Who iswonderwoman pdf -manuscript

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IINNTTRROO TTOO WWOONNDDEERR WWOOMMAANN
Wonder Woman is the moniker ofa fictional superheroine character that is recognized by her long brunette hair, red
bustier and blue shorts outfit, metal bracelets,starred tiara, and a golden Magic Lasso. She was created in 1941 by
famous consulting clinical psychologistDr.William Moulton Marston for All American Publications,which later merged
as DC Comics. The very first story script was submitted to the editor on February 23 that year and finally made a
public debut on October 25 within the pages of All Star Comics #8. Since then, she's been featured in a few other
comicbook titles including her own. And ever since Dr.WMM died,there have been many subsequentwriters who've
tried their hand at interpreting her, resulting in many starkly different incarnations over the past decades, written in a
few different narrative genres including for animation & TV: From the Marston Initial, to Kanigher's Impossible Tales,
to the Perez Reboot,all the way up to Wonder Gal and WW Rebirth (the most recent). The most well-known (so far)
incarnation is Lynda Carter's 70's show. Each incarnation had varying levels of the original concepts or lack of them.
This manuscript is based on Dr. Marston's Initial incarnation and the original concepts behind it all, which [should]
inform all the subsequent incarnations.
The WW character has the distinction ofbeing the only mainstream superhero created by a psychologist. During the
Depression Era, before designing WW, Dr. WMM was already famous for his development of an early form of lie
detector, his supportofwomen's power,and for his self-help advice that was based on his psychological theories &
philosophies for wholistic well-being. But he couldn't make enough money from his psychology career, so he turned
to the thriving comicbook industry after being invited to consult for them, later in 1940.
The design of the character involved WMM putting layers--drawn from different disciplines that he was well versed
in--onto a central idea. It’s a central idea that first was conceived from his knowledge of psychology and spiritual
philosophy combined with his proto-feministic bent. He was using his fictional character as another form of
psychological propaganda to promote the new type of woman he felt should run society—It’s a type of woman that's
the result of them going through his prescribed self-improvement.
The mythical backstory of WW herself is that she was the first Amazon born on Paradise Island, which was a
hidden isle located somewhere in the vast Pacific Ocean and where no man may enter. The Amazons emigrated
there after the Enslavementmilestone oftheir history. Named after the mythological goddess ofthe moon & chase &
protectress of children, Diana, she is the only daughter of Hippolyte (queen of the Amazons). Princess Diana was
originally birthed by Hippolyte sculpting a toddler from magical clay given by her patron goddess Aphrodite. One
night, Aphrodite breathed life into the statue and it came to life. Diana was then raised in the Amazon tradition of
crafts, academics, and warfare, as well as developing her physical strength and mind toward superhuman levels.
Once she reached young adulthood, she drank from the Fountain of Youth, which would keep her forever young so
long as she remained on the island.
While growing up on Paradise Island, Diana had always been special, a bit different than her Amazon tribes
people...just as many other well-designed female protagonists are, such as Nikita or Buffy Summers . She was an
extrovert who had a quirkiness about her, had more zeal, and most of all (at the root of everything else) she had the
most heart & humanity in her. All of this resulted in an Amazon who was born to defend the values of love, beauty,
and justice with strong conviction. And one day during her young adulthood, by fate, she was afforded the
opportunity to fulfill her purpose in life. A man--US Army Captain Steve Trevor--fell from the sky. He is the first man
Diana has ever laid eyes on and she falls in love with him as she nurses him back to life.
Seeking new horizons, she began her Heroine's Journey by secretly entering & winning a tournament that would
allow her the right--as Amazon champion--to leave the bounds of Paradise Island and go live in what the Amazons
called "Man's World", taking Steve with her, where she would come to be known as 'Wonder Woman' while also
utilizing a secret identity as "Diana Prince". Au fond, she'd given up her birthright of eternal life to go fight evil &
injustice in a strange new land that she learns to love & protect, and adopts as her own.
She is the most recognizable superheroine around, yet when it comes to specifically who she is, or whence she
came,nobody seems to know! Not even her longtime fans. Which is why this manuscript (written mostly in layman terms)
exists for you to find out the answers...It’s a one-of-a-kind piece, becuz up till its original release there’d only been
books in mainstream thatgave you the inside track & philosophies behind Batman and other superheroes, but none
for WW's design. And all you'll need to study it is at least a high school education and access to all 3 of WW's
original origin stories written by a "Charles Moulton"........
About the information in here:
The explanations & analyses in this manuscript PDF (partly written in layman terms) are
the result of extensive research for the truth by an objective scholar, rather than the
horribly informed speculations of biased fans and freelance writers out there.
With deep reverence and profound homage to the creator WilliamMoulton Marston,
I accept full responsibility for all the information presented herein. --Brett Jett
Note: THIS PUBLICATION HAS NOT
BEEN PREPARED, APPROVED, OR
LICENSED BY ™DC COMICS, THE
OWNER OF WONDER WOMAN
PROPERTIES.

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WHO IS WONDER WOMAN?
by Brett Jett
2009 September.
Edited: March 2018
She's multi-faceted!
If you had to sum up Wonder Woman in just 1-word, that'd be it. Because like a jewel--as her creator has called her--she's made
up of many different angles & sides, and all on different levels, making it hard to pin her down to a 1-word theme that
encompasses her entire mythology.
Just a cursory look shows a varied array of parts in each aspect of WW...the outfit, powers, themes, issues, etc. In-story-wise,
she has varied accessories, many aspects to her personality, many talents, is resourceful--like Jarod "The Pretender". As Steve
Trevor has said, "Whoa, Angel! You are just multi-faceted, aren't ya?!". All this imparts the lesson to readers that a truly balanced
person is one who makes their many facets work in harmony for them. And unbeknownst to most women, multi-facetedness is a
quality that'd make them attractive to men. But also, in real-world-perspective, different disciplines & concepts went into her
genesis; unlike the mono simplistic creation of other superheroes. Why so many complex parts? Well, some of it was merely
synchronistic, not planned. But basically, Dr. Marston was weaving together an entire mythology of allegory & subtext by using
everything that he knew and believed as construction material; and not just for entertainment, but as a psych device in his didactic
agenda. Focusing on showcasing his teachings and psychological effect, he didn’t attend to story flow, resulting in the unexplained
holes in his WW mythos. This multi-faceted complexity is a factor in why she's not only the most variously [mis]interpreted
superhero ever, but the most unique, thought-provoking, and thusly, greatest (female-wise).
Like Hippolyte, Dr. Marston sculpted WW from the mental clay of his imagination far more deeply and intricately than any other
superhero had been, making her 3-dimensional and therefore shine so differently in various genres and in-story settings. WW and
her universe don't react to their own changes like other superheroes. Her original design contained more key elements than any
other comics character, and was very complex with specific elements & backstories so tightly tied to each other as a particular
whole that any tweak would produce incarnations that are starkly unlike each other. Whereas other superheroes were open to
many varied interpretations & tweaks that retained their original, simple DNAs while being perceived as the same characters,
because they were designed from broad & simple concepts that were easily grasped....
Despite her incarnations' radical differences, some of them can still remain true to WW's core & essence. It’s just that writers
couldn’t keep trackof all her facets or fully understand her esoteric concepts that they don't usually deal with in other superheroes.
So they removed'em--the very things that made WW 3-dimensional and more timelessly relevant to the real world than any other
superhero--and invented new (but ill-suited) stuff; even manipulating what WW represents. Thus the stray incarnations that lacked
a firm grasp of her foundation and were more like mutations than proper evolutions. Exponentially adding to this multiplicity are all
the biased fan-perspectives, most of which weren't a part of her original design. Thus, collectively affecting her ever changing
image, producing more notions of WW than any other superhero, and blurring the borders of what defines her.
But in all this chaos, have you ever stopped to wonder who WW really is? Naturally we'd say the original Marston incarnation--
which is the one this manuscript is mainly in regards to. But what of the other, valid incarnations of yore & yon? Well, due to her
specificity, she's not merely a vessel, shape shifter, or mirror--even if that's what she's been treated as by fans & writers. There
had to have been just a singular definite entity that arrived in this world and entered people's minds--out from which came the
many interpretations, be they faulty or true. What we know is that in creating WW, Dr. Marston simply opened the portal from the
invisible world to ours, which allowed this entity to slip through and first take shape as his initial Amazon Maid of the 1940's. It’s
the same entity that would've inhabited a second WW manifestation had Dr. Marston lived to create such an update. That same
entity also inhabits the modern WW in my screenplay.
But who is this floating entity?...Whatdoes she want?...Where had she come from? This inquiry is the ethereal specter that'll be
shadowing us as we explore WW's many facets and peel back her onion, until we arrive at the conclusion of that unifying question,
"Who is Wonder Woman?"
But instead of traditionally first taking the outer layers and working toward the core, we shall start with her Core and work our
way outward. For the entire answer to the question lies not solely in the Core, but in the unifying implications of her many facets.
PREVIEW OF FACETS:
*Core *SexualPsychology *Feminism *Greek Mythology *Metaphysics *Yin/Yang (quik guide)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*Aphrodite vs Ares *Mission: Truth-Justice-Aphrodite's *Bracelets *The Wonder Woman name
*Symbology *Magic Lasso *Super Powers *Moonshadows of Diana
*Personality profile *Love life profile *Archetype *TRUTH....or..."What Does 'C rap' Mean?"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*Themes *Narrative Genre *Divine Comparisons *Allegories
*Marston's Mistakes *Allure dynamics *Music *The Mistaken Little Sister
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*Similes *Inspired contemporaries *Stolen Ideas: With A ll Due Recognition
*Modernizing *The Future
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*Conclusion...her true identity.
***********************************************************************************************************

