Wonder Woman, all the world is waiting for you.

I sat down to write and this essay ended up being about my all time favorite superhero: Wonder Woman. Five pages later, this is what I came up with:

            My adoration of this character started when I was just a kid watching the Justice League cartoons. Wonder Woman was voiced by the fabulous Susan Eisenberg, and I remember being spellbound by her; awed by her strength, compassion, and loyalty. That adoration for the character never faltered—she was always at the back of my mind. The only girl on an all boy team, a woman who didn’t need any male assistance nor did she feel the need for a lover. Sure there was her crush on Steve Trevor, and later Batman, and most recently her love affair with Superman—but never once did she need them. There’s not a drop of dependency in her Amazon body.

            Recently it was announced that she would be in Zach Snyder’s Superman sequel. At first I was happy—but that happiness only lasted a mere second or two. You may by wondering: “Why Lauren? As big a Wonder Woman fan as you are—you should be delighted!” I should be, but I’m very worried about how the character is going to be portrayed by actress Gal Gadot. Let’s start with a little bit of history first.

            Wonder Woman came on the comic book scene in 1941. She enjoyed a wonderful run until the 50’s—because of a book called Seduction of the Innocent (which basically blamed comic books for juvenile delinquency), a comics code of ethics was adopted; Wonder Woman’s pro female message and mostly female cast led the author of the book to believe that she was a lesbian and promoting lesbianism. So she went from kicking some serious ass and going on these grand adventures to being a romance editor and being carried across streams by Steve Trevor. She fell on some hard times after the code of ethics was adopted, in the 60’s she was stripped of her powers and was going on these ridiculous spy-fy adventures. That is until the first Feminist Movement led by Gloria Steinem; the feminist of the Movement demanded that she get her powers back—with much reluctance their wish was granted and Wonder Woman became a symbol of female empowerment. Her character continued to be invigorated into the 70’s when Lynda Carter put on the golden tiara and lasso of truth in the television show. The show was a huge success, running for nearly four years, but after it ended the Amazon’s popularity started to slip a bit—despite continuing in the comics. Throughout the 90’s and today though, her popularity has increased significantly in the last 30 or so years. Thanks to the Justice League cartoons, DC Comics New 52 movement, and her ongoing romance with Superman Diana has experienced a little increase in popularity.

            I wanted to give you that little bit of history because in order to really understand the character and how important she is to me—you need a little background.

            The reason I am concerned about our new Wonder Woman appearing in the Man of Steel sequel is because I want so much for the cast and creative team to get her right. She’s not just some superhero with tits okay she’s so much more and she represents so much more than just a pretty face with superhuman strength. Wonder Woman was created to be an ideal woman: strength, compassion, humility, equality, and beauty.

            Wonder Woman is strong—physically, mentally, and spiritually. She can bear the weight of anything, be it a two ton truck, a heavy decision, or a devastating loss. When she’s down she gets right back up and keeps on going no matter what, she keeps fighting and will fight to the death.

            Wonder Woman is compassionate, she can empathize with people. She isn’t just for female power but for the community of people and their needs. She never goes in fists blazing like other superheroes, she tries to find alternate ways to solve problems before fighting despite her warrior’s training—fighting is always her last resort. She’s the embodiment of love and compassion, never judging or bullying.

            Wonder Woman is humble—always reverent and respectful. She’s not arrogant about her powers or abilities but grateful for them; she knows that they are a gift that she could possibly loose. She is reverent towards the gods and is always respectful to those who are older and wiser—something we could all learn from.

            Wonder Woman stands for equality. She doesn't just stand for women’s equality but the equality of all divine beings on this earth. She comes from an island where all are equal, and does not stand for a patriarchal society. Equality belongs to all beings.

            Wonder Woman is beautiful. Thick, dark hair, big blue eyes, and a womanly figure that’s not unrealistic or subjected like most comic book heroines. Her beauty isn’t just physical—as cliché as it is to say, her true beauty is a combination of all of the things I’ve mentioned; that’s what makes her beautiful.

