Where the fuck is Wonder Woman?

I’m at my wit’s end here. After a trip to Target, Kara Bara posted this pic on Reel Girl’s Facebook page of the store’s sexist Justice League display:

frontside

She writes:

I love your blog and I was in my local Target and I noticed Wonder Woman had gone missing from all their Justice League superhero stuff. She’s already outnumbered 7:1 on the team and now she’s completely missing from all the displays.

Kara posts a second pic:

whereswonderwoman

Here’s the other side of the display with an even more obscure member, Cyborg, instead of WW – just in case we didn’t get the message that superheros should only be dudes.

 

After I saw this, I went to Target’s website, and guess what? Wonder Woman has gone missing from the all male group pic. Can you get any more sexist in your marketing strategy for children than excluding the only female? Seriously, Target, WTF? Please stop teaching kids that males are more important than females. Put Wonder Woman back where she belongs.

 

20 thoughts on “Where the fuck is Wonder Woman?

  1. Pingback: Boys are people. Girls are a niche interest. | Fake Geek Mom

  2. Not to OK this line, but given the current state of Wonder Woman as a murder (She recently killed War formerly known as Ares or Mars for no apparent reason) and from a society of women that regularly kidnap, rape, and murder men.. Maybe they chose to remove Wonder Woman because the current incarnation is NOT a positive role model for anyone, male or female. Which might I add, is very sad and an indictment on DC and WB for allowing the most classic female superhero to be treated this way, but it is what it is. While the others, Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern and Cyborg, continue to be.
    That said, they could have gone for the more classic Wonder Woman, though it wouldn’t have been “in brand” and they could have thrown in the lovely Element Woman or Atom that are currently on the team, but I doubt the toys are aware of the new editions as Firestorm isn’t there either.

  3. One other thing to note is that Wonder Woman isn’t just missing from the displays; she’s missing from the toys. They only way you can get a WW action figure is if you buy it in the group pack for $49.99. All the other figures in the group pack – all guys – are available separately. Wonder Woman is not.

  4. “Here’s the other side of the display with an even more obscure member, Cyborg, instead of WW – just in case we didn’t get the message that superheros should only be dudes.”

    He’s also the only black superhero, I’m glad they included him and he’s not really obscure.

    • Hi MarixS2,

      I’ve never hear of him. Agree more black superheroes are needed. How about a black woman?

      Margot

      • Cyborg’s been around awhile. His more typical affiliation is with the Teen Titans, of which he was the leader, last I read. Certainly not any kind of a marginalized minority.

        As a general rule, the people who see the most sexism & racism in comic books, are the ones who have the least familiarity with the characters, storylines and arcs – they’re yelling the minute they see something, the *first* time they see something, by which time they haven’t learned a whole lot. And I would criticize the political right as well as the political left in making that observation, the “church crowd” worrying away about the corruption of the youth and so forth…you talk to them a little while about what got their ire up, you find they don’t know a whole lot about it.

        Historically, neither Marvel nor DC have been particularly “tone deaf” to agitated advocacy groups who are upset about the latest incorrect depiction of a class or individual; they go overboard with political correctness in introducing or re-vamping characters, they make them strong-n-female, make them black, make them gay, have gay marriages. Heck, they probably research the blogs and social media to find out what people like & hate, where the complaints are going…point is, if they got rid of Wonder Woman, it isn’t because they were under a mistaken impression they could get away with it, it’s more likely that they anticipated the criticism that would come their way no matter how they chose to depict her, and decided it was just too big of a hassle.

        I don’t think they’ll strike her for good. That really would be a mistake. But they’re probably just tired of the P.R. headaches and want to take a break…there’s no agenda here to get rid of women, certainly not to get rid of strong-willed sassy independent women. The DC universe is silly-saturated with them.

        • “it’s more likely that they anticipated the criticism that would come their way no matter how they chose to depict her, and decided it was just too big of a hassle.”

          You see, Morgan, I hope you don’t hate me for calling you out on this but…, have you ever realised that you say this all the time? The whole “it’s your own fault” bit where no matter what Margot calls out or points to, it’s her and feminists’ own fault. They did it this way because otherwise you would complain more. This both gives “them” to much credit for always being able to factor in exactly what will most people complain more or less about and choose the optimal root at the same time it’s not even considerable that maybe, just maybe, they might have done something sexist because they’re not perfect, and is a little more than annoyingly condescending.

