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Copyright of Mediterranean Journal of Gender & Women's Studies (KTC) / Akdeniz Kadın Çalışmaları ve Toplumsal Cinsiyet Dergisi is the property of Mediterranean Journal of Gender & Women's Studies (KTC) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Comic books are important sites where norms related to gender, leadership, and democratic engagement are negotiated. In this essay, we examine two comic book depictions of women’s political leadership: Diana Prince/Wonder Woman’s stint as US president, published in 1944, and Barbara Gordon/Batgirl’s tenure as a member of US Congress, published between 1972 and 1980. We contrast Wonder Woman’s tale of democratic fragility and gendered conflict with a Batgirl narrative that promotes a more complex view of women’s political agency and subordinates superheroism to the strength of democratic community. We contend that Wonder Woman #7 reflects the fascist tendencies observed in other Golden Age comics and theorize Überfrau as a counterpart to Übermensch, rooted in an ostensible ethic of protection and authoritarian white femininity. Reading Wonder Woman #7 through the lens of the Überfrau reveals the contours of an antidemocratic white women’s authoritarianism that continues to resonate in twenty-first century politics. An antidote to the reactionary Überfrau is offered by Batgirl, who eschews the role of super savior and puts the responsibility for democratic health into voters’ hands. We conclude by examining how these contrasting visions of women’s political leadership are echoed by women politicians in contemporary political culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In every era, the Hollywood sex symbol signifies, in addition to the obvious trait of sexuality, a complicated matrix of social ideals, fantasies and prejudices. Central to many of the ideological issues brought to bear through sex symbols are notions of ethnicity and nationality. Actress Gal Gadot, most famous for her role as the modern Wonder Woman, consolidates and embodies specific ideas about gender and sensuality in relation to class and nationhood. Gadot is a version of the 'Continental Exotic', an alluring and dangerously fetishistic woman who reinforces specifically American insecurities when faced with an uncontainable other. The Continental Exotic bridges the gap between Hollywood's tradition of whiteness as a cultural ideal of female beauty and Otherness as the domain of exciting but treacherous sensuality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Annals of Social Sciences / Roczniki Nauk Społecznych is the property of Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL & Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawla II and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Motif Academy Journal of Folklore is the property of Motif Yayincilik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The issue of fair treatment given to males and females in the classroom discourse is currently discussed worldwide. The notion of gender equality that facilitates similar access for boys and girls to education is among the striving to achieve such conditions. This study tries to give an overview of two popular movies that can be used to disseminate the idea of gender equality to students in elementary schools. Wonder woman and Captain Marvel movies were chosen as the data of this research since the film genre is under the theme of heroism that represents women as the main characters. This research uses Roland Barthes' semiotics approach to analyze the data and John Fiske’s ideology to see the symbols used to describe feminist values that these characters display, supported by communication theory and feminism. The results of the study show that the characters of Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman are depicted as female figures who have greater power than men and show some liberal feminist values. The difference is that Captain Marvel has indirectly different powers from Wonder Woman, who already has powers because she is a demigod. From this finding, it can be inferred that there are some values that are beneficial to introduce to young learners from these movies. However, parental guide when watching is still needed in order to restrict the negative values that are irrelevant with our local culture.

El siguiente artículo se centrará en el estudio del comportamiento de dos heroínas de la gran pantalla: Wonder Woman y Capitana Marvel. Al analizar los dos filmes, veremos, por ende, que se nutren del género de la ciencia ficción y utilizan mitos clásicos y ciertas pinceladas de corte feminista con el fin de mostrar una preocupación por la devastación del entorno y por el genocidio humano o de otras especies alienígenas.

This paper examines the impact of sacrificing queerness when adapting comics into films, which cater to wider audiences – specifically, queer elision in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther (2018) and illusions of queerness in Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman (2017). The difference between elision and illusion is crucial, and so approached using different analytical modes. Black Panther’s analysis is rooted in the production process, exploring how/why queerness is erased by drawing comparisons to the explicit queerness of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxanne Gay’s comics. The analysis of Wonder Woman focuses on in-depth textual analysis of both Greg Rucka’s comics and Jenkins’s film to illustrate how queer illusions functions across media. Despite these films being hailed as progressive, this paper illuminates how motivations to hide queerness when moving to wider audiences are rooted in homophobia and protecting profit margins.