THE CORE
Creator Dr. William Moulton Marston loved pleasantness. An interesting fact abouthis maternal fam ily, the Moultons,
is that their family coat-of-arms is purple & gold,and features scalloped seashells and what appears to be a dove on
the crest. Both of which are symbols of Aphrodite. So who knows? Maybe his entire maternal family came from a
Venusian culture. They had an opera house named after them. They also had a family trade working with molten
metals as silversmiths & goldsmiths,which has obvious allusions to Vulcan as well as the silver & gold metallic decor
of Paradise Island. While his paternal familycoincidentallyhas allusions to Mars (Marston), including a Marine Corps
officer in that family tree. But whether either family were adamant Venusians or not, Big Willy certainly was; even
before discovering the physio-psychology of love.
He had disdain for discomfort, even when he contemplated suicide early in college. It was only after he discovered
that pleasantness points the path to success thathe really got into a life seeking pleasure & happiness, and annulled
suicide with a new lease on life. He was a guy who appreciated the loving nature of all things Aphrodite...love,
beauty, tenderness, peace-loving, submission, etc. And he found pleasure in women, whose femininity obviously
embodied those Aphrodisial qualities. Altho it’s uncertain if his support of women was the result of his discovered
gender theories, or if he had a pre-partiality to women, it can easily be surmised that it was the overly patriarchal
times combined with his Venusian-ness that swayed his support of women.
So when he was hired by All-American Publications in 1940 to help take comics out of the wartime venue & make
them good for kids again, he of course recognized the need to incorporate such Aphrodisial feminine qualities into
comics,ofwhich he assessed were bloodcurdinglymasculine--meaning, from a Venusian's perspective, heartless &
lacking love or tenderness, reflecting the overly patriarchal times. It’s the sadism and cold ideologies of pulp fiction
lawmen & vigilantes who weren't much unlike the villains they fought, and today are considered anti-heroes...too
much of the wrong kind of dominance. This was joined by the more altruistic superhero genre that was still very
masculine & the wrong kind of dominance,butlacking enough ofthe feminine love. For in a world torn by the hatreds
& wars of men, few people attempt altruism in the face of chaos.
Then one day his boss (Max Gaines) playfully nudged him to create his own comicbook superhero. After which, he
talked it over with his wife--a model of that era's unconventional liberated woman--who then suggested that it should
be a female. (NO TE: Though...it is reasonable to doubt this part of the story , which came f rom Dr. Marston's son Pete. This is mainly due to the
f act that Dr. Marston's well known keenness f or f eminine qualities and what they can do to change the world--as well as his f itting use of his maternal
f amily name in his writing pseudony m--highly suggests that he would'v e made his neo superhero a f emale ev en without his wif e’s suggestion.)
Thus began the conception of a revolutionary new kind of superhero that was meant to make a difference by
advancing the addition of those feminine qualities to the mix of largely love-devoid comics of the time. The founding
concept of his proposed neo superheroine was that she would have all the strength of a Superman and all the
allure & feminine tenderness of a good, peaceloving & beautiful woman; one who would conquer not with fists
or firepower, but with love.
The rationale behind his revolutionary superhero concept:
Of all the other possible super powers to choose from, why did he give his neo superhero the masculine power of
physical might in particular? Well, it was a few different reasons that providentially lined up perfectly as if by fate.
To start with, it was the only way to get people to accept a female superhero at the time. You see...at some point in
Western history, society stopped believing (if they really believed it at all) that one merely needed to be good to have
a happy ending. Replacing that belief was the idea that one must overcome obstacles in order to create happy
endings, both in real life and fiction. With the desire to overcome obstacles (including evil), kids naturally had the
healthy wish to be strong, which increases one's chances of advancing in the world. Therefore, the masculine
qualities were the mostsoughtafter by society. Meanwhile,qualities (ie.tenderness,maternity,etc) usuallyregarded
as the bestones in women had become despised in our overly-patriarchal societyas sissy,even by women,because
they're unconsciously ascribed to women...the feminine archetype that is physically weak and not conducive to
combat,which is necessaryto overcome real world obstacles. That's why previous superheroines --like Fantomah--
failed to attract most readers. Although, they had fantastic superpowers, they were still of the sissified feminine
archetype, because none of them had the revered masculine attribute of dominant might that people could more
readily relate to. Having a character--male or female--with super strength (& martial ability) was the only way to
satisfy that wish-fulfillment and garner respect from such an audience, albeit in different ways for each gender. A
female character with might psychologically allowed men to submit to her while also psychologically charging up
women to tap their inner Diana, giving them a sense of liberation. The archetype of the martial in a female form
(woman warrior) had already existed in human history, and was a reflection of women’s real capacity to possess
masculine attributes. However, none of the female warriors of yore ever had super strength. So, WW was an
archetypal revolution. Additionally, he made itso WW's initial super strength came from the feminine allure power of
the Magic Girdle, which was basically him saying that women's best qualities of tenderness & maternity have
potentially valuable conquering power.
So why was love in Dr. Marston's superhero recipe? Ah! Having might and fight in you was healthy, but...the
reality of the universe is multidimensionality. One needs balance. The problem with having solely might & fight was
that it leads to the unhealthy state over-dominance where one becomes inhumane and itmanifests in one's actions &
attitudes...or, whatDr. Marston referred to as "blood-curdling masculinity". The remedy to that was to balance might
with--and have it give over to--the opposite...humane love,agape. He said:"It's as essential to a normal child as the
breath of life." When he spoke of love, he meant it in all its forms, as symbolized by Aphrodite, but the crux of what
he was getting at was agape, universal love. And on some deep level, all human beings--even evil ones--naturally
understand love (agape) to be the most vital element in the universe. It is the original universal force and one that
does all-encompassing good,physiologically,psychologically,sociologically,etc. And it was/is seriously lacking not

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only in comics, but the world, while the ways of Ares were--and still are--dominating, what with society's
preoccupation with aggression & power. And so, injecting the element of love was/is the only way to bring a healthy
balance to this current state. Love is a feminine concept, as aptly allegorized by Aphrodite's gender, which makes it
symbolicallyappropriate thatthis neo superhero is a female,in addition to being physio-psychologically fitting, as Dr.
Marston reported that women have greater potential to rule with love.
His balanced diametric formula drew upon two of people's overt & latent desires: strength & love. In a highly
patriarchal, masculine-minded society where people's over-appreciation of force & power smothers up their latent
love desire,the formula's effectiveness was in its synergy to restore diametric balance. The masculine elements of
might& warriorhood drew people to the character, which then made it possible to injectthe feminine love values back
into people's psyches. And the feminine love aspect then balanced the dominant force aspect, making it all healthy.
This love aspect also kept people hooked on WW.
All of this resulted in a well-designed character that produced great dividends to the comicbook company and Dr.
Marston...high sales,a chance for him to reach people with his psych wisdom,good karma,etc. And when you mess
with that formula, then it all falls apart...Sales go down, popularity diminishes, her reputation gets tarnished, etc.
In-story-wise,WW's loving quality tempered her might,as power can corrupt. Real-world-wise, the new archetype
(WW) that is composed of this formula happens to be the perfect allegory in Dr. Marston's theory of a new type of
woman that could run society for a better future. The reason why this formula of diametric balance is a gift that
providentiallykeeps giving on multiple levels & realms is due to the fact that it comes from real world spiritual wisdom
that Dr. Marston espoused and used as the crux of the WW character.
Then he enlisted artist (& fellow Venusian, of French descent) Harry Peter to do the artwork for his concepts. The
result would be a superwoman who is superior to men in strength, who allures us with the natural feminine
love appeal of a true woman, and who has the love-inspired altruistic quality of using her strength to help
others...the total package...Dr.Marston's formula for promoting happiness through his own brainchild. One that was
designed to reach males by allowing them to shamelessly accept their typical male desire to be mastered by an
alluring & exciting girl/woman who loves them, and to reach females by empowering them to embrace their better
feminine qualities as having worth & not sissified; showing everyone that women can be effective superheroes too
while retaining their femininity. That's why he made WW as exciting as possible,as that was what she was meant to
be/do...inspire the wonder...which gets readers' attention & keeps their interest. And she does! And that's why her
second comicbook title, "Sensation Comics", was so appropriately named! It’s about feeling, stimulating
emotions...excitement, awe, yearning, etc!
While working within the comics industry (including as an Editorial Advisory Board member) at the dawn of the
superhero genre and dispensing psych/emotion-based wisdom,Dr.Marston was also instrumental in helping shape
the new definition of heroics (along with Superman) bycontributing this core concept which established a new kind of
hero archetype based on altruism thatbinds greatpower to love & servitude to humanityrather than self-assertion--a
definition that wasn't replicated much, but later frequently borrowed by, & slightly inspired in, other already-
established superhero stories.
However, while she is a superwoman, it’s false to say that Wonder Woman is a female Superman. She is a distinctly
separate entity, archetype, & myth. While its true that people in the 40's have referred to her as a female 'Superman',
what you must realize is that superheroes were a new phenomenon back in those days, and Superman was the
prototype used as a general reference. So when someone of that period says "WW is a female Superman", what
they're really saying is, "WW is a female superhero"...of superior dominant might, of which she was the first; a rare
imagining, as all the other female protagonis ts at the time were archetypal women (weaklings). By today's
understanding of the name 'Superman', the true "female Superman" role is filled by a character named 'Supergirl',
who is not at all like Dr. Marston's superwoman. Both archetypes are champions of the oppressed, but only Dr.
Marston's is autonomous,unique,and fulfills what's missing in Superman's,which was mainly the vital loving, tender,
& finesseful qualities of the feminine. Basically, hers is symbolically the Diana to Superman's Apollo, b ut in a
principled, rather than genetic, sense.
The idea behind his "Wonder Woman project": To inject into readers the ideal of women who are powerful yet
beautiful (inside/out) & devote their energies to righting injustices; so that more women like this will turn out in
society, inspiring any girl to become like WW. But also to inject psycho-emotional health along the way. The goal
being to better our civilization. Basically, a Venusian's reverie. And helping in these endeavors, by backing Dr.
Marston's assertions & recommendations, were his psych theories.
As a consulting psychologist who was always prescribing sage advice based on the needs of the body & mind, and
ultimately, spirit, one of Dr. Marston's all time hopes was the coming of what he predicted would be an Amazonian
Matriarchy. Now given the opportunity to have a more personal hand in improving comics for kids & affecting minds,
his new brainchild was the canvas from which he could express his psych theories & philosophy to promote a better
world...basicallydo whathe loves...which also involved helping advance his Matriarchy prophecy--something that he
believed would convert the world from its ills. To do that, he needed to psychologicallyinspire through his comicbook
superheroine, through allegorical representation of his real life theories, prescriptions, and concepts.
In designing & fashioning his superhero character and her entire universe, he drew from all that he knew well,
which spanned a few different disciplines--philosophy, psychology, mythology, spiritualism, metaphysics, etc--with
more or less emphasis according to his level of expertise in them. That's why his superwoman would primarily
embody his psychological philosophy, making Sexual Psychology the very fiber of the WW mythos fabric. But even
before that, it was his Venusian desire for peace & emancipation from society's destructive ways,his beliefs & faith in
feminine qualities such as Love Allure, and the backing (or wisdom!) that even conceived the core concept of h is neo
superhero in the first place. His scientific psychology vocation simply backed up and supported his desire .

