DIANA Prince aka Wonder Woman had been a part of my childhood. She was first in DC comics then and became alive in a TV series with Lynda Carter. So when the Gal Gadot version came, I was beside giddy. But my education, specifically my gender studies, has somehow sucked out the fun from watching this new version.
Let’s start with the costume, Superman and Batman (even Iron Man) wore tights, cape and hooded masks and Wonder Woman is in a skimpy get-up, a corset, tiara and equipped with just a lasso of truth. Hello, pulmonya?
Though she is peerless in the superhero squad, the letdown for this half-goddess is that her world turns around when she meets a beautiful eyed average guy, sleeps with him for a night and then her world spins. And how come she didn’t recognize Ares immediately? But my mind knows Wonder Woman was actually created in and at that time, Wonder Woman creator, William Marston’s "only" feminist inspiration was the suffrage movement. And because DC has the story patented, so little can be done to make it more current in its views.
Marston’s ideas may not be as feminist as today’s feminism but in 1941, promoting the idea that women can be as powerful as men was already a big step forward for womankind. So, "pulmonya" or not, lousy choice of a man to die for or not, I enjoyed Wonder Woman 2017. Not everyone will be happy but yes, women can also be superheroes or heroines too.
But can women be sushi? Now, this is different. Over the weekend while scanning (trolling?) the social media for new places to eat I chanced upon the Facebook post of a small street resto featuring a young half-naked lady with a sushi roll resting on her shoulder. The ad copy read: Sushi is the new sexy and even described the young blondie-d model as; sultry, elegant, and explosive.
A friend said I was "na hayblad" and indeed I was at the thought that someone, in 2017, still think of comparing women (blondied or not) to a commodity like food? This should no longer be when Davao City has the Women Development Code, the country with the Magna Carta of Women’s Rights and not when there’s Wonder Woman ready to kick the ass of any or all of the misogynists maybe including the sushi-selling characters out there.
One described the young model as someone very "liberated." I take that as a cue that she enjoys her freedom to be the person that she is and not to be appreciated like a cheap sushi roll to be sold at a street side eatery.
Sometimes, we do tend to confuse being sexy to being slutty like all women who wear skimpy clothes are inviting catcalls or attracting rape. In Wonder Woman, men who did so found their heads hanging in an uncomfortable angle but that’s just in the movies.