This paper uses actor-network theory (ANT) and Aristotelian virtue ethics to think with/of Wonder Woman as an assemblage of human and non-human actors clustered on a page. It also considers how the emerging assemblage that is Wonder Woman might be viewed as the embodiment of Aristotle’s ‘complete virtue’ or justice. As one of the ‘trinity’ of superheroes of Detective Comics (DC), which also include Superman and Batman, Wonder Woman was created to counter the sadism and tyranny of the Nazi threat during the 1930s and 1940s and has been continually published since 1941. Wonder Woman is a multidimensional icon and an exemplary model of a superhero with a different body and voice, who operates in a different way in the world. She is presented here as a case study to trace possible translations of Aristotle’s configurations of virtue and justice. Using ANT, we argue that Wonder Woman arises from an assemblage of actors that include an armoured swimsuit, a magic lasso, shiny bracelets and a star-emblazoned tiara. By problematising these technologies as actors that commonly invite objectification (the swimsuit) or subjugation (the ropes), this paper suggests possible divergent readings that reveal how virtue and justice can emerge within these relational networks. We test how the sexualised body depictions and overt bondage references in the Wonder Woman comics, and in particular, in our chosen story, George Pérez’s Wonder Woman: Destiny Calling, offer something bolder and more profound—a complex performance of justice. Additionally, this paper intimates the productive methodological powers of ANT in relation to the broader field of comics studies.

Transhumanism, race, gender, and cultural identity in early 21st century popular culture movies: Black Panther; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and Wonder Woman is the focus of this essay. Transhumanism refers to a super-powered human, able to transcend conventional human capabilities and accomplish physical, psychic, intellectual, and emotional feats of strength and perseverance such as extra sensory perception and the ability to fly. Three authors examine how their positionality impacted their experiences of the movies' narratives, characterizations, and significance. Each author considers their own enculturated, racialized, and gendered backgrounds to contemplate the personal impact of the films as empowering and inspirational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Humanisticos. Filologia is the property of Universidad de Leon, Area de Publicaciones and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Girls in Western societies are increasingly exposed to feminist ideas, often led by women celebrities. The current study explores how Israeli girls negotiate feminist concepts such as 'girl power' and 'feminine success' by examining their responses to Wonder Woman – a film that is part of this 'feminist zeitgeist' – and its Israeli actress, Gal Gadot. The paper documents the voices of hegemonic Israeli girls aged 13 to 15 in ten focus groups, and shows that girls take pride in the presence of a strong female character and an Israeli representative in Hollywood. The girls position themselves around a model of success represented by strong global and local feminine images. The global elements reflect neoliberal postfeminist discourse advocating authenticity as the ideal for self-actualisation. The local elements reflect a relational sentiment of loyalty to both the state and the family. We argue that the authenticity myth plays a key role in reinforcing the existing gender order and the conservative definition of good citizenship through the perception of a successful woman. We conclude that the local cultural features and national belonging are meaningful categories for studying girls' encounter with celebrities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most recent release of the film "Wonder Woman" signified a pivotal moment to highlight societal forces of oppression along with distinct launching points to advocate for women. Relational-cultural theory (RCT) is a feminist framework used in counseling and supervision that acknowledges the resilience and empowerment found in authenticity, mutuality, and growth-fostering relationships. Researchers have documented the widespread integration and proliferation of RCT due to its intuitive coherence with professional counseling and advocacy. The film "Wonder Woman" serves as a modern and entertaining platform that illustrates how early connection, societal representations, and growth-fostering relationships can serve as a source of empowerment and advocacy for women, despite superhero powers. Combined with an elaboration of relational-cultural theory (RCT) as the underlying framework, this article addresses three overarching areas: (a) synopsis of "Wonder Woman" and its implications for feminism, women, and advocacy; (b) core tenets of RCT; and (c) practical aspects of using "Wonder Woman" in counselor education, supervision, and counseling practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to