Louise Carroll: Wonder Woman remains symbol for women

I’ve always been a fan of Wonder Woman. Well, not always, but since I was an almost-teen, and I have never outgrown it.

Whats not to love about a woman who can do it all?

Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince is 83 years old and hasn’t aged a day since I first discovered my perfect role model.

In 1941, All Star Comics wrote, “Beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, swifter than Hermes, and stronger than Hercules, Princess Diana of Themyscira fights for peace in Man's World.”

Wow, all of that and she is a feminine woman. Up until that moment, comic book superheroes were men and she is going to take them on. It was the beginning of the age of equality.

As a young girl, I didn’t understand that Wonder Woman is the symbol of truth, justice and equality to people everywhere. What I saw was a woman who could do everything Superman and all the perfectly muscled cartoon heroes did and even more.

I recall the way she could deflect bullets with her bronze bracelets, she had an invisible airplane and I loved the golden lasso of truth. What woman wouldn’t want that? Put the rope around them and they had to tell the truth. Oh, for a weapon like that in the world today.

Her other powers include super strength, invulnerability, flight, combat skill, combat strategy, superhuman agility, healing factor and magic weaponry and all to be used for peace. All of this and she looked beautifully feminine.

As a youngster, I waited for the monthly comic and when the day came I would clutch my dime, walk across Wampum Avenue and go to Mallory’s New Stand at the end of the Fifth Street Bridge to buy the latest copy. I would hurry home to read more of my hero’s adventures as she used her powers to save the world and lots of folks, too.

At that time girls had few heroes, super or otherwise, in the media world, but Wonder Woman opened my eyes to woman power and I never looked back. A small figurine of Wonder Woman is on my bookcase.

Over the years I’ve had many flesh-and-blood women who have inspired me including Eleanor Roosevelt and a neighbor who lived next door. In fact, I could write a couple of columns on women who have made a difference in my life – and a couple of guys, too.

Wonder Woman came complete with a fantastic history. Raised on the hidden island of Themyscira, also known as Paradise Island, Diana is an Amazon, like the figures of Greek legend, and her people's gift to humanity. As Themyscira's emissary to Man's World, Diana has come to represent the possibility and potential of life without war, hate or violence, and she is a beacon of hope to all who find themselves in need.

Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston (1893-1947), a psychologist, who with his wife, Elizabeth Holloway, invented a systolic-blood-pressure-measuring apparatus, which was crucial to the development of the polygraph. Marston's experience with polygraphs convinced him that women were more honest and reliable than men and could work more efficiently.

Marston said his wife and their polygamous partner, Olive Byrne, influenced Wonder Woman’s creation, a model of that era’s unconventional, liberated woman.

“Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world,” Marston said.

Thanks to Marston, many of us little girls grew up to be women who believed they could take on the world.

Marston died of cancer on May 2, 1947, seven days before his 54th birthday. After his death, Elizabeth and Olive continued to live together until Olive's death in 1990, aged 86; Elizabeth died in 1993, aged 100.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Carroll: Wonder Woman remains symbol for women