Wonder Woman is one of the most iconic comic book characters around yet she has undergone numerous incarnations since her debut in All-Star Comics #8 back in 1941. Women in comics were often delegated to the roles of the girlfriend to the superhero. They were often the typical damsel in distress. Wonder Woman was intended to be a model of the liberated woman. She would show the world that women are equal to men and a hero was created that could go toe-to-toe with someone like Superman.
Whether or not she has always succeeded at being that symbol of inspiration for female readers is debatable. While she was the first female character to join the Justice Society of America, she wasn't quite treated as an equal. Over the years she would switch back and forth to being a strong powerful character to being lovesick and devoted to Steve Trevor.
I've been spending time recently looking over past Wonder Woman issues and one from 1972 really struck me as odd (or at least not the same kind of odd from some of the wacky Silver Age stories). In Wonder Woman #203, an issue labeled as a Women's Lib issue, she takes a stand that wasn't quite what I thought it would be. Shouldn't Wonder Woman be all about women's liberation and equal rights?
== TEASER ==
Keep in mind this issue was from 1972. This was from a point in her life where she renounced her roots. She turned her back on the Amazons when they had to leave for another dimension in order to remain in man's world. This also resulted in her losing her powers (which could lead to another discussion on Wonder Woman in the future).
While her friend was trying to stand up for the woman working at a shady local department store, Wonder Woman didn't want anything to do with it. Her friend, Cathy, let Diana have it, telling her that because she's Wonder Woman, she's able to overcome any problem that comes her way. That's not how it is for other women.
Finally Diana begins to feel bad for not being understanding to the plight Cathy and other women are going through. She decided to go to a women's lib meeting as a favor to her friend when they are suddenly attacked by men working for the shady department store owner.
You can imagine that the men are no match for Wonder Woman and her two karate-skilled friends (it was the 70s, everyone was into karate). *Spoiler* The department store owner and all his wrongful and violent acts are revealed to the authorities and the store is shut down.
Sounds like a happy ending right?
The issue ends with a group of women protesting the women's lib group for putting so many women out of work with the shutdown of the department store. What kind of message was this issue sending out? First Wonder Woman states she doesn't agree (or understand) the fight for women's lib. Then when she does something about to help her friend, it made out that now the women being taken advantage of are in a worse position than before.
You could go back even further and ask what the issue and the series at this point was trying to tell readers. Wonder Woman gave up her powers in order to stay close to Steve Trevor. It could be questioned whether de-powering Wonder Woman made her a stronger or weaker character. She had to learn to continue to be Wonder Woman without her Amazonian abilities, even if it was while not wearing her traditional costume. Wonder Woman was on the same level as Superman but now was no stronger than a normal woman.
I've read and re-read this issue several times to try to get an understanding of what DC was trying to say at the time. It's great that they brought up the plight of Women's Lib but at the same time, Wonder Woman wasn't doing as much as she could have been doing if she was being written at her true potential. Shortly after this, Wonder Woman would regain her powers and traditional costume. With the Lynda Carter TV show a few years later, Wonder Woman's popularity rose again but more so as a pin-up character than a tough super-heroine.
Wonder Woman showed the comic book world that women could be as tough and strong as male characters. The way she kept getting written as a weaker character was truly a shame. To me, the fact that she had so little concern over the plight of her friend and other women at the time was a sad point in her history. The good thing is she did decide and was able to help. It's unclear whether she did so out of friendship or because it was the right thing. Shouldn't it go without saying that Wonder Woman is all about female characters being treated as equals? And what did she mean when she said she didn't like woman?