analyze the online activities of Wonder Woman fans in Brazil. The analysis comes from two communities created by Brazilian fans on Facebook. Based on the content created and shared by fans in these communities, we will analyze the circulation of content focused on the character and pop culture, as well as the interactions within the fandom. We also use some other examples of websites and social networks that contribute to the analysis of fan behavior in relation to digital interaction, such as content creation (fanfics and fanarts), women empowerment and other types of affection. We use authors like Booth (2010) and Jenkins (2009 and 2015), among others that will help us understand the participatory culture of Wonder Woman fans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses actor-network theory (ANT) and Aristotelian virtue ethics to think with/of Wonder Woman as an assemblage of human and non-human actors clustered on a page. It also considers how the emerging assemblage that is Wonder Woman might be viewed as the embodiment of Aristotle's 'complete virtue' or justice. As one of the 'trinity' of Detective Comics (DC) superheros, which also include Superman and Batman, Wonder Woman was created to counter the sadism and tyranny of the Nazi threat during the 1930s and 1940s and has been continually published since 1941. Wonder Woman is a multidimensional icon and an exemplary model of a superhero with a different body and voice, who operates in a different way in the world. She is presented here as a case study to trace possible translations of Aristotle's configurations of virtue and justice. Using ANT, we argue that Wonder Woman arises from an assemblage of actors that include an armoured swimsuit, a magic lasso, shiny bracelets and a star-emblazoned tiara. By problematising these technologies as actors that commonly invite objectification (the swimsuit) or subjugation (the ropes), this paper suggests possible divergent readings that reveal how virtue and justice can emerge within these relational networks. We test how the sexualised body depictions and overt bondage references in the Wonder Woman comics, and in particular, in our chosen story, George Pérez's Wonder Woman: Destiny Calling, offer something bolder and more profound--a complex performance of justice. Additionally, this paper intimates the productive methodological powers of ANT in relation to the broader field of comics studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Investigium IRE: Ciencias Sociales y Humanas is the property of Editorial Institucion Universitaria Centros de Estudios Superiores Maria Goretti and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, I look at how comics aimed at young readers can serve to disrupt normative notions, gendered binaries, and fixed designations through featuring, or focusing on, queer girlhoods. In doing so I consider two contemporary series, Ms. Marvel and Lumberjanes. I contextualize these titles against aspects of the publishing of comics, before analyzing some of the narratives and characters in the texts in relation to queer girlhoods. I conclude that the comics offer different approaches and, therefore, differentiated reading experiences for the young readers who engage with them, but that they also form part of a wider grouping of titles that offer diverse images of young people embracing affiliations going beyond family and nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses how the choice of actress Gal Gadot to play Wonder Woman negotiates between comic book fans' expectations and society's gender schema. It has taken 75 years for the industry to produce a film adaption of Wonder Woman, perhaps due to the 'problem' of female muscles. This article focuses on the significance of Wonder Woman's muscles using theoretical frames from sports sociology. One frame is edgework, coined by sociologist Stephen Lyng about dangerous activities that amateurs perform. The second frame is the feminist analysis of women's muscles. Women navigate the boundary between what sociologist Shari Dworkin calls 'emphasized femininity' and what is beyond this femininity. The article introduces Wonder Woman's origin, then presents theory of edgework and female muscles, third, it analyzes Wonder Woman as bodywork and edgework, and, finally, discusses Gadot's Wonder Woman body as feminist physique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wonder Woman (1975 – 1979), Xena: Warrior Princess (1995 – 2001), and Wonder Woman (2017) are films all feature a female action hero alongside Amazon characters based on the Amazons from Greek mythology. This paper discusses the pilot episode of Wonder Woman from 1975, the Xena: Warrior Princess episode ‘Hooves and Harlots’ (1995) and Wonder Woman (2017) in the light of contemporary feminism, to understand how far these popular media texts can be seen to promote feminism through their depictions of all-female Amazon societies, and their Amazonian female protagonists. My analysis is supported by viewer responses obtained from screenings and online questionnaires.

