How Wonder Woman Changed Me As A Guy
Written by Creator Adrian Varnavas Diakidis on Creators.co
Wonder Woman has been the most popular female superhero, and a feminist icon since the 1940's. She has been a symbol of strength and bravery for generations of women across the globe and a teacher of spirit and character to millions of others. Shining on t-shirts, landing striking images on magazine covers and selling tons of merchandise, we can easily say that she is one to be reckoned with.
But here is my problem. From a young age, boys are usually afflilated with Batman, Superman, or the Flash, and girls with Wonder Woman or Supergirl. But personally as a guy, I never felt a strong connection with DC's most beloved male superheroes. While one seemed too dark and pretty much scared me as a child, the other seemed a bit arrogant and too controlling (of course these are my personal opinions and the ways I see the characters). But I never read any Wonder Woman comic either, for it was connected with the female gender so much, it would make me feel shy and embarassed.
Throughout the years, as most people, I have been gone through gender based bullying which was not just derogatory towards me, but the female gender in general.
"You act like a girl."
"You fight like a girl."
"Stop crying like a girl."
"Man up!"
I have heard these phrases a million times, but even though in the beginning they made me feel horrible, as I slowly grew up I realized, "what the hell these are not even bad things". As I matured I was able to slowly spread my mind across ideas other than those around me. I began to read books, watch movies, surf the internet. And then one day, I borrowed a Justice League comic book from a friend of mine. And from there I got my first glimpse of my first female lead character, Wonder Woman.