            That is the Wonder Woman, the Diana Prince, which I have come to know and love. I want so much for this character to thrive on the big screen in a full length movie—she can handle her own, you just have to trust the character! The DC Universe animated film is still one of the most popular one they’ve made! It tells a brilliant story and it doesn’t try too hard to get you to like her because there’s no need for that: you adore her from the first moment you see her! If you’re going to do Wonder Woman you’ve got to do her right, and that’s not entirely difficult to do—it takes trust in the character and what she stands for.

            Who knows what Zach Snyder has in store for Wonder Woman; we won’t know anything until we see the movie. I can only hope it helps and not hinders Diana. After all—she’s fought a damn good fight.

#8: The All mighty Uterus

I have often been called a feminist, which is defined by dictionary.com as a person whose beliefs and behavior are based on feminism; Relating to feminism which is the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.

If that's the definition that people think of when they here 'feminist' then hell to the yes that's what I am. However when people hear the words 'feminist' or 'feminism' they often peg it with negativity. Then think of a bunch of angry lesbians marching on some big corporation with torches and signs. Or they think of Barbara Streisand's character in The Way We Were, or some really annoying nasally woman with a megaphone.

The next question is obvious: Why do people, even women themselves, automatically go to that stereotype when they hear the phrase 'Feminism'? The answer is simple: Men.

Your next response is probably: "Duh, as a feminist yourself you're going to blame this shameful stereotype on men.". A conditioned response dear friends, allow me to regale you:

Go to any major newspaper's website: The New York Times, The Washington Post or USA Today and find me 7 front page articles that involve women shown in a positive light. Go ahead I'll wait...........if you find any, leave them in the comments with the link.
Now go to a crappy entertainment website: TMZ, Entertainment Tonight, ect. , ect. and see what kind of light women are portrayed in. Beyonce singing to the little girl with cancer does not count. I'm talking currently, as in right now as you're reading this.

My bet is that you won't find anything. Why? Because I look everyday and don't find them. Now I found tons of articles during the election, but after Obama became president they disappeared like they never existed. Occasionally you'll get one or two but its usually followed by '...and she's creating a stink about everything.'

Now lets go to Katie Couric. I love her, I think she does a wonderful job as a news anchor but has anyone noticed that she's not a feminine as she was when she started out? Her hair's shorter, and she's wearing suites that do nothing for her figure. Why all of a sudden a change? Because men feel that a woman needs to assimilate into a masculine field. Her ratings are going up sure, but wearing a suite that flatters her figure and have a hairstyle that's cute and flirty? People won't watch that, they'll think she's a slut.

How about in the sports world? If you look at any major university you'll see that the boys athletic programs get twice, if not three times more than the woman's athletic programs. Why? Because God forbid that the Woman's field hockey team should take home the championship and the boys soccer team shouldn't. Women have no place in sports, their home is behind a desk or cleaning house. Turn on any sport channel and see how many games you find that involve woman's sports.

If you saw the November 25th edition of Newsweek you probably remember Sarah Palin being on the cover. Now, I am not a Palin supporter by any means but I did not like the way they portrayed her in the least. If you didn't see it, you can find it here: http://flapsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/Sarah-Palin-on-Newsweek.jpg

yahoo news also did an article on it: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20091117/pl_ynews/ynews_pl984


If I were her (which I'm SO GLAD I'm NOT), I think I would be angry too. The photo was originally published in the August 2009 issue of Runners World, she stated in her blog that 'The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now. If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin. The media will do anything to draw attention -- even if out of context.' Now, I don't agree with her on a lot of things and I'm not going to go into that because that's a whole new blog, but I do agree with that statement to an extent. Of all the pictures they could have chosen, they chose one of her in short runners shorts and sneakers. This wasn't an attempt by Democrats to discredit her in an attempt to hurt the Republican party, this was an attempt to discredit her as a woman in politics. Every woman that has ever tried to make an impact in the political world has suffered the same thing. Look at Hillary Clinton and her attempt to run for president, people kept saying it wasn't possible. It wasn't possible because we thought it wasn't possible. Because we're conditioned to think that the position as President of the United States is a man's position. Because we're conditioned to think that the position as President of the United States is a man's position. When she decided to withdraw from the race, I'm sure that several male politicians, both Democrat and Republican wiped their foreheads and remarked how they dodged the bullet.

