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Wonder Woman removed as 'honorary ambassador' for UN after protests

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S

Shaanyboi

Banned
via Reuters
A United Nations spokesman said the character's role at the 193-member state organization would end on Friday despite plans for Wonder Woman to be used in an empowerment campaign for women and girls into 2017.

The move came after the Oct. 21 appointment of the superhero to fight for gender equality sparked heavy criticism, with nearly 45,000 people signing an online petition asking U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to reconsider selection of the character.

"Although the original creators may have intended Wonder Woman to represent a strong and independent 'warrior' woman with a feminist message, the reality is that the character's current iteration is that of a large breasted, white woman of impossible proportions," the petition read.
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Dozens of U.N. employees protested at the U.N. headquarters in New York City on the day of the appointment when Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment, said the Wonder Woman campaign would feature various initiatives "over the course of the next year."

The U.N. did not provide further details as to why the Wonder Woman campaign was ending this week but spokesman Jeffrey Brez said campaigns using fictional characters often lasted no longer than a few months.

He said "Angry Birds," a collection of animated characters that originated in an online video game, were used as climate envoys in March for a single day.
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"Wonder Woman stands for peace, justice and equality, and for 75 years she has been a motivating force for many and will continue to be long after the conclusion of her UN Honorary Ambassadorship," said Courtney Simmons, from DC Entertainment,
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Original thread announcing the initiative
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
PUaTnEi.jpg
 
Rentahamster

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Before I read the OP, I automatically assumed the critics would be religious conservatives. So much for assumptions.
 
T

tbm24

Member
It's very odd seeing Wonder Woman being treated like Barbie. Real shame, campaign could have been great.
 
D

Dierce

Member
Schlorgan said:
Is this fake news? This sounds like a hypothetical scenario the alt-right would bring up.
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Wonder Woman is one of the best known feminist icon in the world. Sometimes the far left falls for far/alt-right lies that aim is to render feminism as a fringe concept..
 
S

Sheroking

Member
"Although the original creators may have intended Wonder Woman to represent a strong and independent 'warrior' woman with a feminist message, the reality is that the character's current iteration is that of a large breasted, white woman of impossible proportions,"
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The creator of Wonder Woman was a dude with a bondage fetish.

The most current and relevant adaptation of her now is an Israeli woman with decidely average breasts - although I don't see why breast size has anything to do with whether or not she's a good fictional ambassador.
 
K

kmfdmpig

Member
alfredofroylan said:
Too bad the comic took a nosedive, it's even out of the top 100.
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Great comic overall, but crappy sales for that issue are very much deserved. It was a PSA on how to vote that came out more than 3 weeks after the election. If you're going to try to sync with the real world you need to actually be on time. They failed hard at that and the majority of the issue felt like a waste of paper by the time it came out. Page after page of why it's important to vote, who can vote, how they can register, etc... all of which meant nothing thanks to the timing.
 
X

Xe4

Banned
Has any popular superhero ever been of reasonable proportions? I mean, I get where they're coming from, but Wonder Woman has long been viewed as a feminist, pacifist, and more recently LGBT icon, and she's a far cry from the barbie opponents try to portray her as.

There's nothing stating she needs to be white, or have big breasts, either.
 
1

1upsuper

Member
Sheroking said:
The creator of Wonder Woman was a dude with a bondage fetish.

The most current and relevant adaptation of her now is an Israeli woman with decidely average breasts - although I don't see why breast size has anything to do with whether or not she's a good fictional ambassador.
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IMO part of the issue is the balance between accurate representation and recognizable symbol. It is important for groups of people to be represented by something that is indicative of them; that's the entire point of representation. So having proportions that are feasible doesn't mean that they're indicative of the average person that the symbol, here Wonder Woman, is representing. On the other hand, the reason that the UN wants to use a well-known symbol is because the symbol already has purchase with the average viewer. Wonder Woman is a prepacked, ready-made symbol, and so the UN thought they could slightly repurpose her and add new symbolic valence to her image. There's a reason they chose her over a picture of one of the average people WW is supposed to represent, because other average people will not immediately recognize the person, her associated meanings, and the new meanings added by virtue of her new appropriation like they would with WW. It's a tricky balance.
 
A

alfredofroylan

Member
kmfdmpig said:
Great comic overall, but crappy sales for that issue are very much deserved. It was a PSA on how to vote that came out more than 3 weeks after the election. If you're going to try to sync with the real world you need to actually be on time. They failed hard at that and the majority of the issue felt like a waste of paper by the time it came out. Page after page of why it's important to vote, who can vote, how they can register, etc... all of which meant nothing thanks to the timing.
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October was at 109, September was at 90 and August at 95. Which is a big fall considering that the comic was at number 59 in January with 32k in sales, is not one number, the problem is the current team behind the comic.
 
captainpat

captainpat

Member
Well, least in the comics some of the current portrayals of Wonder Woman, especially the amazons, have been pretty bad.
 
