The True Wonder Woman
I never realized how much of a problem sexual harassment was until I went to the rally we had here a few days ago. There I found "gender issues are still misunderstood by people in general" (Meunier). While I was sitting there listening to the various speakers talk, I began to recognize that sexual harassment is all around. I never noticed it before because that kind of behavior seemed normal since it has been that way in relation to women for so long. Women are viewed as objects everywhere, on billboards, on commercials, or television shows, at their work place, even at school.
The other day I watched the show "Wonder Woman" which was my favorite show when I was younger. As I watched it though, I noticed that Wonder Woman doesn't wear anything except a sparkling swimsuit type of clothing. She struts and strides around the brush and bramble with nylons that never seem to tear or run. Her hair is perfectly coifed even after the most arduous of adventures. Noted author S. Sheridan also believes Ms. Wonder promotes the objectification of women, "This cardboard adventure queen sends messages to both girls and boys: a heroine can be both strong and sexy which reinforces the old myth of a perfect cook in the kitchen and whore in the bedroom" (26). Is it any wonder that young, inexperienced women have trouble identifying sexually harassment? While young, we would dress up like Wonder Woman and imitate her because she was the epitome of a hero. What we didn't realize was that we were falling into society's trap from which only time and age could spring us. We thought it was appropriate to dress the way Wonder Woman did, not understanding it was degrading.
Appropriate attire is of course what the "good girl"
will have in her closet. Wonder Woman also showed us that. When she is not saving Damsel
In-Distress or helping a Johnny Geek, how conservatively she dressed, without make-up and
her hair pulled back into a bun. "This images reinforces the idea that girls should
mask their real selves and hide their true identity" (Johnson 36). However, when the
time comes to become a super hero, the transformation occurs, clothes come off,
effort-free make-up appears, and the hair goes down.Here then is the hero for young girls
to aspire towards: a made-up, half dressed, wild-haired vixen. The moment she is not
needed by someone, anyone, she must truss and bind herself until she is needed once again,
a model of purity.
The effects of this
type of role-modeling on young girls is apparent everywhere. Noted psychologist, J.
Alexander, states,
Many women, so inured to the rampant sexual harassment present in the very core of our society, will eventually have to come to terms with it. Some will slowly awaken and notice they have been passed by during promotion time time and time again; others jerk awake when an uncle or cousin makes openly suggestive remarks and no-one seems shocked. And a few others will take a quick look around, notice they are out-numbered by those in power (men, of course), then close their eyes and deny there is a problem. (35)
A few women, too, I would think will not be Wonder Women; instead, they will stand up in their blue-buttoned blouses, their Nikes, their loose and baggy clothing; they will stand tall and try to change the problems of sexual objectification.
Mark Luna, a college friend, has a mother that does just that, though she wears Berkenstock's not Nikes, and she has taught her children that the only degree of superiority between women and men lies in people's perceptions. When friends gather at Mark's house, there is no such thing as traditional woman's work or man's work. Often Mark can be found cooking and serving his friend's dinner while his sister will be out in garage cleaning the carburetor of the lawn mower. Mark often notices the different ways men and women are treated in the real world.
When I noticed the science teachers treating me and my buddies with more respect than the girls in the room, I was curious. I even asked one once why he did that. He told me that I would understand when I was older. Well, I'm older and I still don't understand.
Mark's mom, Jane Baker, indeed deserves hero status for teaching those about her to not objectify either women or men.
Luckily, not all men view men as objects, and ideally all of us, men and women, who have not been trapped by the Wonder Women and Superman images, will help those still ensnared escape the bondage of those fake heroes. The real heroes in our lives are those who are working for this change, those who wear nothing underneath their daily costumes but their own skin.
Works Cited
Alexander, Jane. "Heroes of a Different Sort." Wherever Daily 29 Nov. 1995: A3.
Johnson, Jan. Noted Role-Models Missing in Girls Lives. New York: Doubleday, 1996.
Luna, Mark. Personal Interview. 17 Jan. 1996.
Meunier, Lydie E. "The Psychological Impact of the Socialization Process: Further Understanding Gender Issues." Mental Health Net. Home page. 6 Nov. 1996. <http://www.cmhc.com/perspectives/articles/art79621.htm>.
Sheridan, Sue. "Can Women Really Succeed in the Wonder World?" Science Not Psychology 206 (1989): 891-1000.
Links to other student gender essays.