Lets not forget how that every single book in the Bible is authored by men, and how it is documented that Mary Magdalene herself penned a book that didn't make it in. Why? Because she's a piece of property, what does she know? She probably remarked on how sexist everyone but Jesus was and that ruffled a few feathers so they decided that her book had nothing important to say. While we're on the topic of religion, has anyone ever noticed that there are very few books in the bible that portray women in a positive light? I mean Esther, Ruth, Abigale, Mary and Rahab are all notable but that's about it. Rahab gets an unfair mention because they say that she was a prostitute. Even though her behavior and closeness to her father's family seem to indicate that she may not have been. Its like "Okay...it says here that a woman helped our guys capture Jericho...shit...we can't have that, but if we don't mention that she helped she'll be a real bitch about it. We have to find some way to--WAIT! She did what? YES! We can say she was a prostitute! That's good...good, whew for a minute there I thought we would have to admit that a woman did something noble." Mary Magdalene had the same problem, there's no proof that she was a prostitute but because men had the control and they didn't see women as anything more than property...well there you go.

Now this leaves me to you, my fellow women I have one question for you:

What the hell is wrong with you?

Why are you allowing yourself to be conditioned to think that this is okay and its the way it will always be? Is it fair to you that our athletic programs get half the funding? Or that we're left out from the news not because our deeds are any less great, but because we're women and portraying us in a positive light would be unthinkable? What about the workforce? Did you know that in most corporations that some women make less than the men do and it goes unnoticed? What about this issue with Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton? It doesn't matter what your political standpoint is, we all have vagina's here and mine is pissed off at this (Thank you Eve Ensler for that).

I get that we have come a long way since the 50's and 60's, we have more rights now than we did then. We have the right to vote, to work whatever job we want, to wear whatever we want, and not be labeled as piece of property on our husband's tax form. But what good is any of that if we don't have any respect? I can't tell you how many times I've heard how women can't be president because of one simple ailment: PMS. Okay so because I don't have chocolate I'm going to let that override my common sense and policies and nuke the son of a bitch that won't listen to me.

In 1503 when Queen Elizabeth I sat on the throne she received the company of Gráinne Ní Mháille, or Grace O' Malley who had come because her sons, Tibbot Burke and Murrough O'Flaherty, and her half-brother, Donal-na-Piopa, were taken captive by the English governor of Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham. She had sailed to England to petition Elizabeth I for their release. In a matter of hours Elizabeth apparently took to Ní Mháille, who was three years older, and the two women reached sufficient agreement for Elizabeth to grant Ní Mháille's requests provided that her support of many Irish rebellions and piracy against England ended.

May I remind you that the conflict between England and Ireland had been going on for most of Gráinne Ní Mháille's life. She was about 40 when she sailed to England. I think you know where I'm going with this, so I'll just let that hang there.

What I'm getting at is this: Women deserve the same recognition as men do. We deserve the same benefits, funds and healthcare. We are not symbols of sex, nor are we objects of your animalistic desires. We are not stupid, we have opinions; we have the ability to carry life, to nurture and to carry on despite impossible situations. We are the anchors that keep a family together, we are the mothers to some of the greatest individuals that have walked the face of this earth.


We have the ability to be great leaders, if only those with narrow minds would see it. I see it, and it looks pretty damn good to me. Lets get on it ladies!

At least, that's how I see it.
Cheers!