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As the first definitive iteration of a female superhero, Wonder Woman has long been regarded as a feminist icon. She is a cunning and strong princess of the Amazon warriors. Despite having a male love interest that works in the U.S. military, Wonder Woman maintains a considerably dominant role in the relationship. While bad guys occasionally truss her up, Wonder Woman is never held for long. She takes joy in escaping enemy traps and in fighting the much weaker men. Steve Trevor often takes the damsel in distress role in these adventures, and Wonder Woman has to rescue him from various dangers. This is essentially a reversing of the gender dynamics found in male-lead superhero comics such as Superman.
However, a key difference between Wonder Woman and other male heroes is the sexual undertones that are present from the character’s very beginning. Her creator, William Moulton Marston wrote many instances of bondage into the early Wonder Woman comics, believing that the character’s ability to enjoy submission as well as domination would help teach men and other women to enjoy both and thus help to spread love and acceptance. Because of Marston’s inclusion of this sexually-charged content, there are critics such as Kelli Stanley who question whether or not the character is actually feminist in nature.
Interestingly, sexuality plays a large part in female heroes that arose after Wonder Woman.
I will be looking at the Japanese anime/manga Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon has come under similar criticism as Wonder Woman for the way that the character is sexualized. However, like Wonder Woman, Sailor Moon has been remarked upon by critics like Anne Allison and Victoria Newsom as being a positive female hero that can inspire feelings of power without the sacrifice of femininity. Like Wonder Woman, Sailor Moon derives her powers from her femaleness, and the character is likewise noted as being a force of love rather than raw force. Furthermore, both characters are supported by other female characters: Wonder Woman by Etta Candy and the Holliday girls, and Sailor Moon by the Sailor Scouts.
In my essay, I will expand upon my past blog post regarding Wonder Woman and her similarities with Sailor Moon, while also seeking to determine why there are sexually charged elements in both series, as well as whether or not this is necessary to either. To this end, I will be examining the early Wonder Woman comics, and the first few volumes of the Sailor Moon manga. I will also take cues from the Sailor Moon anime and some cartoon versions of Wonder Woman.
Primary Sources:
The Wonder Woman Chronicles
Sailor Moon, vol. 1-3
Select episodes of the Sailor Moon anime and cartoons featuring Wonder Woman
Secondary Sources:
Allison, Anne. “Japanese Superheroes for Global Girls.” Ed. Timothy J. Craig Japan Pop! : Inside The World Of Japanese Popular Culture. Armonk, N.Y.: Routledge, 2000. 259-278. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
Anne Allison tracks the superhero influences in Sailor Moon, focusing specifically on Superman and the Power Rangers. She attempts to determine how Sailor Moon became such an iconic show both in Japan and abroad, while at the same time examining the changes made to the show when it was exported. She makes an effort to determine whether or not the show was “too Japanese” for foreign viewers in its original state, due to it’s initial failure State-side. If so, what about Sailor Moon embodied Japanese culture, and what does it mean for her to be a female, Japanese superhero. She suggests that Sailor Moon bridges binaries of altruistic superhuman and a flawed school girl, appealing to superhero fans in Japan and elsewhere. This is combined with a desirable appearance that makes her appeal to both women and men. Sailor Moon is made to be more human than the paragons of the superhero genre like Superman, but still incredibly capable. She marries beauty and power in a way that is widely appealing. Allison notes that the American dub removes overt references to sexuality though and imposes an after-credits moral on each episode. She attributes Sailor Moon’s initial failure in the U.S. to failure to acculturate the show in the same way that Power Rangers was. Many first time viewers felt that the character was too “girlie” to be an effective superhero, while in Japan, this same trait makes her more likeable.
Bailey, Catherine. “Prince Charming by Day, Superheroine by Night?: Subversive Sexualities and Gender Fluidity in Revolutionary Girl Utena and Sailor Moon.” Colloquy: Text Theory Critique, 24 (2012): 207. (Monash University). Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
Finding a lack of queer and female characters in American comics, Bailey turns to Japanese manga for this representation. She identifies both Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena as portraying queer, genderfluid individuals in prominent roles. Bailey explains that even in literature outside of the comics realm, female homosexual behavior is wholly ignored or else seen as a temporary dalliance of youth. She notes that both female and queer experiences are also ignored in "Hero’s Journey" models, most notably that of Joseph Campbell, which are coded for heterosexual men. While this dismissal of female queer identities is also present in Japanese media, Bailey asserts that Utena and Sailor Moon successfully portray these identities as enduring as well as potentially heroic.
