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Show 229 chains, deflects the incoming bullets with her bracelets, defeats the Nazis, lassoes the Baroness. Chaining her bracelets together only saps her power when it's done by men; in this case, the Baroness had done it herself. So she kicks Von Gunther's ass, says, "Well, at least now you'll have plenty of time to read up on democracy, seeing how you love it so much!" Not this time; though years later Von Gunther is rehabilitated on Paradise Island and she and Wonder Woman become allies. Since its inception, Wonder Woman has absorbed a lot of praise and criticism from a variety of critics and scholars, particularly feminist scholars. Gloria Steinem compiled a selection of golden era comics to illustrate the politics and ways of behaving she learned from reading the comics as a girl. Steinem's basic point, and mine isn't any more complicated, is that Wonder Woman is an advocate for democracy and women; also she kicks ass. Despite that fact, however, there is quite a bit in Wonder Woman's presentation that is troubling. It has been widely questioned whether a woman outfitted in 1940s-style pornography, whose adventures explored so many themes of dominatrix-style bondage, could be anything more than a pawn in men's fantasies-especially considering the source of her creation, polygamist Marston, whose obsession with magic lassoes is dubious at best. Also, although it is usually agreed that Wonder Woman challenged previous notions regarding the subordination of female superheroes to their male counterparts-in one DC advertisement she is shown using her lasso on a caricatured editor who says, "No woman can be a hero of a |