M

Madness

Member
massoluk said:
Sorry but I agree with the decision, Wonder Woman in the end is still most men's fantasy
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She has a movie coming out, millions of girls consider Wonder Woman an iconic character. It made sense. The fact they removed her because she was a white girl with larger breasts is the most laughable part. No other female superhero comes close.

Also, anyone notice how 'white' is more and more being used pejoratively. As if the fact it is 'white' is inherently bad. "Dude he's another 'white guy', 'what does that 'white guy' know, oh great another 'white' girl etc. Something I have noticed.
 
C

CazTGG

Member
Well, 2016 seems to be making its closing statement for why it deserves to be remembered as the worst year in recent memory so why not?

Seriously, the Justice League cartoon made fun of this nonsense over a decade ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4Vfzoueslw.

alfredofroylan said:
October was at 109, September was at 90 and August at 95. Which is a big fall considering that the comic was at number 59 in January with 32k in sales, is not one number, the problem is the current team behind the comic.
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???

The big problem with the newest issue was the timing, not the content in of or the team behind it. It was released at the end of the month due to a printing error that contributed more to overall sales for the month than the content in of itself.

massoluk said:
Sorry but I agree with the decision, Wonder Woman in the end is still most men's fantasy
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I'm sure most men have this vision of the character and totally didn't get up in arms when they saw this image (They did):
B1JAT0cCMAE9eRT.jpg
 
K

kmfdmpig

Member
Madness said:
She has a movie coming out, millions of girls consider Wonder Woman an iconic character. It made sense. The fact they removed her because she was a white girl with larger breasts is the most laughable part. No other female superhero comes close.

Also, anyone notice how 'white' is more and more being used pejoratively. As if the fact it is 'white' is inherently bad. "Dude he's another 'white guy', 'what does that 'white guy' know, oh great another 'white' girl etc. Something I have noticed.
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Yes, the wording in the petition is quite poor. A lack of diversity in media is a legitimate problem, but blaming a singular character for being white is ridiculous.

Also, I agree that many girls consider her iconic. My daughter, for example, is impressed by Wonder Woman and Supergirl even though both of them have been portrayed as cheesecake at various times.
 
E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
massoluk said:
Sorry but I agree with the decision, Wonder Woman in the end is still most men's fantasy
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By saying that you do a disservice to her character and the writers trying to do more with her. It's been a long time since Wonder Woman was drawn for men to jack off to.
 
K

kmfdmpig

Member
Ganzlinger said:
This outrage against Wonder Woman sums up pretty well what's wrong with SJW.
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I agree. Obviously different people are offended by different things, and the media can make it seem like outrage is much more common than it truly is. With that said, I suspect that as more and more frivolous outrage stories come out more people will become immune to it and more legitimate reasons for outrage will suffer because of it. It'l like the boy that cried wolf. Whine too much about bullshit that doesn't matter and shouldn't be worried about and legitimate concerns will gain less attention.
 
L

LegendofDragoonLives

Member
Can't be a sexy woman who doesn't hide it and be a role model, even if you're a made up character nowadays. I don't know if it's more hilarious or pathetic.

EDIT: Just noticed that she's also white everybody. Can't have that shit, GTFO of thereee Wonder Woman.
 
Z

Zekes!

Member
Madness said:
She has a movie coming out, millions of girls consider Wonder Woman an iconic character. It made sense. The fact they removed her because she was a white girl with larger breasts is the most laughable part. No other female superhero comes close.

Also, anyone notice how 'white' is more and more being used pejoratively. As if the fact it is 'white' is inherently bad. "Dude he's another 'white guy', 'what does that 'white guy' know, oh great another 'white' girl etc. Something I have noticed.
Click to expand...

Because everything is White and people want diversity
 
Finaika

Finaika

Member
kmfdmpig said:
Yes, the wording in the petition is quite poor. A lack of diversity in media is a legitimate problem, but blaming a singular character for being white is ridiculous.

Also, I agree that many girls consider her iconic. My daughter, for example, is impressed by Wonder Woman and Supergirl even though both of them have been portrayed as cheesecake at various times.
Click to expand...

Supergirl is not cheesecake.
 
B

broncobuster

Banned
CazTGG said:
Well, 2016 seems to be making its closing statement for why it deserves to be remembered as the worst year in recent memory so why not?
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I wouldn't go that far as this falls near the bottom of the reasons 2016 sucks. But boy, where were these people for protests that mattered. Use their tantrum powers for good.
 
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