Our Book Club always impresses with the number of rugged
readers who read the monthly selection, and many of us seem to feel that the
books we read for our discussion are enriching. The Secret History of Wonder Woman, by Jill Lepore, was a complex
read, even though Wonder Woman is currently, and always has been, a pop-culture
character. In presenting the book for our discussion, Amy gave us an organized
summary of some of the themes of the book and directed us to consider specific
quotes from the book about each theme. This organizational backbone helped our
discussion to stay mostly on track and to cover a wide array of sometimes
controversial topics from the book. Thanks to Amy for her efforts to help us share
our opinions about this rousing book!
The themes were the following: Censorship, Birth Control,
Feminism, Deviance, Family Arrangement, and Honesty & Lying.
The Family Arrangement at the heart of this book seemed
weird, not wonderful, but it worked for the Marston family. Perhaps there has
been more communal living than is usually considered, or perhaps the time of
the beginning of Wonder Woman was also the beginning of the spread of more
varieties of group living arrangements, as opposed to the traditional
historical version of the nuclear family. New ideas are always impacting
history, and they were during the years covered in this book. In the 1960s, a
number of organized communes became famous. Marston had 2 wives: one to work
outside the home, and one to raise the children. This seemed to be based on a
good idea. I felt that Marston’s inability to hold a job was a specific trait
unique to him, thus requiring his wife to use all her energy to work for money
the household needed. Had Marston’s many attempts to latch onto a steady job or
to become a respected and popular paid consultant in any of his various enterprises
been more financially successful, perhaps family life would have been
different. Cheryl noted that Marston had 3 women meeting his needs, and Joyce
added that Marston spent a lot of time at home lying around having his needs
met. Carla said Marston was someone to ”tolerate and ignore.” A further example
of social evolution is Carla’s statement that in her daughter’s current
education in psychotherapy, there is a trend toward “relationship therapy,”
among other trends in relationships.
Covering a mixture of Deviance, Honesty & Lying, and
Birth Control, our group had some comments about morality. Patty noticed that
the Old Testament is no longer used as the main moral code for society. She
said when her husband was writing on a new high school history textbook, the
publishers asked for a moral code to be included, and that this was difficult.
Cindy T. said that morality should be left out of politics. Carla said that
morality cannot be legislated and that individuals should have the rights to
make their own choices and perhaps make their own mistakes.
Wonder Woman’s history was dynamic, including a major
reduction of Wonder Woman’s power and feminism around the 1950s. The
implications of those changes made by the publishers, not under Marston’s
control, was interesting in itself. Wonder Woman became the secretary of the
Junior Justice Society, a group of super heroes, of which she was the only
woman. Thus, she stayed in the office rather than going on heroic escapades.
There was an opinion expressed in the book that perhaps the weakening of Wonder
Woman during that time might have slowed the speed and power of the feminist
movement in the United States.
We talked about the south, Morna saying that majority in the
southern United States has been “against anything and everything.” Heather has
noticed that in the “Bible Belt,” it is considered polite to open a
conversation by asking someone about their religion. Heather and I both feel
that religion should be treated as personal. Texas was mentioned a number of
times in our discussion: Joyce said Texas could take better care of the greater
population. Patty noted that religion is more important in general in Texas
than in California, and that Texans are more conservative and more
compassionate than stereotypical Californians. Cindy T. said that politicians
tend to use religion to promote their views in Texas. Discussion about birth
control opened with Joyce reading aloud the quintessential historical quote in
the book about birth control, the statement that women should not engage in
sexual activity unless they are willing to die in childbirth. China’s birth
control policies of recent years were mentioned, as was sex education. Someone
said that sex education is taught in the schools but not really, especially in
schools where abstinence is emphasized. Cindy T. said that where the law
prohibits birth control, the government should support Planned Parenthood and
food stamps. Flo mentioned that there are hospital programs for lactation
education in Round Rock. Adding to our numerous topics of conversation, Joyce
reminded us that the German program of allowing more immigration is primarily
because they need more population to take care of the aging and large Baby
Boomer generation. Cheryl had read that in Afghanistan, all children were
supposed to be boys, so they dressed girls as boys during their early life for
a while and then allowed them to convert to women at puberty.
This book clearly covers a lot of territory, historically
and socially. It seems to characterize how history works. Joyce’s statement
sums it up: “We haven’t gotten much past the past.”
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