While there are many debates on whether Wonder Woman is a good role model, I came to realize that not many young girls would say that their role model is Wonder Woman. As brought up in our previous class discussion, why do girls generally have long hair while boys have short hair? Along the same lines, why do boys read comic books and girls play with Barbie? The answer is this is how we are raised. When boys pick up the Barbie doll some parents get concerned. Many might say, Oh no, this is the first sign that my son might be gay." The same thing happens when girls try to play with action figures. While Wonder Woman comics are centered around a female character, many girls do not read them because they are still comics; things for boys only. So basically, many girls do not say that Wonder Woman is their role model because they do not know who she is or because they refuse to be associated with a comic book character. They stick to someone "safe" like Britney Spears or Miley Cyrus.
Wonder Woman, however, is a great role model because she is a strong character in a world full of men. Granted, she does dress provocatively. However, people like Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus both dress and act scandalously while Wonder Woman is out saving the world. Wonder Woman is also someone who has been around for generations and will continue to be known for generations while other famous people are usually only known for about one or two generations. Wonder Woman can be a great influence as she is a fictional character and will probably not get involved with any scandals or engage in criminal or other questionable behavior. Wonder Woman is a strong, independent female and she should be a role model to more young women.
This is exactly the case with my male cousin and my aunt and uncle. If they see him playing with anything slightly feminine, they freak out. How we are raised and our culture is extremely relevant to who we are now and what we believe. Also, I feel like comic book characters, or fictional characters in general, are a safer option for role models. People are too unpredictable. They can be role model material one day, and the next they mess up and are dancing next to a stripper pole. Not so role model material anymore, I'd say. It's also unrealistic to expect someone to be making the right decisions all the time.
ReplyDeleteThe saddest part of all of this is that things are unlikely to change for a LONG, long time. Ideas along the lines of "dolls are for girls and trucks are for boys" are so ingrained in society that we rarely ever question how the gender divide began. In the end, it's probably correct to say that the superheroines with comic origins were never meant to be role models at all, since girls were unlikely to be introduced to them through comics and the boys who followed their adventures would most likely pick the manlier superheroes as their idols.
ReplyDeleteThis is a generational thing as well. In the forties, girls did read the Wonder Woman comics, as evidenced by the women of Ms. Magazine rallying against DC's changes to Wonder Woman's character. Also, girls born in the late 70s, early 80s remember Linda Carter playing Wonder Woman on TV and wearing WW themed "underoos." This generation, which is in a bit of a backlash against certain depictions of women, is cycling back to a trucks=boys, barbies=girls mentality.
ReplyDeleteI think another interesting point is that both Barbie and super heroines in comics are both beautiful--they have accentuated curves, long flowing hair, and stunning facial features. Another interesting point that I just recently noticed about both Barbie and super heroine comics is that they both wear lots of makeup and they never look disheveled or messy, even after a fight scene!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting perspective, and I absolutely agree...in having female comic book lead characters, they're trying to "feminize" a stereotypically masculine leisure activity...in that, Wonder Women is stretched to appeal to females (by being a relatable role model) and to males (by being extremely physically attractive). In this compromise, tension is drawn to the "role model" aspects of Wonder Woman due to her stress on external beauty. I understand why it's sad that the gender stereotype of comic books being for boys only limits the role models for girls in comic books, but due to the subsequent sexualization, I don't consider this an entirely bad thing.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is only normal that a boy tends to read comic books while a girl plays around with barbie girls. I think that it is because that is how they want to see themselves in the future. A boy wants to be brave, while a girl wants to be beautiful. I'm not saying that a girl shouldn't play with action men figures or a boy shouldn't read Go-Girl magazine. They could, of course, but that would mean that they would most likely end up taking the other gender as role models. Then we would have boys acting like girls and girls acting like boys? Maybe that isn't that wrong but it seems like a radical idea to be able to accept.
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