“The fact that both sexes are beginning to recognize the desire for the supremacy of strong and loving women is by far the most hopeful sign of the times.”

Playing superheroes as a child, I always wanted to be Wonder Woman. She was pretty much the only female that was an actual superhero rather than just a sidekick or villain, which made her an obvious choice for many young girls. Even to a child, Wonder Woman seemed like less of a doormat than Batgirl or Supergirl. They were mere girls who played like sidekicky, diminutive, feminized versions of their male counterparts. But Wonder Woman was a woman, arising out of her own cosmology. Plus, she was a super hot, a badass, tied people up with ropes, had the best costume, and she got to spin around a lot... all things that interested me at the time... and still do. I prized my Wonder Woman bathing suit, though it didn't escape me that I didn't fill it out like Linda Carter, TV's Wonder Woman. As I myself grew into a woman and became quite a badass of my own, my interest in Wonder Woman resurged as I realized that the ropes, the costume, and much of what I loved about Wonder Woman was downright kinky.

Recently my friend Maria, yet another super hot badass, went out on Halloween in a homemade Wonder Woman costume. That night Maria got more attention than all of the sexy cats, naughty nuns, slutty rabbits, sexy schoolgirls, and vampire vixens put together. Let's face it, with those boots, the hair, the ropes, the star spangled leotard, the tiara, the patriotic busty corset, and her vaguely lesbian Amazonian origins, Wonder Woman is kinky. But it turns out there is a very good explanation as to why...

She was created that way.

William Moulton Marston. Polyamorist, feminist, inventor of the polygraph machine and the creator of Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman was created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston using the pseudonym Charles Moulton in his work with DC Comics. The super-heroine was modeled after the admirable traits of both his wife, Elizabeth Marston, and his girlfriend, Olive Byrne, both of who he lived with and had children with in what would nowadays be referred to as a polyamorous relationship. Both women were highly educated and accomplished in their own right, and continued to live together and raise their children together long after William's death in 1948.

One of the more bizarre footnotes in the history of comic books is that the man who created Wonder Woman was also the inventor of the lie detector. William Marston, was a Harvard-trained psychologist . He invented the systolic blood pressure test, or polygraph, based on his wife's observation that her blood pressure seemed to climb during anger or excitement. As the story goes, through his work on deception research with his lie detector test, Marston became convinced that women were far more honest, trustworthy and reliable than men. From there, he became a champion of women's causes and of women themselves. An article he had written calling for comic book characters to lead the way to women's empowerment got the attention of those behind what later became DC Comics. This led to the creation of Wonder Woman (originally known as the more dominatrix-sounding "Suprema."). I think I'm not alone when I say I wish I could live up to Marston's idealized and raw archetypal female image. With her Lasso of Truth and sexy mixture of strength and femininity, she took powerful and aggressive men captive and created peace. The idea of a righteous babe who fights crime with her Lasso of Truth is an appealing image to both sexes. Men want to be with her and women want to be her, even if it's hard to keep up the toughness, let alone the hair. A testament to her hold on the collective Western psyche, Wonder Woman has remained hugely popular with both sexes for over sixty years. And good Goddess, she is smoking hot. Muscular, strong, curvy, and hot. Fighting crime braless, or at least strapless.

In almost all of Marston's Wonder Woman comics, there can be found a full-sized panel of Wonder Woman in a bondage situation.

Marston is quoted in this article by Olive Richard, as saying, "Wonder Woman satisfies the subconscious, elaborately disguised desire of males to be mastered by a woman who loves them." From 1941 till his death in 1948, Marston wrote every Wonder Woman comic published. Every issue was rife with images of ropes and tying, submission and domination, cajoling and coaxing. Wonder Woman is an appealing mixture of both dominant and submissive... People in the BDSM world might even call her a super powered "switch". She allows herself to be captured and bound many times, but always can break the chains if she wants to, allowing her captors to believe they have more power than they do. In almost all of Marston's Wonder Woman comics, there can be found a full-sized panel of Wonder Woman in a bondage situation. Many of the covers during Marston's career featured men holding Wonder Woman in chains or shackles, or bound with rope. But just as anyone who understands BDSM knows, she was always the one really in control of the situation. In the end Wonder Woman always held the power over the men who had bound her. Topping from the bottom, anyone?

Wonder Woman's powers are centered in her tools, the Lasso and her silver bracelets. Her heavy silver bracelets repelled bullets, and she used her lasso bind men, forcing them to obey her commands and tell the truth. To Marston, these tools were a symbolic embodiment of the power of female strength and sexuality. According to him, a woman's charms were her lasso. "Instead of tossing a rope, the average woman tosses words, glances, gestures, laughter, and vivacious behavior. If her aim is accurate, she snares the attention of her would-be victim, man or woman, and proceeds to bind him or her with her charm." Her magic bracelets (inspired by Olive Byrne's taste in jewelry) deflected bullets and other attacks. They represented the strength of a woman to protect herself among the wicked world of men.

Nearly a quarter of a century before the women's liberation movement of the 1960's, William Marston held the belief that one day women could realize their true power and begin to gain more control in the world. He predicted that having women in positions of power would spell an end to war itself, because it was not in the female nature to want to perpetuate war. In Marston's perfect world, women would rule.

Even though women have gained a great deal more power and influence in our world since Marston's death in 1948, the balance of power in our world still rests mostly in the hands of men, and we still have war. Women certainly won't create peace by hiding our power, and perhaps we shouldn't hide our sexuality either. Maybe we could all learn a little something from putting on some thigh-high boots and picking up a Lasso of Truth. Perhaps all it takes to find world peace is for all of us super hot badass women to embrace our inner Wonder Woman and start topping from the bottom.

Now if only I'd saved that bathing suit...

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