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SEXUAL PSYCHOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY
Sexual...as in gender & sensuality. Dr. Marston dealt in both. It was all based on his own psychological research
and that of others. So befitting of his scientific profession, psychology had an omnipresence with his WW comics in
more than one respect. One, it was a minor in-storytheme that lingered in his stories;itcould be a storyline element,
or the Amazons exhibiting psych knowledge, or other psychology references here & there, as well as some
embedded motifs ofscience principles. Two,he made psychologicallysound decisions when designing the mythos
to not only attract people to WW but to most effectively reach deep within them, which also involved identifying &
laying out what all is involved in the Heroine's Journey. Thirdly, and most of all, his sexual psych theories &
philosophyare the crux of the WW mythos and are what distinguish it from other Amazon mythologies and WW from
other superheroes; using art to convey self-help science. While the mythoses of other superheroes may've had
psych applied to them later in their evolutions, hers was built from it.
His philosophyand its psychological backing were the foundation that informed all the other layers/aspects of the
WW mythos;sometimes in literal & direct form, sometimes as allegories (ie. his Greek mythology). It also made up
the moral spine of the WW mythos. Evidence of his psychological philosophy (& feminism) shows up in the main
issues & themes & sub-themes thatthe mythos dealt in, such as gender differences or crimes of passion, as well as
in the inner principles that the mythos showcased. Some stories focused on issues that his ph ilosophy &
psychological research specifically suggests, but otherwise Dr. Marston's philosophical moral center was always
present in the WW character herself.
Therefore, to truly understand Dr. Marston's WW universe is to first understand that foundation; its genesis, its
doctrines, how it works, etc. It’s been an often-misunderstood foundation, distorted by those who didn't truly grasp
the good doctor's design,and has faded from WW's comics over the years. Marstonian philosophy in particular has
been misconstrued as being unique to him, when in fact it contains concepts that have been around for centuries.
Nonetheless, Dr. Marston's advisory-influence permeated the company/industry, and remnants of it--such as his
expertise in mythology and his emotions theories of good vs evil--can still be found even in other comic titles.
Although Dr. Marston didn'tlive long enough to ensure the proliferation of his wisdom & theories as Lafayette Ron
Hubbard did for Scientology, his love for teaching & self-fanfare resulted in a comicbook that was used as a
psychological tool of influence and was an everlasting record of his work, his legacy. And it all started years before
World War 1, when Dr. Marston was beginning to become the spiritual-but-practical man people knew....
Spiritual spark.
With a new lease on life after a stymied suicide attempt, young William fostered a love for his Ancient Philosophy
college course and was into other related spiritual subjects. It was likely through such classes that his interest in
psychologyfollowed,as those subjects (+mythology) are all connected. He and his college psych mentor, Professor
Hugo Munsterberg, shared many commonalities that he was truly his mentor's protégé & successor. More notably,
he further developed Munsterberg's deception detection work, and after being given a suggestion discovered by his
future wife, Elizabeth "The girl from Mt. Holyoke" Holloway, of how people's blood-pressure rise when under
emotional stress, eventually came up with a working system that his colleague John Larson called the "Marston
Deception Test"--which was never patented.
From there, he did further research into emotions & consciousness,both of which were relevant components to his
lie detection work, and from which came Marstonian psychology. But like Munsterberg, he was shunned by the
academic world as a charlatan. This limited his career options,as his theories & philosophy were not easily received
by the establishment due to the tight social norms & mores of the day. But his research work was his baby, and he
wouldn't abandon it. So eventually he'd use the comics medium to express, and more effectively promote, his
theories & philosophyto the masses. Nonetheless,the WW project was actuallyan extension--a higher platform that
gave him more powers of influence--of his original life pursuit.
Psychologized Philosophy.
Long before creating WW, he was into self-improvement, forming his philosophy since his new lease on life and
wanting to share it with people. Naturally, his college major was the tool of choice for his didactically altruistic
vocation. Like Munsterberg,Dr. Marston passionatelybelieved that psychology was a force for the good of mankind.
Back then, psychologywas a still-developing young science, more akin to philosophy. So he aimed to bring it more
toward the scientific side and maintain credibility for everything he asserted, by sharpening his psych "tool" when
researching the consciousness & emotions. His specific approach was to unite the spiritual with the corporeal--
psychology with physiology--in light of his influences from ancient philosophies & spirituality. What ascetics have
originallyknown through experience & intuition, he proved through scientific inquiry; "psycholog -izing"--crazily finding
physio-psychological roots to--everything. Thus, providing a psychological basis for, and scientific backing to,
spiritual wisdom and concepts from ancient religions, as well as his own philosophy.
Consulting Psychologist.
The result of this approach was his own brand of pop psychology (AKA practical psychology); which was the bright
end of the psych spectrum to Freudian psychology's dark end, because it was concerned with people's psychic, as
well as physical, well-being. It promoted an integrated form of mental health--caring for the soul while guarding the
body--long before the modern notion of wholistic health became popular in Western society. This was very much his
"religion",and with it rose a new occupation that he popularized...the Consulting Psychologist...like a hybrid of pastor
and doctor. This role allowed him to serve a gamut of issues for individuals and institutions...anything from quelling
rowdy teens to aiding couples with their love lives--of which he gained repute as a Love Doctor, on account of he was
an educated Venusian. Though academia still shunned him during his practice, many common folk & companies
welcomed his counsel with reliefduring the Depression Era,because those were hard times and many people were
seeking wonder remedies. Though backed by psych science, his advice was deeply based on his theologically-
rooted philosophy. In fact, his whole life and all of his endeavors --such as the creative decisions & the qualities that
he put into the design of his superhero character--were all guided & influenced by said philosophy...especially his
philosophy of diametrics.

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One and two equals The One.
Since Dr. Marston enthusiasticallystudied ancientphilosophyand had Chinese colleagues who imparted their culture
to him, it’s very likely that he was well-versed in the Eastern concept of Yin/Yang. Proof of this is more apparent in
his philosophy and--by proxy--his WW mythos.
The mainstayof his philosophy: There are opposing diametric elements in the world, and when faced with having
to deal with both, the best possible end is to marry the two, in a certain configuration, to produce a third & better
condition. This was very similar to Carl Jung's (another supporter of the feminine,and a big influence on Dr. Marston)
philosophy of uniting, and forming a balance between, the Animus & Anima.
Here's the concept: Essentially everything in the universe is either Heavenly or Earthly, depending on its original
source. You can also think of it as being either "favorable" or "unfavorable", and that neither side can be banished
out of existence. The source of the "unfavorable" can be the Devil, the Ego, or Ares, etc--of which are concerned
with things like violence, martial strength, the masculine, wealth & other appetitive concerns; while the "favorable"
source can be Love, Om, Jesus,or Aphrodite, etc--and concerned with things like tenderness, happiness, Venusian
bliss, the feminine, peace, love, etc. However, it’s not always concretely either/or. There are different degrees to
both categories. The "unfavorable" element may not always be so bad, and the "favorable" element may not always
be what's best. And some seemingly Heavenly things --such as sexual pleasure--are only shadows of the real
Heavenly and are actually Earthly; and like anything on the Earthly (unfavorable) side, they're imperfect.
In order to have a favorable existence while on the Earthly plane,one needs an ideal balance ofboth sides in order
to produce an ideal third option. Because onlyin the spiritrealm can one exist with justthe favorable elements,butin
the Earthly plane the "unfavorable" elements will always be there and are called as such because life on Earth is
never going to be as ideal as the Spirit world. Nonetheless, as they are of this Earth, you'll need them to survive and
function well... ie. You can idealize about peace & happiness all day, but ya can't maintain them on Earth without
martial strength & power...The better you can fight, the less you'll have to.
WW's core concept is a reflection of this philosophy, as she was the result of combining masculine strength with
feminine tenderness & allure, and/or martial power with Aphrodisial humanity.
However, an ideal balance does not mean striking a median; for nothing in the universe ever remains 50-50.
Because it’s also about correct "relationships", which are always naturally asymmetrical.
Dominance/Submission.
Everyone & every thing or idea coexists in relation with some other element...either haphazardly or by conscious
arrangement. And following the Universe's law of asymmetrical balance, they naturally occur with one side
dictating/defining the relationship while the other side decreases to more fully ally itself to, and be used by, the
dominantside. It’s a "master"& "slave" relationship. Sometimes the roles are constant,sometimes interchangeable,
sometimes they fluctuate. It depends on the elements involved. This relational phenomenon is called
Dominance/Submission.
Besides being the main two of the four basic emotional types (See sub-section "Emotions"), Dominance/Submission is an
ubiquitous Yin/Yang principle that exists in nature, on all levels from the simple to the complex, in one form or
another...from the tiniest nerve impulse to the way entire societies are run. There's a lot of dominance occurring
during war, and submission occurring in many peaceful loving communes . It is a common feature in religions or
spiritual disciplines, which is where its most relevant to Dr. Marston's philosophy. It is not some oppressive
interpersonal edict that specifically expounds how men & women should relate, as many fans have ignorantly
assumed and then cried, "Why can't we just be equal?". Dr. Marston did not invent dominance/submission. He
simply ascertained & emphasized its psychological aspect. It became the main governing principle rooted into his
mental framework thathe applied to all of his work for the rest of his career. So naturally it was a primary theme that
permeated his WW comics, which were loaded with motifs of slavery, bondage, and such, because they were most
relevant.
The prevalent belief among feminist fans is that the bondage represented the slavery of women by Patriarchy.
While this may be partially true, it is a narrowly biased claim that stems from naive speculation rather than factual
research. Their claim does not explain why the WW comicbook's badguys & goodguys were both depicted being
subjugated as well as conquering.
Dr. Marston's true intentions for using these motifs was multifold, each overlapping the other. On the broad level,
he was allegorically(& literally ) expressing the dynamics ofdominance/submission. He did this through the sub-theme
of freedom & confinement. EX's: The Amazons are free from the chains of Man's World yet they must wear
bracelets to bind themselves to Aphrodite....WW easily breaks the bonds that evildoers put on her and their other slaves, but she
doesn't leave those slaves free to assert their own Egos in uncontrolled self-gratification.
Hence, the purpose for the ropes, chains, and other submission depictions was to serve as both appropriate
symbols and literal parts of the stories. They symbolized submission, that a character was conquered. And on a
literal level, they dramatically (yet painlessly) indicated peril without promoting any sadistic enjoyment of suffering.
Instead, this promoted "submission play" among comic readers, serving as alternatives to the morbidly cruel peril
depictions of other comics that he assessed were mental-morally unhealthy. And for one other intent (See sub-section
"The sensuality & erot...").
But Dr. Marston's more specific agenda was to drive home the fact that there is both good & bad dominance or
submission, which is determined by whether the dominant master of a diametric relationship is a favorable or
unfavorable one, thus making the relationship as such. Bonding or breaking free could be bad or good,depending on
the type of bond and who was laying it on. When WW--or anyone else--breaks free from an evildoer's bonds (AKA bad
dominance), it represents her breaking free from negative forces that oppress,such as society's artificial structures. But
if anyone breaks out of bonds placed by loving authorities (AKA good dominance), it represents rebellion, which is bad.
Prominentdisplays of this whole doctrine--on the interpersonal level--are demonstrated in the comicbook stories
featuring Reform Island,the Amazons' prison system where villains (namely the f emales) are sentas slave inmates to be
rehabbed & retrained by loving masters (Amazons) into good submission, as opposed to Man's World prisons where
brutal masters rule by their Egos (unf av orable master), creating harsh environments. Because the Reform Island inmates
had a favorable master rule over them, they submitted more easily and became more loving. They also developed