          I sincerely hope you’ll stop, not because it is annoying, but because you truly realize you ought to respect yourself a little better than keep saying the same point that has already been argued with.

          I agree that DC and marvel are not doing particularly bad though, when it comes to representation. And for a video that talks about the iconic nature of wonder woman and the dificulties in doing right by her:

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjKaZSaAehE

          And of course, let’s assume for a second you just can’t represent ww well, she’s not the only superheroine, if they wanted to put a female hero there, they could.

          • As a matter of fact, I do notice I say this all the time. I haven’t been given reason to question it.

            That’s just the way businesses work, across the board, isn’t it? If something turns into nothing but grief, and yields nothing positive for them, they stop doing it. Why, specifically, should we expect them to behave differently with regard to Wonder Woman?

            You’re right, people have argued with me. The way i see it, we’ve come to the point where they need to stop arguing unless they have specifics to present. Wonder Woman’s been vanished. It proves what I’ve been saying. Your rebuttal to this seems to be that you don’t like it; I don’t find that convincing.

        • “As a matter of fact, I do notice I say this all the time. I haven’t been given reason to question it….specifics”

          Oh, so you didn’t do the reading way back then. You’re still stuck there. Okay.

          “Wonder Woman’s been vanished.”

          No.

          “It proves what I’ve been saying.”

          No.

          “Your rebuttal to this seems to be that you don’t like it; I don’t find that convincing.”

          I didn’t even “rebut” that, I said that even if they couldn’t put ww there, they could’ve put

          Bumblebee
          Hawkgirl
          Starfire
          Raven
          Black widow
          Batgirl
          Batwoman
          Miss Martian

          or whatever girl wouldn’t give as much trouble as ww gives.

          • When you say “no,” are you merely noting your own disapproval, or are you trying to say there’s no supportive evidence here?

            It would be silly for you to engage in the latter. I’ve been saying the whole WW-complaining is turning into an illustration of the honey-and-vinegar metaphor…how better to see such a point proven out, than to see Wonder Woman go away. And she’s gone away — here we all are, complaining about it. What more evidence do you need?

            But — “no.” Got it. You don’t like it. Well, it’s still the truth. Bellyaching doesn’t solve all problems in the world…and when businesses don’t get back anything from some activity except criticism, they stop doing it. Not sure how you can keep arguing the point, when we’ve seen it happen that way.

        • “When you say “no,” are you merely noting your own disapproval, or are you trying to say there’s no supportive evidence here?”

          Sometimes no means just no. As in “that’s not true”.

          “how better to see such a point proven out, than to see Wonder Woman go away.”

          But she did not go away, this section at target does not represent the entirety of ww.

          “You don’t like it.”

          You did not understand. If they wanted to have female parts but ww was unusable they still could. I’m fine with not having ww, she’s not my favorite really. You know I superhero I don’t like not having? Static shock.

          “Bellyaching doesn’t solve all problems in the world…”

          You mean there are problems that you think bellyaching (admiteddly a delightful word) solves?

          “activity except criticism, they stop doing it.”

          What business got out of ww except criticism: money, tons of it.

          • What business got out of ww except criticism: money, tons of it.

            Not enough to make it worthwhile, evidently.

            Sometimes no means just no. As in “that’s not true”.

            Proven — before our very eyes — and yet, still, not true. Interesting.

    • Hi Wendy,

      I wrote this to you on Reel Girl’s FB page: thank you for great link, agree Warner Bros should be included in blame but Target is also at fault. We asked Target not to sell sexed up Merida doll. Just because a company makes something sexist (or racist or whatever) doesn’t mean a huge chain has to go along and celebrate that sexism. Target’s boy/ girls aisles welcome and perpetuate sexism and displays like this too. Target workers would probably think: “Why put Wonder Woman in a BOY aisle?”

  5. How timely! I ordered some water bottles for my daughter off of groupon goods. They are Justice League. The product photos were small on my phone, but I ASSUMED Wonder Woman would be on them. They arrived today. I was wrong. Since my daughter has a Wonder Woman lunch box, she likes them anyway, since it rounds out her Justice League. I however am TICKED off. I think it goes deeper than Target. I think DC is icing her out. BOO! HISS! FOR SHAME!

  6. I don’t see this as males are more important than females. I see this as females are not important at all. Boo, Target!

Leave a Reply to electrastephCancel reply