Is the Wonder Woman Archetype Damaging to Women??

by brittanypolicastro

A few weeks ago I was working with one of my clients.

She was tired. She was stressed. She was trying to be so many things to so many people. She was totally burnt out.

And I said to her you know what, I am starting think that maybe this whole Wonder Woman thing is doing more harm than good. 

She agreed.

I LOVE strong, fierce women. They are my best friends. I work with them in yoga studios. I collaborate with them. I coach them. I teach them yoga. Love. Them. 

I also love Wonder Woman and how we are FINALLY seeing more bad ass women in lead roles. Being super heroes. Speaking their truth. Demanding respect.

It’s amazing.

But I’ve been thinking about this idea of us women being “Wonder Woman.” You know. Doing all the things.

The fierce mother protector.

The bad ass business woman.

The powerful sex Goddess.

As DC comics puts it she’s the full package of beauty, brains and brawn, she’s been a feminist icon since her star-spangled intro in 1941. 

Perhaps we are setting the bar a bit high??

Wonder Woman is a fictitious  character. She’s a fucking super hero. And maybe I am just not deep enough into the world of super heroes but I seldom hear a man being called Super Man for doing all the things or being bad ass. They’re just called a man. 

 

I work with a lot of amazing, bright, powerful women who in some ways appear to “have it all” but I also see some of these same women with barely even a moment to take a deep breath or get some self care (beyond our time together) or use their voice to say “No, I can’t help you today.”

And while I love being called Wonder Woman my concern is when women feel like they must be a “wonder woman.” These days it really feels like that.

Maybe we should just take off the first part of that. Maybe we should just call them “Woman.”

Women are powerful beings. We are intuitive. We are wise. We are powerful. But we are not super heroes. We are human beings.

And this means we have limitations. We need sleep. We need love. We don’t have those bad ass bullet proof bracelets and while we wish we had that Lasso of Truth, we don’t.

Human.

I’m just wondering what might happen if women (and the people who love them) gave themselves a break.

If we remembered we aren’t super heroes and we don’t have to be.

We are simply women. And that is enough.

So this week’s blog is more of an inquiry. Something I’d love to hear your thoughts on. Please leave them in the comments below…

 

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