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empowering dominance that was controlled by their loving obedience (AKA good dominance), which resulted in them
fighting righteously...essentially turning a badguy into a goodguy. Their accompanying dominance emotion also felt
better than the harm-producing bad dominance they had as villains.
All of it was a fictional representation ofDr. Marston's theories on emotional reform and training for women. It was
also another allegorythat demonstrated--symbolically and literally--the significance of why there should always be a
favorable master/dominantas opposed to an unfavorable one. Unfavorable relationships always result in some sort
of unpleasantness, on any level. While favorable ones, being naturally free flowing, are harmonious, pleasant.
Real world EX: A homeboy refuses arrest from a brutal cop (an anarchistic authority) who is forcing his male-ego will on the
homeboy, because the dominance imposed on homeboy came from a non-loving master, thus creating bad submission, which
feels unpleasant & oppressive, hence the resistance from homeboy.
Anarchistic slavery vs Blissful bondage...Ares vs Aphrodite...A world of difference. This truth applies across the
board, not just for personal interaction, and its fruits always manifest themselves in one form or another. EX: In the
neurological realm, "unfavorable relationships" feel harsh & are unhealthy for the body; on the societal realm, they result in
destruction & oppression of people.
So of course, Dr. Marston always advocated favorable (or "correct") relationships as the guiding theme in all his
various prescriptions to people in everyday life. The dynamic of correct relationships: Unfavorable elements serve,
or adapt themselves to, favorable elements (the master), and never the inverse.
What that means on the everyday living level is that one should base all of one's decisions on the favorable
element and just regard the unfavorable element as the useful tool. EX: He prescribed that his clients correctly adapt
wealth to happiness, because happiness is a favorable concept and would therefore end in a healthy, harmonious outcome that
carries the best of both sides if you make it the basis of your life choices; while wealth--a Marsian concept--would've made
peoplemiserable if it was the main thing they lived for. Just think of the "unfavorable"side as fire: It’s a powerful tool, and
we need it. But if it’s not controlled by a "master" (ie. responsible adult) with the best of intents (good dominance) for
prosperous use, then it'll be free to have its way and destroy everything around it (ie. Forest f ire).
So when it came to designing WW, his relational prescription helped form WW's core concept, which was
specifically: Force bound to humane service,or strength adapted to love, rather than simplystrength mixed with love.
What that means is that WW's use of her dominant force (as well as any thing else martial/masculine) is dictated by her loving
humane side,how-when-why. This core informs everything she is and does,including the type of warrior she is. She
isn't the ultimate warrior. She's a new kind of warrior.
In addition,the correct relationship is something that must be checked at times to maintain, for people can get out
of balance. Especiallyone who possesses a mightyamountof force & power (ie. WW) must be especially prudent, for
with greatpower lies the greater potential for brutality. As a reflection of reality, this real issue was naturally built into
WW & her mythos,making her an Enneagram personalitytype eight,hence the bracelets she mustwear atall times --
an element that is missing in the Green Lantern mythos, which realistically would lead to him becoming the
metahuman version ofa brutal cop. Her challenge is to accomplish her mission(s) of love/humanity without falling to
the darkside herself.
But, as it has stood in our world, quite often the wrong master is chosen...particularly the destructive Ego.
Ego assertion vs Loving Submission.
Of all the diametric duels in the WW mythos or real world,this one is the key that lies at the root of evil vs good within
humanity. This is how Dr. Marston's advice on proper dominance/submission balance applies on the most
individually personal level.
In the study of spiritual disciplines, two main parts of everyone's self are identified. First there is the Higher Self,
which is the divine self that comes from--& is connected to--the Divine Originator (ie. God) and is responsible for
reveling in love, unity, etc, the "favorable" things. Then there is the Ego, which is our ungodly, selfish self that
sequesters each of us from the unified Divine whole by creating Earthly identities for each of us and facilitating any
“unfavorable” things needed for our survival in the Earthly plane, be it protection, might, warrior sense, or appetite,
etc. Basically, they're the Divine & the Earthly.
By Marstonian wisdom,its healthyto embrace both, but...the Higher Self mustbe the master that keeps the Ego in
check. He called this Loving Submission. Its submitting yourself to a higher loving authority (whatev er that may be),
which facilitates altruism--what one individual can do for others in service to humanity. One's Higher Self is more
inclined to heed the calls of the love emotion. It’s his correct-relationship remedy that's specifically prescribed for
human relations,and is whatWW's bracelets symbolize. In WW's case,that loving authority is Aphrodite--the symbol
of love & humanity. However, it should be made clear to all that he meant for people to submit only to a loving
authority in order to assuage people's destructive Egos. And that if any authority stops being loving and is harmful,
then people should stop submitting to that authority and find another one that is loving. EX: During the Suffrage
Movement, there were plenty of brutish authorities, so in those cases it was very appropriate for the women revolutionaries t o
rebel against them.
Ego-assertion is when you let your Ego rule & suppress the Higher Self, which is bad because the Ego listens
only to the appetite drive (which leads to abnormal emotions),is love-devoid and potentiallydestructive, and when left
free to assert its own will, leaves you open to be swayed by inhumane evil...ie. anarchy, selfish dominance,
vigilantism. And if left in that condition for too long, you'll be a slave to your egocentric prison, unable to submit to a
better authority.
Ego-assertion is the seed of all evil in society, throughout history. Especially in western cultures like the USA,
we're taught early on to seek the best at all cost, to compete with one another. And so, using dominance has
become an instinctive response to everything. And look what destruction that's led to. Ego-assertion begets greed
and other abnormal emotions, which result in destructive behaviors...ie. Oppression, war, bullying, backstabbing.
Every type of bully, on every level--fictional or real--is a living example of Ego-assertion, whether its Hercules, Hitler,
William Mars, Lex Luthor, or the schoolyard bully. Ares the god of war--on the extreme end--embodies Ego-
assertion,and thus is symbolicallybehind all such evil in the universe. It’s the root of the "bloodcurdling masculinity"
that Dr. Marston denounced in comics. This is why Dr. Marston advocated forms of submission as a noble practice;
as a counter-agentto all that Ego-assertion & the morbid destruction it leads to, including in comics. The depictions