Newsom, Victoria. “Young Females as Super Heroes: Super Heroines in the Animated Sailor Moon.” Femspec 5.2 (2004) 51-80. (GenderWatch). Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
Newsom examines Sailor Moon as a character whose power is dependent upon her femininity, rather than being incidental to it. However, she suggests that with Sailor Moon and other “girl power” characters, their appearances are still influenced by general standards of beauty as well as by patriarchal notions of femininity. Despite viewing the restriction on their appearances, Newsom takes a very positive view on Sailor Moon as a strong character that suffers from self-doubt and is aided by other girls that offer support and friendship. She writes that the characters represent a new kind of hero, which can encourage female fans to find power to stand up for themselves without sacrificing their overt femaleness. Being a “typical teenaged girl” Sailor Moon is a positive role model for young girls, because while she grows as a person, she is never forced to change her personality in drastic ways in exchange for her superhero role. She cites Sailor Moon's supportive friendship with the Sailor Scouts as a loving and positive representation of female friendships. Sailor Moon’s capacity to love as the source of her power is also cited as a positive, because it goes against the aggressive power invoked in many male power fantasies. Newsom questions how embracing patriarchal beauty standards effects young fans, while still asserting that the characters’ behavior and identities remain consistently empowering to viewers. Despite being drawn as particularly lovely and possibly sexual, she notes that the characters suffer from the same body-image issues that many real women also suffer from. This offers another point for fans to relate to the character, and remains on the whole positive. The sexuality of the girls in their Scout identities seems to be utilized as a way to disguise the girls and separate them from their everyday identities. Newsom concludes that Sailor Moon is an effort to reclaim feminine ideals and make them into a source of power.
Saunders, Ben. “Wonder Woman, Bondage and Liberation.” Do the Gods Wear Capes?: Spirituality, Fantasy, and Superheroes. 36-71 London: Continuum, 2011. eBook.
Saunders looks back at the history of Wonder Woman and her creator William Moullton Marston. In this chapter of Do the Gods Wear Capes? He examines Marston’s intentions with the original Wonder Woman comics. Marston having been atypical among comics writers, being old with an established career in contrast with the young men that made up most of the comics world. He writes that Marston certainly had an agenda when creating Wonder Woman as she is, and Saunders seeks to determine just how feminist Marston’s message is. While Wonder Woman is portrayed as a powerful and capable figure, Marston also involves numerous instances of bondage in his comics, particularly female-on-female bondage. Saunders examines Marston’s belief that women were the superior gender because he felt they were equally capable of dominating and submitting. Marston believed that powerful women would be able to teach men to submit and usher in a world of peace and love. Saunders suggests that Wonder Woman is part of an effort to expedite this process.
Stanley, Kelli. “’Suffering Sappho!’: Wonder Woman and the (Re)Invention of the Feminine Ideal.” Helios, 32.2. 143-171. Texas Tech University Press. (EBSCOhost). Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
Stanley takes a markedly negative view of Wonder Woman. While acknowledging her as a symbol of female power, she suggests that this image is only there in Wonder Woman merchandise, not in the comic books themselves. Stanley reaches her conclusion through her interpretation of Marston’s intentions with the character. She notes that while there are women who connect with the character, she says that the character was meant to and most appeals to the heterosexual male. She suggests that the sexual content and the submissive-dominant paradigm of Wonder Woman comics is meant to appeal wholly to male readers. She concludes that Wonder Woman as a symbol of female power and sexuality is conflicted. This conflict is caused, in her opinion by women seeking empowerment in the character and the men seeking the fulfillment of a sexual fantasy. However, she ends by saying that the character has massive potential in the right hands and even when handled poorly, fans have remained able to reinterpret her in a positive way.
