What is wrong with Wonder Woman being an ambassador for the empowerment of Women and Girls? I started writing this entry yesterday, but now, she has been confirmed as an official U.N. Ambassador.
The United Nations appointed Wonder Woman an honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls in a ceremony on Friday attended by Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot, two actresses who have played the DC Comics superhero.
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As part of the appointment, DC and its sister company Warner Bros. have promised to use their media platforms to raise awareness about issues relating to women’s rights. DC will publish a special comic book in 2017, that will appear in the six official languages of the U.N.: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. The companies will also team for a public service announcement featuring Gadot. – variety.com
It wasn't all roses getting Wonder Woman to this point. National Public Radio did a great piece covering the issues risen by nominating Wonder Woman for this position.
On Friday the United Nations is set to appoint Wonder Woman its honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls. The cartoon character, turning 75 this year, will be the face of a social media campaign that the U.N., will launch at a star-studded ceremony in New York. The actress Gal Gadot — who plays Wonder Woman in the movies these days — is scheduled to be there. So is Lynda Carter, who portrayed the superhero in the 1970s television show.
But the decision has outraged many women's rights advocates, including hundreds who've signed a petition against it.
"It's an insult, frankly," says Anne Marie Goetz, a professor of global affairs at New York University and a former adviser on peace and security issues to the United Nations agency, U.N. Women. She says a big issue is the timing.
The U.N.'s anointing of Wonder Woman has actually been in the works since last spring. That's when Warner Bros. and DC Comics — which owns rights to the character — approached the U.N. about celebrating her 75th birthday and an upcoming movie with a joint social media campaign promoting women's rights through tweets and Facebook callouts.
But news of the plan only started to filter to women's rights advocates over the past week — right on the heels of a disappointing, yearlong grass-roots effort to get the U.N. to choose its first female secretary-general.
"This was months and months of campaigning by feminist organizations around the world for a woman to be selected," says Goetz.
Seven women — including a prime minister and other highly qualified individuals — were in the running, an unprecedented number. But earlier this month the Security Council went with a man — Antonio Guterres. So the selection of Wonder Woman to represent women's issues for the U.N. came off to Goetz and others as a sort of demeaning consolation prize. – npr.org
You can head over to the entire National Public Radio article, but to paraphrase, much of it talks about how Wonder Woman appearance is very sexual, she's always tied up in every comic strip depicting bondage and female subservience, but it is mainly about her uniform.
Wonder Woman in her view looks like a Barbie/Playboy pinup. Like most female comic action figures, she has big breasts bursting out of a skimpy outfit and an impossibly tiny waist.
"The message to girls is that you are expected to meet a male standard in which your significance is reduced to your role as a sexual object," says Goetz.
[Maher] Nasser says his team worked closely with artists at DC Comics to tone down the image that will be used in the U.N. campaign. – npr.org
In their research, I'm wondering why they have not come across what we reported last month, 'Wonder Woman' Confirmed As Bisexual. i do not think it would be an issue at all, but just thinking if they are having an issue with her bosoms, they may have an issue with her being attracted to women. But then again, it is about the empowerment of women.
What do you think?
Is Wonder Woman too sexual to be the "Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls?"
Do you think they should tone down her uniform / outfit?
Do you think they would have even considered her if they had entertained the research that she is bisexual?
h/t: variety.com, npr.org