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of submission (for portraying peril & otherwise) in his WW comics were far more healthy than the sadistic peril &
torture of the majority of other comics that promoted enjoyment of other people's actual suffering.
Remember, with his spiritual philosophy, Dr. Marston wasn’t saying that one should be rid of the Ego or anything
else you need to survive on Earth. He was saying that the problem with the world stems from the imbalance of the
unfavorable ruling over the favorable...too much Ego, masculine,violence,force, etc, without enough of the diametric
mastering it.
This is the same wisdom ofbalance espoused byascetics for centuries, albeit under different labels. The spiritual
disciplines ofthose ascetics (ie. Christian my sticism) have taught aboutsubmission & dominance, in one form or another;
to submitto the Savior, to deny oneselfthe cravings of one's Earthly appetites,and to be guarded against the deadly
sins (which come out of the human Ego). Dr. Marston simplygave psychological justification for such spiritual wisdom,as all
of his solutions were meant to restore this balance. It’s found in Loving Submission, in his brand of feminism (See
chapter "Feminism & Fysiology"), in his advice to clients, in WW's core, in everyday life, etc, its anywhere there's wisdom.
Appetite & Love emotion.
(Due to my busy schedule away from this extracurricular activity, I've yet to finish rewriting this sub-section. But
be on the lookout for future revised editions of this manuscript when it'll finally be completed.)
Emotions - Normal & Abnormal.
A huge part of his deception detection work, (thus the poly graph's correlation with emotions as exhibited in the mov ie EQUILIBRIUM),
Dr. Marston's emotions research produced his "DISC" theory (that's still used today ), which is an acronym for the four
basic emotional types (Dominance, Inducement, Submission, Compliance) that all emotions are made up of in
particular combinations with particular relationships offlow or opposition. These emotional types are the basic ways
one's psyche behaves (which connects to neurological activity), and their characteristics very much resemble the
principles or behaviors seen in the forces of nature. For example...lightning seeks to find the earthbound conductor
of leastresistance to the ground, which is very descriptive of the Dominance type...a flowing river will drive forward till
it reaches its gravitational destination,and if a boulder gets in its way, it simply flows around it until the boulder itsel f
is eventually forced away, which is characteristic of Compliance type adapting its Dominance.
Human emotions share a kinship with nature's forces (altho humans are more complex), and nature's forces are
personified by the G/R gods, and how appropriately so. The DISC theory also explains why badguys tend to throw
their guns at superheroes even after vainly unloading all the bullets on them...it’s a residual discharge of thwarted
dominance emotion, which has to go somewhere instead of staying bottled up, just like the lightning bolt.
Basically: Everyone has these four basic emotional responses at the neurological level, any one or more of which
activates depending on the stimulus. Any two or more of these emotional units can combine to produce compound
emotions (ie. Fear, love, etc). And each compound emotion is categorized as either "normal" or "abnormal",
depending on the "master/slave" relationship of the inner dynamics that its composed of at the neurological
level...either a pleasant free flow or a harsh psycho-neural conflict. When a person puts their Ego as master, that
more often produces abnormal emotions in them. Abnormal emotions like fear,anger,jealousy,etc, are unhealthy as
a result of that psycho-neural conflict, and lead to strife both within and outside of oneself from resultant destructive
behaviors. While normal emotions like empowerment,happiness,love, etc, are healthy and give the person a feeling
of well-being and leads to good behaviors. These concepts make up the basis from which Dr. Marston's ideas of
emotional reform & training were developed,and were then showcased in his WWcomics through Reform Island, as
well as WW's emotional maneuverings of her opponents and friends .
Dr. Marston gave all his psychological knowledge ofemotions,including DISC,to WW as her own. This knowledge
plays a crucial part to one of WW's highlighted abilities...wisdom of Athena. It is her ability to understand human
emotions and to use it to her advantage, either to talk down a hostage taker by appealing to their better natures, or
predicting her opponent's next move, or form sound strategies to tackle a major problem, etc.
Dr. Marston also discovered thatthe four basic emotional types correspond to the primarycolors of the color wheel.
Blue is equivalentto dominance,red to inducement,yellow to submission,and green to compliance. In between blue
and red is purple. And when dominance interacts with inducementin a certain way, it produces the emotion of deceit.
Therefore, according to this "emotion/color circle" model, purple would be equivalent to deception. Sometimes, he
assigned a certain color in his WW comics to signify the corresponding emotion that's at play....EX: The "Blue Electric
Rays" used by the villain Hypnota are blue because it represents the dominance emotion that she has when using her power to
make slaves of her victims... The "Crimson Flame" conjured by the villain Zara is red because it represents the inducement
emotion that she has when using it to infectiously persuade people to embrace her false & dysfunctional ideology of misandry
that is as infectious as today's modern feminism.
(Due to my busy schedule away from this extracurricular activity, I'm not quite finished writing the rest of this
sub-section. But it'll probably be done in future revised editions of this manuscript.)
Gender - complementary diametrics.
(Due to my busy schedule away from this extracurricular activity, I'm not quite done writing this sub-section.
But be on the lookout for future revised editions of this manuscript when it'll finally be completed.)
With the state of psychology as a young developing science in his day, most psychologists were versed in multiple
aspects of this subject. So in addition to emotions and a number of other subtopics, Dr. Marston had a natural
interest in gender dynamics...the gender particularities of men & women...since this ps ych vocation allowed him to
scientifically explain his personal experiences with the many women in his life. This certainly included sexual
behaviors,which helped him as a "love doctor" to advise couples on their relationships. His work on gender/sexual
theory was partof the beginnings of the social sciences that would help eventually produce modern dating science.
Among his gender research efforts was the now-often-whispered-about "Sorority Baby Party" experiment that he and
assistant Olive Byrne conducted at Jackson College, in Massachusetts. But his findings were beyond (and
revolutionary) what was generally believed or accepted by the public at the time.
So, of course,all of these psych topics on gender would be a contributory theme in his WW universe. Characters

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in this universe were each appropriately depicted with certain gendered attitudes of people in his day, as well as
universally. Many of the allegories and notions within the WW universe were modeled after existing gender
particularities....EX: The masculine model of dealing with things was based solely on appetite, more and more power, which is
how the evil Ares is depicted.
Among the theories that figure deeply into the WW mythology, Dr. Marston asserted thatsince the female organism
biologically ran mostly on love emotion, that is what tends to motivate females; that they tend to accept submission
more naturallythan males;all ofwhich results in women finding happiness in serving others, because they inherently
base success on achieving the pleasant "love" feeling. Conversely, men--being more appetitively driven--base their
success on wealth & other such appetitive endeavors, hence are more inclined to be competitive & hostile toward
each other. However, women also have competitive tendencies with each other, but with different motivators.
This predominance of love emotion in females makes them more ready to feel the same love emotion for both
genders. This is Dr. Marston's theory that explains the apparentlesbian feelings girls (straight or homosexual) have
for each other that motivates them to "experiment" early in life, as they very well know, but don't want to admit to
anyone else. He explains that this behavior is more natural with females, as guys are very less likely to have such
feelings for each other unless they're gay. But he doesn'tuse the term 'lesbian' or 'gay' anywhere in his dissertation.
He explained that this is a perfectly natural emotional phenomenon within females. It was a theory that was shunned
in his day, with all the strict conventions of mainstream society. It was also the basis for the nature of the Amazons
on Paradise Island. They all weren't necessarily lesbians per se. In line with Dr. Marston's theory, the Amazons
naturally were able to feel love emotion for each other when playing binding games;which were apparently used for--
in addition to being a part of their "new covenant" selfimprovementtraining--satisfying their sensual need for feeling
the love emotion every so often; especially, like any women, after their menstrual period, since there were no men
around as a result of their patron goddess trying to prevent them from ever submitting to any man, which historically
would've led to their downfall. These activities tend to help each Amazon form close connection to the other, thus
quelling much uncontrolled aggression and producing an island of serene beings with clear heads.
His proclivity toward women inspired him to study & research the true potential of women and their quirks, which he
often wrote articles about to serve his agenda-----------------------------------------------
In addition to having traits that were more specifically related to a specially refined warrior, WW was designed by Dr.
Marston to be a dramatized symbol ofthe female gender, true to the universal characteristics of women everywhere.
This included her typical male yearning and other female quirks ------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------, but it is very likely that editors picked up on Dr. Marston's theory for
that. And is perhaps the reason whyHippolyte is presented as blond in subsequentincarnations,as she was the one
who was so easilybeguiled by Hercules. Whereas Diana, despite falling in love with Steve Trevor, didn't fully submit
to him while she was still pursuing her mission here in Man's World--------------------------------
The sensuality & eroticism explained.
Any attentive person can clearly see that there's elements of sensual sexuality wired into Dr. Marston's WW mythos,
and most often portrayed with an eccentric tone. Although, the apparent eccentricity can be explained by the
narrative genre that Dr. Marston originally chose to write it in (See chapter "Narrative Genre”). While many fans & writers
believe that it’s the central theme of the original WW, the truth is: It is merely one of many aspects of both his WW
comics and theories & philosophy, yet it’s the one that people have put all their focus on (besides the feminism), at
the near-exclusion ofall others. And for this, it’s been long speculated if Dr. Marston was a "freak" or not. At the very
least,we can safely conclude that he was a scholarlyVenusian who did study & speak on sensual topics,as this was
an area of interestto him that he recognized as a natural already-existentaspectof his philosophical & psychological
studies. And so,inevitably it would be present in the WW mythos . However, there's really no concrete evidence that
would further suggest thatDr. Marston had an actual fetish for bondage play, as the word 'fetish' is incorrect. Rather,
this is more grandiose speculation on the public's part.
The more overt displays of his WW comics's inherent sensuality took the form of excessive bondage i magery,
subjugation & slavery, suggestive humor, pictorial innuendo, and of course WW herself. From her very conception,
she was designed to exude a certain level of sensuality, because, as a product of the favorable half of the diametric
equation that she's created from, alluring was actually part of her role and reason for being. Contrary to popular
belief, none of the sensual displays were fetish or S&M by true definition.
When you hear the parts of the WW mythos that deal with dominance/submission...ie. "loving submission", "love
bonds", Venus girdle, Amazons roping each other, etc...they tend to conjure up erotic thoughts, thus you'd assume
the main theme of WW mythos was "sex". But as you know from the previous sections of this chapter, there are
deeper concepts behind itall. The ubiquitous principle of dominance/submission by itself is not sensual. But erotic
sensualityis one of its manyexpressions/forms. Or, as popularlyput, "From the boardroom to the bedroom". Yet, it's
the first (or only ) thing that comes to people's minds,because replication (sex) is one of the two main human biological
functions--besides survival--hardwired into us. Thus, eroticism is instinctively evoked in us whenever we deal with
these themes, even when it takes the form of peril or bad subjugation, because the primal brain cannot tell the
difference. Its not a societal "illness", so there's no shame in this perfectly natural reaction, nor is it necessary to
pretend you don’t have erotic thoughts. We just simply need to accept it, but keep it under control while recognizing
that dominance/submission is also associated with concepts that have nothing to do with copulation. For example,
female submission wrestlers (v irago) use grappling to create a feeling of erotic euphoria in male clients who gladly
submit to them. But also true is that grappling is an effective fighting method that helps end conflicts without
unnecessarybloodshed. Nonetheless,sometimes Dr.Marston intended the sensual and non-sensual meanings of a
given concept; like when he advised women to dominate men, he meant it in both a socio -political & a bedroom
sense, because of the intended emotional effects created by either.
But as anyone can see, Dr. Marston's comics had a ridiculous amount of bondage & other subjugation