La mujer constituye una parte determinante que sustenta el tejido social de todas las culturas y, sin embargo, no ha sido protagonista principal en el mundo del cómic de superhéroes. Pero hay excepciones, como Wonder Woman, la Mujer Maravilla. ¿Qué sucede con este personaje que forma trinidad con Batman y Superman sin apenas resonancia en el universo del cómic? ¿Qué relación existe entre el mito y el cómic? ¿Quién crea esta superheroina? Este trabajo es una aproximación al mito de las amazonas junto a la evolución de este personaje de cómic norteamericano.Even though women are crucial to the sustainability of the social fabric in every culture, they have not been the main protagonists in the world of Comic Superheroes. There are, of course, exceptions such as Wonder Woman but, who is this character that, in spite of forming a trinity with Batman and Superman, has hardly had any relevance in the universe of Comics? What is the relationship between the myth and the comic? Who created this Superheroine? This work intends to shed a light on the myth of the Amazons as well as on the evolution of this American comic character.

In 1987, Wonder Woman was revised as part of an overhaul of the DC Universe, in the Crisis on Infinite Earths story arc. This paper analyses the representation of Diana in George Pérez, Greg Potter and Len Wein's revision of the character, February 1987–December 1991. The writers discarded her Diana Prince secret identity and Steve Trevor as love interest. Influenced by spiritual and feminist discourses of the mid-1970s onwards, he made her into a Goddess-like fantasy figure split into two identities. She is Diana, Princess of Themyscira, a private, spiritual neo-pagan, but she is branded in consumer culture as Wonder Woman, goddess. The discourses constructing Wonder Woman as goddess, however, clashed with feminist and societal discourses circulating in popular culture and politics of late 1980s' America. These discourses aimed at disempowering female autonomy. The clash between these discourses highlighted paradoxes in Wonder Woman as a female icon of empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In honor of the 75th anniversary of the comic book super heroine Wonder Woman in 2016, Kent State University and Cleveland Public Library partnered to celebrate the intersections of public literacy, comics, and feminism in a jointly sponsored symposium with support from the Ohio Humanities Council. The 2016 Wonder Woman Symposium partnered these powerful public institutions in Northeast Ohio, taking up the historical trends that have changed the world of comics, American popular culture, and feminism. Centering on the figure of Wonder Woman and her heirs, this symposium featured addresses by major creators in the industry and historians of the comics world, and workshops by comics creators on creating graphic narratives and comics. This celebration paid respect to "herstory" while recognizing Wonder Woman's perpetual relevance to our present day, and beyond. This article reflects on the 2016 Wonder Woman Symposium, public humanities and the future of comics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The superhero genre, as the name implies, is a male-focused genre, whose lone 'redeemer heroes' enact 'rites of order' in which the Other is expelled from contested space and order is restored through externalised action. But William Moulton Marston's specific vision of a feminist 'loving authority,' rooted in feminist utopian novels, created the superheroine, a genre figure incorporating 'rites of integration' in which oppositions are reconciled and otherness is integrated and domesticated. Wonder Woman may not have been the first female superhero, but she was the first superheroine – an alternative to the cowboy-derived superhero that offers a different vision of the genre – and though many depictions of Wonder Woman have not lived up to this vision, Marston provided a model other creators have taken up in figures like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Batwoman. The superheroine opens the possibility for an evolution and transformation of the superhero genre and for other genres that convey and perpetuate – and possibly alter – our cultural mythology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay – originally delivered as a more informal talk – explores psychiatrist and comics critic Fredric Wertham's reflections on the character Wonder Woman in both his notable monograph Seduction of the Innocent (1954) and clinical notes. In particular it explores his negative understanding of her sexual expression and the character's potential deleterious influence on the mental hygiene of younger comics readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Born at the height of World War II, Wonder Woman fought against the axis powers and misogyny! She was (and continues to be) a beacon of female empowerment and queer identities. As her creator William Moulton Marston proclaimed, Wonder Woman is inspiration "for the new type of woman who, I believe, should rule the world." Yet while Wonder Woman has been both a feminist as