplanted either...
At August 06, 2006 3:37 AM,
Anonymous said…
Wow. That column should be publicly mocked. Really.
Women are vitally important but when men, specifically Western men, allow them to exceed their natural roles then we will have problems.
What in the bloody blue?! Natural roles? Excuse me, but that's total crap. Women don't get as buff as men for hormonal reasons, but we can be as strong or stronger. Has this person ever been to a weight-lifting competition?
Of all the women on this planet, you have more freedoms, more material possessions, more influence, indeed, even pampered in comparison to all other women on earth. Why is that? Did you obtain all of that through your own power? Or is it because of how your men feel about you?
Any and everything I have I gained through my own power. My dad never worked for any significant period of time unless he could spend his earnings on his own wants, and I won't start dating until I'm through with college. So. He/she/it was saying?
At August 06, 2006 9:05 AM,
kalinara said…
*nod* That site is pretty crazy isn't it? Hmph.
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