The United Nations has appointed DC character Wonder Woman as its new ambassador. Coinciding with the character's 75th anniversary, the announcement was met with mixed reactions.
In a ceremony at the United Nations Economic and Social Council Chamber on Oct. 21, 2016 attended by Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot, who both played Wonder Woman in separate films, the U.N. appointed the character as Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls.
However, the U.N. suffers backlash following the appointment of the comic book character as an ambassador. An online petition has immersed that Wonder Woman is not fit to be an ambassador citing the character's physique as "a large breasted, white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee high boots - the epitome of a 'pin-up' girl".
It has been a controversy since the United Nations appointed "Wonder Woman" as an ambassador. The petition reiterates that "the United Nations was unable to find a real life woman that would be able to champion the rights of ALL women on the issue of gender equality and the fight for their empowerment."
They added that "It is alarming that the United Nations would consider using a character with an overtly sexualized image at a time when the headline news in United States and the world is the objectification of women and girls."
On the other hand, the United Nations does not see anything wrong with appointing Wonder Woman as an ambassador. "The focus [of the UN] was on her feminist background, being the first female superhero in a world of male superheroes and that basically she always fought for fairness, justice and peace," said UN official Maher Nasser in an interview with NPR.
American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman and first appeared in December 1941 in All Star Comics #8. It is known that Wonder Woman was sculpted from clay by her mother and as a gift by the Greek God, who gave her superhuman powers.
