One less woman in politics: Wonder Woman loses job as UN ambassador (theguardian.com).
Indeed, do I really need point out the unfortunate flaw in that headline which seems to suggest the issue is further ingrained in not just pop cultural society than what Wonder Woman does or does not wear?
“The UN has dropped the superhero Wonder Woman as an ambassador for empowering girls and women after a brief stint that drew widespread criticism. The campaign around the comic book character, who turned 75 this autumn, lasted for less than two months. Among its key aims were challenging female stereotypes and fighting discrimination and violence against women and girls. But the appointment prompted an angry backlash from some quarters. More than 44,000 people signed a petition that claimed to have been started by ‘concerned United Nations staff members’ which called on the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to appoint a non-fictional woman to the role. ‘It is alarming that the United Nations would consider using a character with an overtly sexualised image at a time when the headline news in United States and the world is the objectification of women and girls,’ the petition’ authors wrote.”
But I believe they tried a less “sexualised appearance”—well, they made Adrianne Palicki put on trousers—in NBC’s 2011 reboot and that went down like the now-female Thor’s (Pick of the Week 23rd Jul. 2014) mighty Hammer off the Grand Canyon, not even female comic fans with Squirrel Girl as favourite able—or indeed willing—to save it and why Gal Gadot’s costume in Batman vs Superman went back to a variation on the old same—with a sword (celebexposuredigest.blogspot.co.uk, Jul. 2014).
But, indeed, is this anything unusual—that an “honorary ambassador” only lasts a few months regardless of whether you can see Wonder Woman cheeks when she leaps?
“The collaboration had lasted longer than previous UN roles given to fictional characters, [Jeffrey Brez, the UN’s chief of NGO relations and advocacy] added, pointing out that a character from the video game Angry Birds served as climate change ambassador for a single day in March.”
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