Gal Gadot has already chimed in to defend Wonder Woman against attackers that feel that the scantily clad superhero may not be the best choice to represent gender equality. The United Nations appointed the DC Comics hero as an honorary ambassador to help raise awareness of the unfair treatment of females in various cultures. The U.N. declared October 21, 2016 “Wonder Woman Day” and it was believed that the character would continue to be a spokeperson for about a year. But less than two months later, the U.N. has dropped Wonder Woman as an ambassador after complaints.
Now Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman for three seasons on the beloved TV show has also spoken and she understands the U.N.’s position but still defends her role:
“What I find interesting is that they didn’t look at the larger picture. I agree that the issue of gender equality is much larger than any character is, and I understand that a comic book character should not be representative of something that is that important. I agree with that. What I disagree with is this idea about Wonder Woman. She’s an iconic defender, she’s archetypal. It’s the ultimate sexist thing to say that’s all you can see, when you think about Wonder Woman, all you can think about is a sex object.”
Carter, who currently has a recurring role as the President of the U.S.A. on ‘Supergirl’ and is an active touring singer points at the double standard when it comes to male and female superheroes:
You be the judge.
“Superman had a skintight outfit that showed every little ripple, didn’t he? Doesn’t he have a great big bulge in his crotch? Hello! So why don’t they complain about that? And who says Wonder Woman is “white”? I’m half-Mexican. Gal Gadot is Israeli. The character is an Amazonian princess, not “American.” They’re trying to put her in a box, and she’s not in a box.
If you think of the ’70s, that was miniskirts and bikinis. I never really thought of Wonder Woman as a super-racy character. She wasn’t out there being predatory. She was saying: “You have a problem with a strong woman? I am who I am, get over it.” I never played her as mousy. I played her being for women, not against men. For fair play and fair pay.”
From the trailers, it looks as though Gal Gadot’s personification of Wonder Woman will also follow that same mentality.
But for a certain generation, Carter will always be THE Wonder Woman and she still has fans that react to her in public for playing the iconic role.
But, errrr…. certain things they can keep to themselves.
“I still have women at airports coming up to me saying: “Oh, you don’t know what it meant to me. That show got me through this difficult time, that difficult time.” That’s really where the fantasy became a reality, where Wonder Woman became something much more than a TV show or a comic book. And I’ll tell you this, when women recognize me in airports, I hold them in my arms and they cry. If a guy comes up and says, “Oh my God, I had such a crush on you when I was a teenager,” I say: “Talk to the hand. I don’t want to know.””
What do you think? Is Wonder Woman’s armor too skimpy? Is she a good role model for women and girls?
Jax's earliest memory is of watching 'Batman,' followed shortly by a memory of playing Batman & Robin with a friend, which entailed running outside in just their underwear and towels as capes. When adults told them they couldn't run around outside in their underwear, both boys promptly whipped theirs off and ran around in just capes.
