Tag: heroine

  • Is Wonder Woman a Heroine Or a Shero?

    One reason I started my website and blogging was to help women be proud of who they naturally are.  Too often we are afraid to say that men and women have different traits because we assume all traits identified as female will be labeled inferior.   Our society has historically favored male traits and used men to set the standard. 36953256_m

    As women we are conditioned and taught to think like men and often don’t even realize it.  We just feel those subtle little differences where we don’t align with the standard.  And we are trained to interpret them as not measuring up or fitting in.

    Using men as the standard, women are portrayed as a subset of men.  We are part of man-kind, created from Adam’s rib.  We are wo-men.  We are fe-male.  We don’t have our own unique characterization that doesn’t reference us back to men.

    This is why I like the words feminine and heroine.  Feminine is distinctly different sounding from masculine.  Heroine is distinctly different sounding from hero even though it has hero is in its spelling.  Saying heroine doesn’t conjure an image of a man.  We visualize a noble, courageous woman who is admired for her own achievements.  She is the equal of a hero and fully capable of acting on her own.  When she teams up with a hero, they are full side-by-side partners.  A hero doesn’t overshadow a heroine.

    As a word that creates an image of womanhood, heroine is great because it portrays an image of a woman that is unique and independent from a man.

    However, heroine is now being replaced by the word “shero.”  As soon as we say shero, we think of the word hero.  Men come into the picture.  It is as if we can’t think of a strong woman without also being reminded that men are heroes too – we can’t talk about Wonder Woman without talking about Superman.

    Shero gives us the subtle message that men set the standard and women are attached to men.   S-HERO   It doesn’t support an image that women can be unique and independent from men.

    I looked up the definition of shero.  It is used interchangeably with heroine.  More correctly it is used to describe a woman who stands up for women’s right and equality.  Okay.  But why can’t we still use heroine to describe a woman who stands up for women’s rights?

    Is it because when we think of a heroine, we think of Wonder Woman with her Amazonian body, tiny outfit and golden lasso?  Does Wonder Woman over sexualize a heroine so we are using shero to tone it down?

    THIS IS WHERE IT GETS REALLY INTERESTING:

    Completely unrelated to this article, I was doing some research on New Womanhood when I came across an article in The New Yorker by Jill Lepore about Wonder Woman called “The Last Amazon.”  It seems odd that researching early feminism would pull up an article on Wonder Woman.

    http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/22/last-amazon

    Here are some quotes from the article:

    “Superman débuted in 1938, Batman in 1939, Wonder Woman in 1941. She was created by William Moulton Marston, a psychologist with a Ph.D. from Harvard. A press release explained, “ ‘Wonder Woman’ was conceived by Dr. Marston to set up a standard among children and young people of strong, free, courageous womanhood; to combat the idea that women are inferior to men, and to inspire girls to self-confidence and achievement in athletics, occupations and professions monopolized by men” because “the only hope for civilization is the greater freedom, development and equality of women in all fields of human activity.” Marston put it this way: “Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world.”

    “But more of the mystery lies in the fact that Wonder Woman’s origins have been, for so long, so unknown. It isn’t only that Wonder Woman’s backstory is taken from feminist utopian fiction. It’s that, in creating Wonder Woman, William Moulton Marston was profoundly influenced by early-twentieth-century suffragists, feminists, and birth-control advocates and that, shockingly, Wonder Woman was inspired by Margaret Sanger, who, hidden from the world, was a member of Marston’s family.”

    “Her “undermeaning,” Marston explained, concerned “a great movement now under way—the growth in power of women.” Drawn by an artist named Harry G. Peter, who, in the nineteen-tens, had drawn suffrage cartoons, she looked like a pinup girl. She’s Eleanor Roosevelt; she’s Betty Grable. Mostly, she’s Margaret Sanger.”

    Margret Sanger is Wonder Woman!

    I like this!  We have a new image of heroines as confident, intelligent, athletic, courageous and sexy feminists.

    So, we don’t need sheros.  We have heroines like Wonder Woman!

     

    Empowered Women are Heroines

  • 2012 Year of the Woman; 2013 Year of the Businessman Hero

    I came across a statement I made in an article :  The successful businessman is the Hero and the driver of our society.

    If you are paying attention to the stock market, 2013 is proving this statement is true.

    I don’t know what made me do it but on January 20th I turned on CNBC.  That is about the time the stock market really started taking off.  And I don’t know why I thought it but I thought – someone on Wall Street has decided to take over the economy and drive it.  Someone has decided that Washington is dysfunctional, not going to do anything and so, they are taking matters into their own hands to end this recession.  Someone is going out on a limb, with a balls-to-the-wall attitude.  Someone thinks they have nothing to lose that the only other option is stagnation.

    In the weeks that followed, that someone ignored all of the bears, nay-sayers, the multitude of critics and doom-and- gloom forecasters.  They were successful – they made something happen.  And as an added bonus the whole federal budget debate in Washington is negated.

    With the economy doing well, the fiscal cliff is postponed from May to end of the summer?   Into late fall?  Sorry Republicans your side of the crisis is negated.  Sorry Democrats, your side of the crisis is also negated – there is no need to raise taxes.

    The Wall Street businessman is the Hero who saved our economy.  And his reward is power!!

    Ladies – this is an example we need to follow!! (more…)

  • Swamp Wars – The Battle for Status

    Last week while I was in that semiconscious state of falling asleep with the TV on, I heard the TV pundits talking about Odysseus and how he was the classic hero.  The pundits went on to discuss how humans love heroes.  Then one pundit questioned the other “What do heroes always need?”  The answer was: “Problems.  We have to have problems so we can have heroes.”  That’s when I bolted upright and said out loud – “That’s what I always talk about!”Alligator

    Years ago, I wrote my version of the male-dominated workplace Odysseus – the Great American Alligator Slayer.  He is our traditional hero.  He is strong, dominating and intimidating.  In most companies he is found in Operations departments – the “make it happen” departments.  Whenever the workplace is up to its waist in alligators (problems) he is who we turn to – he slays the alligators and makes the problems go away.  We can count on him to always comes through!!

    But in recent years, our classic hero has been challenged for his top status.  In my article Baby Boomer Men – Status Driven, I discussed that there are now 3 additional groups of men – Planners, Geeks/Nerds and Intellectual Elites – who each believe they are worthy of the top rung on the status ladder.  They want to redefine which male characteristics determine a Hero.

    Since I already named two of the groups Great American Alligator Slayers and Swamp Drainers, I decided to have a little fun and call this new battle for status “Swamp Wars.” (more…)