My trivia calendar has the following question for today:
Q: Who were the parents of Wonder Woman, aka Princess Diana?
A: The Amazon queen, Hippolyta, and the goddess Aphrodite.
I was more of a Marvel comics boy, so I don’t know Wonder Woman’s history. Did Aphrodite and Hippolyta have a lesbian relationship? And what’s with the “Princess Diana” name? Princess of what? I always imagined that Wonder Woman had been bitten by a radioactive swimsuit model and that’s how she got her powers.
Who would have thought that Wonder Woman would have an origin story that silly? She uses Amazon science to construct a “purple healing ray” to heal Steve Trevor? Gotta love it…
Thanks for the link, Merlot!
Thanks a bunch Merlot! I did a web search but couldn’t find anything. That is a great page, and the history of Wonder Woman is astounding! Interesting to know that her bracelets are called “the bracelets of submission.” :eek:
However, this is a shameful period of the Justice Society of America:
«In 1942, Wonder Woman encountered the Justice Society of America. A male-dominated organization, the JSA declined Wonder Woman full membership, despite the fact that she possessed more raw ability than any of the current membership except the Spectre (All-Star Comics vol. 1 #11). She was, however, offered a position as “secretary,” which she accepted.»
I flunked Amazon science and was never able to perfect the purple healing ray. Needless to say my aspirations to be Wonder Woman were replaced with being a librarian. 
The very early Wonder Woman strips had a very strong psychosexual subtext, usually involving dominance and submission and with hints of lesbianism. It’s pretty blatant if you read it today, but in the 1940s, no one seemed to notice. The creator and writer of the early stories was a psychologist, who used them to dramatize his theories on men, women, and sex.
>> in the 1940s, no one seemed to notice
That’s what you think.
Sexual subtext? In a comic book?! Surely you jest. 
Didn’t she loose her powers if she was tied up by a man? Subtle, isn’t it?
Domanance, submission and lesbianism. And spandex. And amazons fighting. Who knew that my subconcious was around and writing comic books in the 40’s . . . It there isn’t an issue where she fights an anthropomorphic cat woman and a female bodybuilder, I’ll be bitterly disapointed.
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“I’m sorry. I was projecting my daydreams on the screen again.”