Hey, remember when David Finch, the husband in the husband and wife team to whom DC handed over the Wonder Woman franchise, said some incredibly stupid shit about Wonder Woman and feminism? And we were all OH NO, and people were like BUT GIVE THEM A CHANCE YOU FIENDISH FEMINIST CYNICS?
Wellllllllllp.
When the Finches' first issue was released last week, I bought it immediately—and nearly threw it out just as fast.Whoooooooooooops!
[SPOILER ALERT]
On the cover, Wonder Woman resembles a 16-year-old model doing a pee-pee dance. Her first full scene is a shower sequence where she's in a towel. She has ridiculous mood swings. Without any evidence or provocation, she attacks Swamp Thing—and then gets beaten in the only fight she has in the issue. Thankfully, Aquaman is there to save the situation and give her a pep talk, while she clutches a teddy bear. Her biggest worry isn't Cheetah or the Silver Swan, but how to achieve the proper work-life balance. There are actually two characters that talk about misogyny and the subjugation of women, but they're both evil amazons we're meant to hate.
That comics are a bastion of sexism is a truism so banal it almost goes without saying. But it is particularly galling to watch the feminist superhero be treated in such a way. The Finches have made no small point of the fact that Meredith is one of only a handful of women to ever write Wonder Woman. "I love the idea that it's a woman writing a woman," David said in an interview with USA Today, "because we're trying to appeal to more female readers now."
What are you even doing, DC? What. Are you even. Doing.
[H/T to Aphra_Behn.]
Shakesville is run as a safe space. First-time commenters: Please read Shakesville's Commenting Policy and Feminism 101 Section before commenting. We also do lots of in-thread moderation, so we ask that everyone read the entirety of any thread before commenting, to ensure compliance with any in-thread moderation. Thank you.
blog comments powered by Disqus