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images to where it became implausible, especially in a more literal genre; but had fit well within his fairytale genre
(See chapter "Narrative Genre") that allowed for such craziness. Realistically, badguys won't necessarily tie people up to
put them in peril; certainly not every time. They'd just shoot them dead. So why the bondage overload? The
explanation: Dr. Marston knew of this natural erotic reaction to submission themes and so aimed to evoke eroticism
in readers. This approach was a form of what he referred to as "sex love training"--training people to be more
accepting of loving submission by inducing enjoyable eroticism. All of this was part of his recommendations to
counteract the unhealthy Ego-assertion of society. This was the idea behind the Amazons being portrayed playing
binding games as partof their new covenant training. Even modern psychologisttodaydeclare that such submission
practices are completely healthy, even among children. It must be ultimately understood that he was specifically
using the comics medium as a tool of psychological reform --to effect an effect--and not just provide entertainment.
And so,not always perfect was his balance of forging a tool of influence out of a comicbook and keeping a sensible
smooth narrative that could better translate to another medium without being ridiculous .
So you see, while sensuality is an eternal element of the WW mythos, the actual bondage overload was only one
accessory--and his own treatment--of the WW comics. And only the comics. It was neither the main crux of the
mythos nor in the character DNA, and therefore not vital to be carried over to other incarnations (unless the writer
wants to induce eroticism for some reason),but such overload can perhaps be used as a homage or a lighttraditional
"Easter egg"...maybe even humorously.
But Dr. Marston's espoused ideas ofsubmission, sex love training, or such were not new. Rather, they stem from
centuries-old spiritual concepts found in many religious/spiritual disciplines (ie. Hinduism, Kabbalah, Tantra, etc). Each of
those traditions teach about submission (to an all-lov ing authority ) & dominance, in one way or another, and rejecting the
Devil--and that may just be the Devil within (ie. the Ego). And in some disciplines, eroticism is actually a sacred thing
that practitioners strive toward. Erotic love is essentiallythe conscious merging with the other to become one; when
masculine & feminine energies unite (whether they come f rom gay or straight people), which is the goal of the sex/erotic drive.
But the point of the teaching was to hold onto the erotic emotion rather than releasing it with climax. This process
involves surrender of the destructive Ego. So, in its absolute form , eroticism is union with The Creator (ie. God). This
is all very divinely sacred and,according to Carl Jung, is mankind's fundamental desire and ultimate purpose in life.
Erotic sex is simply the Earthly, physical manifestation of the soul's attempt at this union; a mirrori ng of God's
relationship with creation, which is why our sex drive is one of the two main human biological functions. Dr. Marston's
advocated ideas--like much of his work--were simply his practical, psychologized versions of those same spiritual
concepts.
He even portrayed WW using her submission as a tactic. The way it usually played out was that WW pretended to
be helplesslybound,which induced submission emotion in readers,then she would later turn the tables by springing
free from her bonds,thus giving readers feelings,first,of submission, then empowerment. This emotional cycle that
readers were meant to feel was depicted in a Reform Island inmate named Irene where after a time wearing her
Venus Girdle, then having it taken off, she felt dominantly empowered but toward the purpose of love & humanity.
And according to Dr. Marston, women are more readily able to feel eroticism than men are. This notion is one of
the building blocks of his brand of feminism.

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FEMINISM & FYSIOLOGY
It's Dr. Marston's brand of proto-feminism thatis the discipline permeating a large portion of the WW mythos--second
only to the sexual psychology, which informed it--as it branched out from Dr. Marston's spiritual philosophy of
diametrics when he decided thatwomankind was a favorable element that needed to be master in society. It was an
extension of his relational prescription and certainlywasn't Modern Feminism. The story of WW is not a metaphor for
how men repress women. That's only a small, outdated building block of a larger picture. His main vocation was to
prescribe sound advice for a better society by addressing the Ego-assertive roots of it all, backed by the psychology
of human emotional drives. And promoting women was a part of his whole prescription for a better society.
Therefore the WW comic--as the allegory--reflected such a multi-leveled approach. His brand of feminism was the
basis of the WW comics’ promotion of women’s potentials and WW’s qualities , attributes, & loving personality.
In my research, it was still not fully uncovered exactly who all were Dr. Marston's feminist influences...although,
there are common themes between his WW and the works of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. But such background
knowledge is unnecessary for understanding Dr. Marston's feminism. His brand of feminism--and thus WW's
purpose in championing women--was so predicated from the experimental idea: What if refined women held the
majorityof power positions in the infrastructure? His expected resultwas that they'd set a new precedence, resulting
in a more humane status quo that values love over appetitive Ego, thus ending wars, corruption, and anything else
that follows from appetitively driven abnormal emotions like greed & aggression; a Venusian's reverie. His assertion
was rooted in the theory that women were physiologically predisposed to love emotion, with more love-producing
organs,and designed to allure;nature-endowed soldiers ofAphrodite. Its like this: His learned philosophy holds that
the diametric forces of feminine qualities must dominate masculine qualities. So translated to human affairs, love
mustcontrol power. The problem is that mostpeople with power put it first over love-humanity. So he reasoned that
women were more likelyto put love first, due to that natural physiologyaffecting their psychology. It was justa matter
of refining them to best make use of that potential wellspring.
Hence his efforts, both in the WW comics and beyond,were directed toward supporting thatend on a psychological
propaganda level. He felt there was a need to encourage more women of his day to believe in themselves, since
confidentwomen like his wife were not the majority. He wrote articles about the advantages and hidden talents that
women had. And in the WW comics, its feminism started from the very decision to make this new superhero a
woman. Before long, WW is shown championing women to be and do the heroic thing. She was even named after
the goddess that protects & encourages women & children.
But before all of this, he had publicly made the prediction that society would be under an Amazonian matriarchy in
about 1,000 years. Whether this was his honest prediction that his feministic efforts tried to accelerate, or simply a
psychological ruse to bolster in people what he tried to help make a reality, is not certainly known. However his
prediction parallels predictions made by certain Theosophical traditions and spiritual New Age teachings regarding
humanity becoming a "new race" of mankind based on brotherhood within 1,000 years.
In any case,using his psych knowledge,he proposed a methodical wayall of this could come to pass. As the crux
of his predicted matriarchy, he identified the idea of love leaders--naturally loving women in lead positions who
prescribe rules of conduct, and establish a status quo, based on humane values, as opposed to appetitive ways,
which are love-devoid. It was mostly [white] men in power who created such a brutish atmosphere that begot war,
oppression,and institutionalized cruelty. But the problem was that in the real world, love leaders could not continue
to exist among appetitive leaders (ie. Men) who have always dominated the work place and infrastructure. So he
made some expertrecommendations to these women thatincluded making ita part of their mission to emotionallyre-
educate the populace;namelymales and less actively developed women, thus affecting that new world precedence.
He also prescribed training for them to cover certain necessaryareas ofcapability that they'd need to successfully be
active love leaders who could thrive in the work place, thus creating the new type of woman who should and could
run society. According to Dr. Marston's prescription, a love leader would need to possess: Intra -organic stimulus
mechanisms that cause love emotion to be evoked, which basically means only women have this...Sufficient
appetitive power for self support...Wisdom to understand & maneuver all mechanisms of emotions...Sufficient
practical knowledge of existing social & economic institutions, which is developed with time, constantly using
appetitive power. The Amazons were allegories of love leaders, and the new Amazons that then lived on Paradise
Island along with a new setof lifestyle changes and self-improvement practices are allegories of active love leaders
who have undergone Dr. Marston's recommended training to make them ideally successful. Amazon training &
Aphrodite's Law were allegories for the recommended life wisdom and this syllabus prescribed to lo ve leaders. With
this training, love leaders could earn their own living independently, reform people toward the love leaders' loving,
humane ways. But only females could be love leaders, because males did not possess the love-producing organs
that would make them natural love leaders. This is the idea behind why only females could be Amazons in his WW
comics. He wanted women to be the hunters and be able to thrive in the midst of the highly competitive male
dominated work place; to have economic power and be "at the wheel" in order to collectively make changes in
society. And besides being true to the real life universal characteristics of women everywhere, WW is specifically a
dramatized symbol of a special, ideal love leader; a champion and rallying point to inspire other would-be love
leaders (in-story and real world) to strive toward such an ideal.
It has been sorelymisread bymany people (esp. today ) that Dr. Marston viewed women as perfectbeings who make
the best world leaders. The truth was: He was basically saying women were like a potentially great power that
wasn't being properly tapped enough, both in the humanely nurturing sense and in regard to their mental and
emotional might. And in order to harness thatpower for best effect toward the betterment of society, women needed
to be refined in order to bring out and guide that potential power. Thus the idea behind the fictional Amazon training.
But there was also another form of training he'd prescribed for some of his potential love leaders who needed it:
Emotional reform,which was the basis for the emotional reform training administered to the inmates of the fictional
Reform Island. In the WW comics this reform training was given only to female villains,all of whom were allegories of
real life emotionally misaligned women. But in the real world, Dr. Marston prescribed his emotional reform for both
men and women. In his comics,Queen Desira and the people of Venus are the only ones who rehabilitate the male

