Wonder Woman faces more scrutiny than male counterparts

The first major superhero movie with a female lead has more hurdles to clear than other heroes, but Wonder Woman can get it done.

Wonder Woman has more to worry about than saving the world. In fact, saving the world might be the easiest thing she has to do compared to having to face the court of social media. As the first female superhero in her own movie, there’s a lot riding on this film. The stakes are high with several female-driven superhero movies waiting in the wings to see how Wonder Woman is received.

Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot addressed one of the biggest criticisms she faced after being cast in the iconic role, and what it is might surprise you. Gadot talked openly about the one thing that internet trolls were upset about: “‘Cause my boobs were too small. Yeah – that was a big problem. The Web really paid attention to the important side of Wonder Woman.”

The most recent controversy comes in the form of Wonder Woman’s armpits. Upon close inspection, it appears that there are white patches under Gadot’s arms at the 1:47 mark in the official trailer. The outcry that followed was that Gadot’s armpits had been digitally bleached, though ScreenRant reports that this has since been corrected, but the damage is done.

Fans have also cried foul upon learning that the Wonder Woman marketing team recently partnered with thinkThin, a company that manufactures protein enhanced foods for women, with a specific target of women’s weight management/loss. Io9’s Beth Elderkin correctly points out that we never saw Superman promoting nutritional supplements, so why choose this specific partnership when body image is such a touchy subject for women? Granted, the marketing was slanted toward women from the outset with deals with brands like Pinkberry, but it would have been good to stay away from weight management products as a general rule.

Imagine the backlash and outrage if women started demanding that Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne was shirtless more often, or that Henry Cavill’s Superman has a perfectly smooth chest with no hair on it? Will there be a call for Jason Momoa’s Aquaman to shave his legs, as is common with swimmers? The closest thing to a male superhero having these sort of issues would have to be the Bat Nipples and codpiece on the Joel Schumacher Bat Suit, and at the time people just laughed it off.

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It’s hard to believe that something so inconsequential as breast size or armpits would be a subject of discussion ahead of the debut of the first female-driven superhero movie. Wonder Woman is an icon, celebrating 75 years in comics. There is absolutely no need for any of these things to be happening for Wonder Woman when they don’t happen for Batman and Superman. In fact, it shouldn’t be happening at all.

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