So you lived through your finals even though you felt like is was going to be the death of you. You managed to take the stairs and not the elevator. You spoke out on an issue you're passionate about. You're a single mother, working day and night. You're the student putting in countless hours of studying. The fast-food worker handling the busy shift and the rude comments by your customers, the life of the party, the leader and not the follower.
Women are so powerful. We have our typical duties like going to school, work, and raising children, but why are those the only things we're programmed to do? Recently I asked myself this question after leaving the theater where watched DC's new movie, "Wonder Woman." I could go on for days about how remarkable this movie is, but did you catch the hidden messages it was throwing out to females of all ages?
1. We are capable of masculine responsibilities
In the movie, Diana aka Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), is trained to be a warrior on an island of ONLY females. These kick ass female warriors are known as The Amazons and their responsible for keeping the world safe. Okay... now that's a lot to take in, but it gets even better. The Amazons don't look for the help from men, if anything, they have not even come face-to-face with one besides Diana. This is incredible because these women fight just as hard as the men do, and have won every battle they've faced on the island... themselves. Diana later finds herself trying to find the God of War in the middle of World War I. Diana is the only female to fight alongside soldiers, and she is the only one to take out the enemy. Wonder Woman in this portion of the movie shows that women don't need men to handle business.
2. We can speak up
Wonder Woman is very passionate about the world and all its people. She believes that in order to fix something, you do it yourself. This is an amazing symbol they put in the movie. I say this because let's look at the Women's March. Women came together to voice their opinions on issues, a woman was just votes away from becoming the first female president, and Catherine Cortez Masto became the first Latina senator. Tammy Duckworth became the second Asian-American woman senator and the first female senator to have seen combat. Ilhan Omar became the first Somali-American Muslim woman senator as well as the first to have formerly been a refugee. Women in the world today are becoming more powerful and using their voices for the greater good.
3. Breaking the standards is a good thing
In a scene where Diana arrives to London, she is taken to buy new clothes. At one point, her armor is considered to 'revealing' even though it showed her arms and legs. Today, women are taking beauty standards and making them their own. An icon is changing beauty standards. Ashley Graham has literally smashed glass ceilings for plus size models as the first ever to be featured in, let alone be the cover, of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Ruby Rose has smashed through gender standards and is a great example of how to be your most authentic self. Women now, like Miley Cyrus, even promote the no-shaving idea! We live in a society where women have to have the perfect bodies, follow the standards of their sex, and be 'perfect.' Being rebellious is always a good thing, and Wonder Woman proves that!
4. We can be our own hero
Some days it feels like things are just falling apart. Where is Superman when you need him? (Mine is in Cincinnati) In the movie Wonder Woman, she fights her own battles. We can relate this to many real-life situations that women deal with. Women are taking self-defense classes or even working their bums off in order to have a better life. Women are organizing rallies, making support groups, and helping each other out when it comes to things men just don't understand.
At the end of it all, women are some of the strongest beings in the world. We face some of the hardest challenges and still manage to come out on top. We kick butt in all we do, put in 100 percent, and no matter what, nothing will make us any less of the Wonder Woman we all are. So get out there, strut your stuff, and always remember that you have millions upon millions of women behind you.
