OF HUMAN (AND AMAZON) BONDAGE

I've recently been quite taken with Azzarello/Chiang's work on Wonder Woman, which led me to stumble across the shot below from The Brave & the Bold, which in turn is pretty clearly a deliberate homage to the J.G. Jones page from The Hiketeia. Both depict Diana as statuesque, physically dominant and imposing, with a foe at her mercy. Both feature a dominated male opponent, helpless, with his hands in the air – one naked on his back (or at least topless), the other face down, eating dirt, dressed in rubber. Maybe it's just me, but I suspect both are pointed references to the not-too-subtle BDSM subtext that characterised the early WW stories by her creator, the psychologist and notorious sexual progressive William Moulton Marston. 

     

Cliff Chiang, The Brave & the Bold #33 (2010)

J.G. Jones, Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia (2002)

In the old days, it used to be the case that Diana lost her powers when she was tied up – yup, bondage was her kryptonite. Conversely, by tying someone else up with her golden lasso, she would remove their ability to tell lies – they would be rendered emotionally naked and vulnerable. She may have lost her weakness long ago, but these themes remain, and the most macho of men – including the Batman – may find themselves helpless beneath her red-and-white bootheel. Make no mistake, this is Wonder Woman as dominatrix.  

This illustrates how WW is a complicated figure in terms of gender politics – historically rooted in BDSM, but no longer bound (literally) by submissive roles, having transcended her origins to become a cultural icon. As an ambassador and warrior from a matriarchal society, she's often regarded as a feminist icon, though one frequently treated as a lust object, both within and outside comics.

It's notable that both of the pages below were scripted and drawn by men, and both are imbued with male gaze to differing extents. Whatever your interpretation of the gender politics in these pages, there's a definite intermingling of feminine empowerment with sexuality here. So is she a fantasy figure of male titillation (albeit of a somewhat kinky kind) or a symbol of female strength? Or both? Are these inspiring, kick-ass images or just one step removed from Robert Crumb's giantess fantasies?