UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – The United Nations on Friday designated Wonder Woman to head a women’s rights campaign, drawing angry protests from feminist groups and some UN employees who denounced the appointment of a comic-book character as “ridiculous.”
The UN tabbed the fictional superheroine to lead a year-long campaign for the “empowerment of women and girls.” But a website created by protesters slammed Wonder Woman as “the epitome of a ‘pin-up’ girl” – “a large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmering thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif.”
Adding to the Hollywood feel, the announcement was made in the presence of the actress Lynda Carter, now 65, who played the part on television, and of Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment, the company that owns the rights to the character. Ban’s undersecretary-general for communications, Cristina Gallach, described Wonder Woman as “an icon for her commitment to justice, peace and equality.”