-12-
villains using their magnetic gold material,which is an allegory for the emotional re-education that makes it possible
for people to submit to loving authority. All of this was a part of his overall prescription for a better society, but they
played a greater role in the midst of desperate need.
So essentially: Dr. Marston wished to overturn the cruel and overly "masculine" minded structures in society by
having women predominate them, because he believed women had more natural love potential. And since he was
always seeking a scientific basis for everything, he based that assertion solely on their physiology...and perhaps on
his personal experience.
Philosophical framework.
To make it more clear as to where Dr. Marston's philosophy & feminism all fit into the creation of WW, le t's put it in
context of her DC Trinity peers.
The idea behind the creation of Superman was that there's evil in the world, and that humans are basically evil
without a guide toward good. And that hope comes from something beyond ourselves...a champion, a messiah.
The idea behind Batman was simplypraising of the lone wolf who takes matters into his own hands, with his own
dominant will and disturbing Ego assertion.
Dr. Marston's ideas,from all his expertise, that predate & inspired WW's creation can be s ummed like this: Evil in
the world comes from within us individuals--explained psychologically--and collectively amasses into worldwide evil.
So, the solution for lessening this worldwide evil is to have better leaders in place within the infrastructure;
specifically,leaders who--in their psyches--have love & humanity as first priority. And the people who have the most
potential within them for this bent are women. Therefore,to carry out this decree/idea, we must train eligible women
to take on this role by properly harnessing that potential, with all the discipline of purpose as well as the operative
skills to prepare them...thus the spiritually-inspired love leader training that Dr. Marston proposed. Dr. Marston
created WW as the apex of such a womanlysolution for our societal problems;the champion symbol that was meant
to inspire young women to become & strive toward such an ideal.
Paradise Island.
The new home of the mythical Amazons that was given to them by their patron goddess,Aphrodite,which was meant
to keep them safe from the corruption of the outside world ("Man's World"), so that they could thrive wonderfully. Its
an island on which they would build a "New Amazonia", an improvement from their previous homeland of Amazonia
in the region that is present-day Turkey. Not that Dr. Marston specifically said so, but I deduced that he placed the
location of Paradise Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There are several clues that support this assertion.
Many of which are planted in his origin stories. And it's a perfect spot to create such safe isolation where no man
could enter so easily.
Paradise Island was an allegoryofthe ideal feminine household that resulted from women's independence and a
refuge from the harsh male dominated workplace back in the Depression Era and all that such harshness had
created in society. Dr. Marston probably grew up in such a household. Paradise Island was an isle ofall-women and
represented somewhere in which a person could grow up without artificial social structures hindering them. That's
why the Amazons went on their own natural female impulses, then learned discipline to channel it. While modern
feminism is an artificial structure thatis filled with doctrines based on the flawed notions ofdes perate women. WW is
not an artificial feminist--------------------------------
Apparent Misandry.
The brand of feminism in WWhas also been a source of some controversy, not only for its unconventional ideas, but
its apparent misandry. Many fans today believe Dr. Marston was a sexist as was apparent in how he wrote WW
while constantly advocating for women. In the WW comicbook, men were depicted in humiliating subjugation; men
were portrayed as the complete badguys & ghastly (ie. Dr. Psycho), while women villains were redeemable; only
women were putin Reform Island,while men were excluded from anywhere on Paradise Island, although they were
allowed on planet Venus where they did receive rehabilitation; etc.
But it wasn'tthat Dr. Marston was saying women were better than men. He recognized the merits of both genders.
He also wasn't a misandrist who didn't know that women could be every bit as evil as men...He most certainly did,
and showed it in his comics! It was just that in his day, he lived in a highly unbalanced patriarchal society where
masculine ways were the prevalent attitude...ie. male dominance in the workplace, everyone revering masculine
qualities & ways, etc. Society didn't hold high value to Aphrodisial concepts such as love, tenderne ss, humanity,
much less spirituality. It was all considered sissy stuff. This masculine overload was the cause of many conflicts in
society, worldwide and domestically. However, perspective-wise,whatever this manuscripthas said about society in
America, it was a LOT worse in England where it was basically made law, which meant that husbands basically
owned their wives and could get away with a lot of abuse,creating an oppressive environment. Although less severe
than in England,the harsh patriarchal attitudes in America mostly still lingered in the culture. To a Venusian like Dr.
Marston, this culture was painfullyintolerable. It needed some balance from the feminine ways. So he reasoned that
the way to correct that imbalance was to have women in positions of power in the work force; achieve a great
feminine dominance via that Matriarchy that he "foresaw",thus flipping the current "incorrectrelationship". Therefore,
his treatment of the WW comicbook was to use it as a propaganda tool to speed up that Matriarchy, which affected
how he presented his creation & her stories to the world...to achieve a certain psychological effect. But such tactics
would not be appropriate for today's world,hence the relative misandryin his comics detected by toda y's readers who
live in a slightly different context.
Also vitally important is the truth behind the depiction of Steve Trevor's wishes for WW to do more traditional
female tasks domestically. This has been a catalyst for inaccurate & biased assumption from feminist fans. The
popular (& false) assumption among them is that Steve was portrayed to be a bit of a pig or chauvinist in the Golden
Age. The truth was: You have to realize that Dr. Marston had an agenda and often expressed things more
allegorically, out loud, which didn't always come across as favorable in the literal sense. He was trying to make a
point by telling the social story of what has happened in real life between men of his demographic and women. In
other words,to show through allegory how women would lose their "powers" to reform the status quo if they were to
give-in to domestication. It was not to say that Steve was a pig or chauvinist--which would notmake sense, since he

-13-
has repeatedly been shown to admire WW.
Much of the apparently-misandristic comics depictions can be explained, partly by his choice of narrative genre (ie.
caricatures of evil) & his agenda with his comics. But the crux of it all lies in the fact that, unlike how other comic
titles were handled by their creators, Dr. Marston used his WW comics as a psychological tool to counteract the
overly egotistically masculine--and appetitively driven--attitudes of his day. Also true was his words being
misinterpreted, as he often spoke in symbolic language that was taken too literally by the uninitiated public.
To put the point of WW in simple terms: His philosophyproduced the idea of a woman superhero and all the moral
regulations thatgo with her...The idea was to highlightthe power of women;something thatwasn'tbein g emphasized
in society yet...Back in his day and region (Western world), men were the bosses of the household, women's true
potentials weren't articulated, women had less of an influence in a painfully overly-Patriarchal society...So he
prescribed thatwomen allure men enough so thatmen would admire the women, just as Steve admires Diana...And
that would result in allowing women's true ability to take its course with more power & influence in society, whether
that be the man & woman being equal bosses,or each of them taking turns being bosses,or the man being the boss
but once in a while deferring to the woman,or however that would manifest itself...This all under the context of these
women having already developed their full potentials to take on love leadership, just like Diana...And all that would
result in a better society that values love & humanity.
Remember, his efforts & expert recommendations weren't about "equality", as many biased fans have incorrectly
declared. It was all about balance.
The real power of women.
Many modern feminists take Dr. Marston's work on WW as their backup "proof" that their ways should be the status
quo. But what these modern feminists miss is thatDr.Marston's brand of feminism was nottheirs. Modern feminists
want women to take charge simply because they're women and to do it in whatever way. But Dr. Marston's feminist
plan was aboutcapitalizing on women's love-inspiring qualities,such as alluring; and as a remedy for the imbalance
of his day. His women had to allure in order to be effective, because this nurturing quality is what Dr. Marston
believed to be among women's greatest assets or "superpower". That is why the idea behind WW wasn't that she's
made to be like a man, but rather she is an alluring feminine figure who happens to possess great power. He
envisioned that,ideally, women everywhere would use their allure to collectively conquer the destructive appetites of
men, thus effecting a more peaceful society. This was the idea behind the Magic Girdle a llegory that gave the
Amazons unconquerable strength.
Remember, Dr. Marston intended WW to conquer with love, not fight using it. The fighting is done with her fists &
other accouterments. The love is an inner inherentqualitythat she retains in abundance. Its this humane, nurturing
quality that has been a central theme in the personalities of WW's many archetypal successors, such as Nikita. And
its this greatest asset that makes the difference in a masculine-ruled society.
Real vs Artificial.
WW is not an artificial feminist. She and the Amazons come from a tribe, culture,ethnic group where women believe
in their own natural gifts/abilities,where they live without artificial social structures keeping them down, where female
empowerment is simply a matter-of-fact thing and the youngsters grew up knowing no other norm. And with no
outside social structures suppressing them,Amazons go on their own natural girlish impulses. Whereas the modern
feminism in Man's World attempts to create artificial structures, albeit to promote & keep women up, but in their
biased way. The contrastof these two cultures reveals whatis & isn'tinnate in the female nature, which also reveals
the flaws inherent in the artificial feminism of our/Man's world------------------------------------------
Superpowers in the real world.
Rarely does a comicbook take the readers into the realm of real possibility. Take Superman for example. Here's a
guy with powers beyond mere mortals. Its a situation where he has something that no one else has or can ever
have; dangling wish-fulfillment in front of readers, making them envious, creating a hierarchy of haves/have-nots.
This is true of most superhero comics.
But in WW's mythos, by contrast, the message (albeit allegorically) was that anyone--particularly females--can
develop abilities...if they undergo Amazon training. In other words, real world women (like the Amazon neophytes)
mustuse their minds,exercising thatmental muscle (allegorized as Venusian "brain energy"), to develop the skills &
abilities necessary to kick ass in the workforce. It was all an allegory for Dr. Marston's plan for women to become
love leaders. He expected his love leaders to develop earning power and to amass economic supremacy, which
would allow them to do even more. And how appropriately synchronistic that wealth is the real world equivalent to a
superhero's super powers. In the real world, wealth is what gives you power; the ability to do many advantageous
things; and is precisely what Dr. Marston intended for his love leaders to achieve. The super strength of the
Amazons is an allegory for the appetitive power for self-sufficiency that makes it possible for love leaders to amass
economic dominance.
Aphrodite's Law.
This was a set of living stipulations that were a part of the whole new self improvement covenant that Aphrodite
decreed for the Amazons. It was all allegorical of the stipulations that Dr. Marston advised must be in place in order
for his plan for love leaders to succeed.----------------------------------------------------
However, it should be mentioned thatthese laws can be confusing & inconsistent when reading it across different
incarnations. The reason for this is that subsequent writers didn’t truly understand Dr. Marston's intentions, and so
they created their version of the mythos based on their misinterpretations. In their incarnation, Aphrodite’s Law says
that no Amazon can marry and remain an Amazon, but in the Initial incarnation of the original design, all Dr. Marston
was saying was that an Amazon should not submit to a man...and nothing against marriage itself. And the notion of
no man being allowed on Paradise Island has to be understood for what it is an allegory for in order to fully
understand what is or isn't allowed according to Aphrodite's Law.--------------------------------
To grasp the true design & meaning of Aphrodite's Laws and avoid confusion, one must get to know what Dr.
Marston intended to convey with these allegories. From there, one can explain the rest of what is or isn't allowed by
Aphrodite's Law and not be confused or misled by subsequent incarnations.