well as queer icon, inspiring many, she was later--as fate would have it--marketed primarily to young boys in the comics world. A look at Wonder Woman through the ages captures the evolution of her message about gender, war, identity and the many audiences she has in one life inspired, and in another endured. In this essay, I consider the many lives of Wonder Woman both within comics and without. We will herald the new incarnation of Wonder Woman who not only reflects female power, but inspires it in female as well as male readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of sacrificing queerness when adapting comics into films, which cater to wider audiences - specifically, queer elision in Ryan Coogler's Black Panther (2018) and illusions of queerness in Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman (2017) . The difference between elision and illusion is crucial, and so approached using different analytical modes. Black Panther 's analysis is rooted in the production process, exploring how/why queerness is erased by drawing comparisons to the explicit queerness of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxanne Gay's comics. The analysis of Wonder Woman focuses on in-depth textual analysis of both Greg Rucka's comics and Jenkins's film to illustrate how queer illusions functions across media. Despite these films being hailed as progressive, this paper illuminates how motivations to hide queerness when moving to wider audiences are rooted in homophobia and protecting profit margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay serves as a close reading of psychiatrist Fredric Wertham's 1950s descriptions and critiques of female comics characters. I draw on archival sources as well as relevant texts in the study of gender and sexuality. Additionally, I integrate ideas from two of his close associates, folklorist Gershon Legman and psychiatrist Hilde Mosse, whose contributions to Seduction of the Innocent are woven—often invisibly—throughout that text. The character of Wonder Woman serves as a touchstone, but other provocative female figures that Wertham found objectionable in mid-twentieth-century comics accompany her. My goal is to illuminate Wertham's understanding of what he viewed as the "regressive formula of perversity" enacted through women's representations in comics, particularly those female characters who played active roles. Although not all of these concerns are tied to lesbian identity, they do all touch on broader notions of queerness vis-à-vis deviant sexual and gender expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the wholesale rewriting of Wonder Woman’s origin story in a run written by Brian Azzarello that started in 2011 and finished in 2014. The new origin story made Diana the daughter of Zeus and did away with her matriarchal birth and lineage that was the cornerstone of the character. The paper argues that Wonder Woman was an explicitly feminist intervention from the beginning and that this piece of retroactive continuity completely undermines the political possibilities of Wonder Woman as a character. It also considers this move in light of the current context in superhero comics in which great advances have been made in the representation of gender and in the employment of women writers and artists. The paper concludes by arguing there is a tragic inevitability to Wonder Woman’s demise in that anything that truly threatens an alternative to patriarchy must in the end be tamed. Finally, the paper makes use of Greg Rucka’sHiketeiato illustrate the problem of Wonder Woman representing an alternative law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Fe Journal: Feminist Critique / Fe Dergi: Feminist Elestiri is the property of Ankara University, Women's Studies Center (KASAUM) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of American Studies of Turkey (JAST) is the property of Journal of American Studies of Turkey (JAST) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Wonder Woman is one of the world’s most recognisable comic book superheroines, yet the history of her creation and the unique universe of the early Wonder Woman comics are often eclipsed by television shows, and limited edition merchandise; whilst scholars simply focus upon Wonder Woman as the first mainstream comic book superheroine, a mere placeholder in the tapestry of comic book history. In Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peter Comics 1941–1948 (Rutgers University Press; 2015), Noah Berlatsky examines the original Wonder Woman comics and creators William Moulton Marston and Harry Peter, revealing a comic ahead of its time, capable of handling taboo subjects where other comics could not.

A review of Jill Lepore's The Secret History of Wonder Woman. New York: Knopf, 2014. 408 pp. $29.95.

This interview with Trina Robbins explores her roles as a comics creator, historian and activist. It discusses her championship of female creators and readers and her various publications within the fields of feminist and LGBT commix, superheroics, and self-publishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]