Of course Wonder Woman deserves an all-female showing

THERE ARE only few cinemas in Andalucia which show films in English. How would Spaniards feel if only English speakers were allowed in?

That’s the ignorant comparison which some are making of the situation in Austin, Texas where the Alamo Drafthouse announced an all-female screening of Wonder Woman.

Is the comparison or the hate-filled reaction to the event justified? No, for three important reasons.

Firstly, the showing of the film in was by independent cinema with a history of having select evenings aimed at specific demographics.

Secondly, Spain, like most other Western nations, might have their share of politics but seldom in their politics. It would be a national embarrassment if men lit up Twitter as some male Americans have to protest the film.

Thirdly, the same cinema held an all-female screening of Sex and the City with not so much as a flutter.

Why? Because it’s a ‘chick’ film while comic books are archetypically male. Or so the idiocy goes.

The character of ‘Wonder Woman’ was born of an age where this was true, though. Her status is, by definition, wondrous because of how statistically unlikely it was a heroine who rivalled her male counterparts would succeed.

To denounce the appropriateness of women to see a film that represents one of the only universally recognised and popular female heroes is to dismiss the ongoing disparities between the sexes as well as those who’ve worked to fight for women’s rights.

This is not militant feminism. It’s common sense – women are still most likely to suffer disparities in pay with their male counterparts; get humiliated by career setbacks if they dare to have children and are statistically more likely to be sexual assaulted.

Everything from wolf whistles in the street to the fact that The Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America have all had films, but Black Widow hasn’t, is precisely why there should be a collective sigh at the protest against the movie.

Remember, too that the Wonder Woman character was made an honorary UN ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls and was just as quickly dropped. Would the same have happened to Superman as an exemplar of truth, justice and the American way?

We owe it to our mothers, as well as our daughters, not to decry a film showing, but rather the abject mistreatment of fifty percent of the population and the only sex that can give birth to men.