-14-
--------------------------------It wasn't that WW didn't wanna be asked out...she did. Its just that by Aphrodite's Law, she
could not. As time went on, as this issue in the real world evolved, so did WW's relation with Aphrodite's Law------------
Dated elements.
Dr. Marston often talked about reforming "werewolves" (men) most effectively in the home. Well, it should be
perplexing to everyone why he didn't presentthis idea in the WW comics by allegorizing Reform Island as a place to
send male villains, since Paradise Island is an allegory for the peaceful women -ruled household. But by
remembering what Dr. Marston was really trying to do with his comics, this should make sense.
However, its also importantto remember thatmostof his antics in the WW comics & newspaper strips to promote
his brand of feminism was onlyappropriate for the times he was living in and for the purpose of pulling wome n out of
their socially/psychologically self-imposed lows to make possible a matriarchy.
In today's world, WW would not be portrayed in half of the things shown in the Golden Age, and continuing the
same Golden Age antics would be doing a disservice to hum anity by sending the wrong message; thus making
women everywhere (esp. misandrist) think they are anything special above men.
Today, it would be very appropriate to see things like peaceful men visiting Paradise Island or male villains being
carted off to Reform Island,not just to Queen Desira. Things are less imbalanced gender-wise. Majority of women
are already empowered.----------------------
There's no such thing as equalitywith the genders....Men & woman aren'trivals, they're complements!----------------------
Being the mindful psychologist he was, Dr. Marston didn't just portray a misogynistic/misandristic villain as just
woman/man haters out of the blue. He gave them each strong backstories that explain why they are the way they
are. Much of it was true to life. Take Zara for example:She's an Arab girl whose father---------------------------------------------
The Diana archetype.
In one of Dr. Marston's articles to promote the power of women,he talks aboutthe Diana Reflex, which is the inherent
emotionally-induced capacity and reaction in women to be wild and do outrageous acts. The Diana Reflex stems
from the theory that women also have some masculine energy as part of the Yin/Yang to their dominant feminine
energies. And that because women have a greater emotional wellspring than men, due to their particular glands, it
sustains their masculine side; which enables them to perform traditionally male tasks. This phenomenon was so
named after the mythological goddess,because of what that goddess mythologized. Diana was the goddess of the
hunt, the moon, and the wild. She basically symbolized the unconventional womanly path, the unfettered, wild river,
so to speak----------------------------------------------------
This is related to the psychology of the WW mythos (See "Sexual Psych" chapter), but it is in usage of its feminism. And
he emphasized this aspect of women in order to promote that part of them to come out, albeit controlled. It is this
inner Diana that allows women to be heroic. It was a well known female quality, even in ancient times. Hence the
goddess Diana. Which leads to WW mythos's Greek Mythology later....--------------------------------------------------------------
(Due to my busy schedule away from this extracurricular activity, I've yet to finish writing the rest of this chapter.
But be on the lookout for future revised editions of this manuscript when it'll finally be completed.)

-15-
MYTHOLOGY & THEOLOGY
(Due to my busy schedule away from this extracurricular activity, this chapter is almost finished but not quite...as
there's still a bit more to be added. But be on the lookout for future revised editions of this manuscript when it'll
finally be completed.)
After conceiving the idea of a superwoman-with-a-humane-heart from his philosophical psychology & feminism, he
still needed a genre from which to formulate her origin background;paintthe philosophical framework,so to speak, to
make it dramatic & grab people's attention while reaching deep within their psyches. He was new to comicbook
writing and was older & more educated than other creators at the time. And so, just as when he conceived the
concept of WW, he drew from what he already knew. In this case, it was Greco/Roman mythology. It contained
many built-in allusions & other mystical goodies, because it was an already-established genre unlike the new
mythology that Siegel & Shuster fabricated.
With his decision to make WW and her story mythological, Greco/Roman (and sometimes other cultures)
mythology would forever be a part of the world that WW inhabits. But that was just the dressing on the mannequin.
His philosophy & concepts were what the WW mythos was really about. The G/R mythology was simply the form in
which the story of those themes takes place.
Like most scholars of his day--who were also both classically educated and spouting off mythological
exclamations--Dr.Marston alreadyhad a G/R mythology bent to his thinking and mentallyassociated many G/R myth
elements to his psychological theories & philosophy...long before creating WW. Then by using those ready-made
mythological allegories--which he reinterpreted--he wove an entire superhero mythos that illustrated his theories &
philosophy as age-old universal truths. And he was able to easily adapt G/R myths to his theories--as have other
psychologists--because those ancient myths provide psychology with a vast imprint of our psyches.
What is Mythology?
Mythology is not a literal report of human history. On the other hand, neither is it quite the same thing as common
fiction. It’s not as though some ancientperson one daydecided to concoct all these gods & heroes & settings out of
nowhere and weave them into a series of entertaining super adventure stories. Ancient mythology--Greco/Roman or
otherwise--is basically a spewing of the human psyche....ie. There was no actual magical bearded male named Zeus who went around
impregnating women, or a six-armed monstrosity named Shiva who destroyed entire land masses. They all stem from the Collective Unconscious,
in an early attemptby mankind to explain how the universe around him works and where he came from. Also, this is
likely why there tends to exist seeminglymystical (or mythical?) synchronicities between real life & myth; such as the
interesting case of Dr. William Moulton Marston's life....ie. Dr. Marston was symbolic of Vulcan, in that he was a disabled man who
constructively worked with the psychology ofemotions to forge different ways for people to bind their love, just as Vulcan w as a disabled god who worked with fire
constructively to forge love chains & other tools for Aphrodite to do her work....Dr. Marston was also symbolic ofZeus as th e patriarch ofWW and the Marston
household....He worked late, just as Vulcan did....His maternal family's trade is indicative ofVulcan, etc.
Mankind has always had an innate tendency to concoct mystical--even creatively fantastical--explanations for that
which he currently doesn’t know enough about to quantify in precise metrics; only after which doe s the unexplained
become not so mystical. But those concoctions are allegorical in nature rather than literal in the physical
plane...much like the WW mythos! Most of them become our mythologies, and some go on to become religions.
Whether or not anyone treats those concoctions literally or allegorically is another matter.
Religions and spiritual disciplines (ie. Shintoism, Hinduism, etc) are much like mythology, in that they largely contain
allegory& personification to explain very real things and intangible concepts. And that's the only way to explain them,
because those concepts are so complex! In fact, G/R mythology was also a form of religion for some people in
Ancient times, particularly disciples of Mysteries & cults that held the exclusive keys of deciphering these myths,
which revealed the true, hidden meanings, messages, and wisdom that they contained. So, in the face of
Christianity's hypocrisyof labeling G/R mythology as paganism, both these religions do in fact share heavy usage of
allegory, as many written Biblical accounts were not literal. Therefore, those Bible stories could be construed as
mythology....ie. The Garden of Eden never literally existed as such, nor did Shiva or any other Hindu god, but they all represent very real co ncepts....The
Olympian gods molding humans from clay is another way to describe the same notion that the Bible puts as "God created mankind fromthe dirt ofthe Earth"....The
story of Eve & the Forbidden Fruit is basically a refitting ofthe Pandora myth & her box, and neither ofthemactually took place in the physical real world, nor was
there ever a talking serpent that tricked the first two human beings into eating a piece offruit .
Only in the realm offiction can these mythological characters & feats exis t in literal and humanoid form rather than
just as intangible ideas. Reading about these myths allows us to imagine "what if" these mythological characters
existed in physical humanoid form, actually interacting with people. Moreover, the key thing to remember is that the
symbolic implications & significance ofthese mythological characters & events remain permanently attached to them,
whether they'd be merely ideas in print or living myths in physical form --which would've made them walking/talking
historical lessons....ie. The gods are personifications ofvarious things in nature & the human experience, things in our primordial programming --lust, anger,
patriarchy, matriarchy, rebellion, jealousy, etc--and therefore prone to [or in the case of printed fiction, portrayed having] the same character flaws as us mortals,
rather than being perfect divine beings. That's why all the fantastical feats, gods, & events in these myths still resonate with us
regardless of their existential form.
But as a testamentof our material world,mostof modern society disregards & writes them all off, simply because
they're not tangibly "real". Nonetheless, it remains that ancient mythology both entertains & educates. That's why
modern literature sometimes mines Classical mythologyfor these interesting characters & events to weave new story
plots that contain those built-in timeless themes & archetypes & other Collective Unconscious products. The most
notable examples ofthese new stories are comic books, which are very much modern mythologies by themselves,
complete with [super]heroes & monsters thatentertain the youth. Justas youths of ancienttimes read the exploits of
heroes (ie. Perseus) on clay tablets or scrolls. The idea with comicbook superheroes is that someon e creates a
character by presenting a set of ideas, then subsequent writers variously interpret them, thus producing different
incarnations of those same ideas. This has been very much the case with Classical mythology. One major
difference between the modern & Classical is that Classical mythology was also a religion for ancient peoples .
Rendition.
The primary mistake many people make when looking at WW's G/R mythology is assuming that it's the Classical
version, which it certainly wasn't! The way Dr. Marston set it up was very specific to his WW mythos. So when

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