Jan
13

Sidedoor: How Wonder Woman Got Her Groove Back

Conceived in the the 1940s as an antidote to hypermasculine superheroes, by the 1970s, the Amazon warrior princess had been stripped of her superpowers and relegated to running a boutique.

Illustration for Sidedoor 6.2 featuring Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is the best known female superhero of all time, but she’s been through a lot. The brainchild of a psychologist, Wonder Woman hit the comic pages in the 1940s as an antidote to the “bloodcurdling masculinity” of male superheroes. But by the early ‘70s, Wonder Woman was having a midlife crisis. She’d given up her bullet-blocking bracelets, her lasso of truth, and her superhuman strength… and opened a clothing boutique. It took a feminist magazine cover to catapult Wonder Woman from comic book character to the icon she remains today.

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Posted: 13 January 2021
About the Author:

Jessica Sadeq has worked in the Central Office of Public Affairs since June 2007. She is the Marketing Manager for the Office of Communications and External Affairs.