1938. Superman. Comic books became a major American industry, selling tales of muscular men thrashing each other about in brightly colored outfits. Boys cheered in homoerotic glee. But what about the girls?
Seizing the opportunity, Dr. William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman, the first modern female superhero. He partly modeled Wonder Woman on his wife, Sadie, who he considered to be a perfect representation of the modern, liberated woman. Aww, what a sweet story, right? The other model for Wonder Woman was Olive Byrne, his former student, and the couple’s live-in lover. Yes, the plot thickens.
Wonder Woman was Marston’s lesson to the world of how to be a tender, loving woman, who could still beat any man’s ass. He also crammed every last thing he loved about BDSM into her.
So, to celebrate Doc Marston’s kinky pastime, let’s take a closer look at the incredibly obvious bondage and domination accoutrements that Princess Diana’s somehow been secretly rockin’ for the last 70 years.
1. The Bracelets and Tiara
Wonder Woman’s badass, bullet-deflecting metal bracelets were inspired by Arabic “protective” bracelets that Olive wore. “Protective” is the nicest word for “slave” that I’ve ever heard. They’re usually worn by submissives in the BDSM community. And check out how little you’d have to move that royal tiara down to make it into a slave collar. Pretty slick, Dr. Marston!
Translating for the little fetishists-in-training, in the comics, the Amazons’ goddess, Aphrodite, was so pissed after they “allowed” themselves to be enslaved by Hercules that she forced them to forever accessorize with the same “bracelets of submission” that were used to bind them. I guess she was more into authoritarian than authoritative parenting.
2. The Boots
Any dominatrix worth her shit has an awesome pair of boots. When a sub needs his nuts crushed, a good ol’ fashioned trampling or it’s his turn to give those heels a tongue-bath, a vicious leather boot is essential. Wonder Woman is no different, and she loves putting her foot up some oppressive man’s ass. I mean, she’s super strong and she can fly, why in the hell does she need such gigantic heels?
3. The Outfit and Magic Lasso
She’s basically wearing a brightly colored metal and leather bikini. Does anyone actually think this is an effective crime-fighting outfit? It seems to make far more sense as the fetishistic masturbatory fantasy of a 1940s swinger psychologist.
Dr. Marston’s life-long fascination with honesty (he did some early work which contributed to the lie-detector) and his bondage fetish melded together in Wonder Woman’s Magic Lasso of Truth. Even though Marston believed that one day, women would dominate all men, lots of Wonder Woman’s villains were female, which led to lots of tied up chicks. And Wonder Woman herself was constantly getting the tables turned on her, which led to, you guessed it: even more tied up chicks. Here’s a tiny sample of some tied up chicks in old Wonder Woman comics:
“Give [men] an alluring woman stronger than themselves to submit to, and they’ll be proud to become her willing slaves!” – Dr. William Moulton Marston
William Moulton Marston – Wikipedia
Wonder Woman – Wikipedia
Wonder Woman: Super Kinky, Super Feminist, Super Hero – Kasidie.com, October 2008 (Great, in-depth look at Marston and his beliefs)
Wonder Woman BDSM – DangerouslySweet.com (Some actual panels from 1940s Wonder Woman comics with lots of tied-up chicks)
