Wonder Woman: Feminist Icon, Sex Symbol, or Both?

Feminism, Neo-Feminism, Misandry. Hot button vocabulary found in just about any comment stream on social media, regardless the topic. Geekdom is far from immune from the recent resurgence of the gender equality discussion. In the new world of social media seemingly anything can be associated with one side or the other, or the other.

Most recently this issue has touched the fandom community in the form, rather poetically, of Wonder Woman. A character created specifically to give girls a strong role model, she will finally get her own standalone movie next year, after decades of being loved by some, and shunned by others.

The United Nations recently announced that Wonder Woman, who was named Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls, will no longer be used by the UN to help raise awareness about gender equality. Her time as ambassador was marred from the beginning, her induction ceremony itself was even protested. While UN spokesman Jeffrey Brez says the decision came after it was felt that Wonder Woman had served her purpose, it came on the tales of a petition to remove the super-heroine from her honorary position. read more