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Feminist Pop Culture Heroes

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Heroism Studies

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Synonyms

Female representation in popular culture; Feminism and superheroes; Feminism in popular culture

Definition

Popular culture has long engaged and responded to the four waves of feminism in its portrayal of female characters.

Introduction

When the first regular issue of feminist magazine Ms. premiered in July 1972, the founders chose iconic comic-book heroine Wonder Woman for the cover (Lepore 2014). Created in 1941 and still popular today, Wonder Woman’s impact on American culture was vast. However, Ms. Magazine was not only celebrating Wonder Woman’s importance; it was also reacting to a recent change in Wonder Woman’s comics – she had lost her powers. Those powers were restored shortly after Ms. Magazine’s article (Lepore 2014).

In the United States, the twentieth century saw the rise of both feminism and popular culture. There are four movements, or waves, to feminist thought. The first wave was focused on the right to vote and other elements of equal citizenship and equal...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, USA

    Katherine McLoone

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  1. Katherine McLoone
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Correspondence to Katherine McLoone .

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  1. Department of Sociology, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA

    James K. Beggan

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McLoone, K. (2023). Feminist Pop Culture Heroes. In: Encyclopedia of Heroism Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17125-3_106-1

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