Wonder Woman and The Pill

“Wonder Woman” (shown here with the “lasso of truth”) was created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston, an American psychologist who thought his daughters deserved a Comic book heroine.

He was an interesting character, cohabiting with his wife (nee Elizabeth Holloway) and Olive Byrne, and their children in a complex relationship.  Both women were integral in the creation of Wonder Woman.

This was the period of Rosie the Riveter: girls, the first generation since women’s suffrage was granted by the 19^th Amendment, who had grown up in the ‘20s and ‘30s.   They got a taste of freedom and independence by being in the factories during the war, only to be forced back into being homemakers when the boys came home.  “Boys”, incidentally, suffering from untreated PTSD.

These women included my mother, and a lot of yours.  Their frustration surely manifested in the rebellion of their daughters, in the ‘60s, giving rise to “Women’s Lib”.