Every one of the weekly articles I’ve written for this site since 2016 starts with research. This is more or less wandering around and seeing what’s there. One of the things I enjoy most about conducting background research is how many interesting things are right there, just off the beaten path, lying in plain sight. More than once I’ve set out to write about one thing and ended up writing about something else. While doing the research for Why Can’t Lie Detectors Detect Lies?, I found a fella named William Marston had invented a machine that measured people’s blood pressure. He claimed he could identify liars with it. Every lie detector inventor since then has made the same claim.
I’d never heard of William Moulton Marston and wondered what his medical background was
He had none. That’s what I get for assuming a blood pressure measuring device must have been invented by a doctor, nurse, or lab tech. Nope. Marston was a lawyer, psychologist, professor, scriptwriter, inventor, cartoonist, and consulting psychologist for Family Circle magazine. His wife Elizabeth was also an attorney and psychologist — and a lecturer, writer, editor, activist, and archivist. Together they had two children.
Olive Byrne was a student at Tufts University
Marston was her psychology professor. She was delighted when he took her on as his lab assistant. When Olive Byrne graduated, she moved in with the Marstons and took care of the kids and the household. It was 100 years ago and many were scandalized.
Marston fathered two more children, this time with his student/lab assistant/live-in nanny/housekeeper
He and Elizabeth adopted Olive’s children and Olive raised all four. I read somewhere that one of Elizabeth’s children was named Olive and Olive named one of hers was Elizabeth. That first bit is factual, but Olive’s kids were both boys (Byrne and Donn). Either way, it adds a nice touch to the story of two women living in a polyamorous relationship with one’s husband.
Marston the psychologist believed comic books were good for kids
He was convinced that these 10¢ magazines filled with illustrated stories had great educational potential.
Max Gaines was publisher of the company that later became DC Comics
Gaines hired Marston in 1941 as an educational consultant. Some say Marston was hired in spite of his bizarre theories and his bohemian personal life. Others say he was hired for those very reasons.
Superman was the first superhero to get his own comic book series
After he arrived, dozens of characters using their superhuman powers to do good deeds jumped on the comic book bandwagon.
Batman, Captain Marvel, and the Green Lantern are a few of the more recognizable comic book superheroes that arrived in the 1930s and 1940s.
Mrs. Marston suggested that Mr. Marston invent a superhero of his own
Jill Lepore is the author of The Secret History of Wonder Woman. She says Marston had some pretty unconventional ideas about sex and gender. He set about to express his theme of dominance and submission through a comic book hero who overcame adversity with love, not the violence and weapons used by the superheroes of the day. His wife said if that’s the case, make your hero a woman.
Marston named his female superhero Suprema, the Wonder Woman
Sheldon Mayer was the editor who made the decision to drop Suprema’s name. And a good one.
Wonder Woman was an Amazon warrior sculpted from clay
The Greek gods brought her to life and gave her superhuman powers that she used to fight fascism with feminism. Unlike all the damsels in distress needing to be rescued by males, Wonder Woman freed herself from chains that bound her.
Marston’s interest in erotic art led to his design of Wonder Woman’s original costume
Lepore says the bullet-stopping bracelets, magic lasso, sexualized costume, and the fact she is stripped of all her power when tied up tells us that Marston had more than a little interest in bondage.
Time check
This was in 1942, and the United States was at war with Germany in Europe and Japan in the Pacific. Millions of American men were on active duty with the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force overseas. Back home in the States was a time of belt-tightening and rationing.
Smithsonian says some complained that Wonder Woman’s costume was too sexualized and too revealing
Of course, what people label as scandalous depends upon their point of view, doesn’t it? History.com says most people thought no such thing. Most Americans believed Wonder Woman combined the spirit of Rosie the Riveter with the looks of the idealized young women of the time, the beautiful pin-up girls.
Marston’s character played out his ideas of dominance and submission over and over again
Marintheatre.org says “Just as he had focused on dominance and submission in his psychology studies, Marston structured Wonder Woman’s universe with these same categories. She and the other characters in the series were constantly being tied up, chained, imprisoned, and handcuffed. “Great girdle** of Aphrodite!” she shouted, “Am I tired of being tied up.”
And look how Wonder Woman’s golden lasso forces people to tell the truth
People who study such things say her rope is a clearly stylized combination of Marston’s preoccupation with bondage and his “lie detector.”
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This week’s article was written by David Allan Van Nostrand
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*You’ve probably already guessed that Olive Byrne was the physical model for Wonder Woman. If you’re really into it, you know the golden bracelets Olive wore to celebrate moving in with the Marstons were the inspiration for Wonder Woman’s indestructible bullet-stoppers.
** In Aphrodite’s day, the word girdle applied to a number of things worn around the body above the waist, below the neck, and under the breasts. Whatever you call it, it was one of Aphrodite’s most erotic items.
Bonus
The Harvard Gazette says “He created the most famous female superhero in history, empowering her to triumph in a male-dominated world, yet he lived together with a wife and a mistress, fathered children with both, and was eager to keep the complex relationship secret.”
