Submitting to a Loving Mistress: BDSM in William Moulton Marston’s Wonder Woman Comics

Abstract

Wonder Woman was America’s first major kinky icon. Her comics consistently provided 1940s America with strikingly positive portrayals of bondage and discipline. More importantly, Wonder Woman articulated a philosophy of erotic ethics which emphasized the virtues of dominance and submission, especially female dominance. She consistently presented submission to a loving Mistress as an ethically viable erotic practice. Indeed, her comics dared to suggest that such submission might be the key to both personal happiness and world peace. While the latter claim was rather utopian, one thing is clear: throughout the years of U.S. involvement in World War Two, Wonder Woman offered America a vision of ethical, erotic power which contrasted beautifully with the fascist political power against which America and her Amazon ally struggled tirelessly. Wonder Woman was born into a culture which typically viewed BDSM as pathological. The Amazon princess redeemed these practices, locating BDSM squarely within the bounds of legitimate erotic behavior. More than any other icon of mid-twentieth century popular culture, Wonder Woman mainstreamed the theory and practice of kink.