The Heroes in our Boys’ Room

This is the weekend I’ve either been dreading or awaiting since February of 1979. Fans of Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman TV series have wondered if Hollywood would be crazy enough to compete with the disco-era TV show with a motion picture. Turns out, they are. This summer’s Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot, has some big, red boots to fill.

At the time of this writing, I’ve purchased our tickets and am more cautious than excited. One of my stepsons has a birthday next week, so I asked if he’d like to see the movie as part of the festivities. Historically a Transformers movie or the latest Ninja Turtle installment has been a hallmark of his birthday weekend, so Wonder Woman seemed like a natural action-packed pick. He loves heroes and villains and action and adventure, but prefers Star Wars to the Amazon Princess, so I’m skeptical. Will he like the movie? Will I like the movie? Our birthday weekend plan is a risky one.

Our two year old golden doodle is named Lynda Carter and we have a Wonder Woman-themed laundry room. An autographed picture of Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman is above the dryer; an original series poster from eBay is above the drying rack; and a book case full of collectibles greets guests to the room because everyone gets a tour of the best laundry room ever when they visit. A brilliant four-foot yellow “WW” logo sits atop a cherry-red wall while another wall showcases stark white stars scattered across a bold blue. Laundry has never been so fun.

The 22 seconds that nothing was on top of the washer or dryer

A couple Christmases ago, the grandparents sent the two boys 12-inch metal letters covered with comic book super heroes that spelled out each of their names. We have an older home and their bedroom has two small closets. Their hero-clad names fit perfectly above each closet door, and in a shared room, this is a great way to make each boy feel like they have their own celebrated personal space.

The grandparents also gave us a Wonder Woman light switch cover for our laundry room. Sadly we already had one (of course we did!) so it sat in the junk drawer for a couple months until a rainy day left me nothing to do but organize. As I rearranged screwdrivers, notepads, tape measures and cat treats, I felt guilt and sadness seeing the colorful cover not living to its full potential. Then it hit me. Why don’t I put it in the boys’ room? They’ve got super heroes in there already. Perfect.

I hate to admit this, but almost immediately I second-guessed putting this female superhero switch plate in their room because they’re boys. I, Billie Johnson, second-guessed this due to my own hint of bias about gender roles and influences.

The hallway junk drawer is seven steps to their bedroom. With a screwdriver in one hand and Wonder Woman in the other, those steps held some of the greatest internal debate that I’ve had for a long time.

Am I sexist? Am I a feminist? What does it mean to be either of those? Should I ask the boys first if they’d like a new switch plate? Will they even recognize the differing gender from the heroes in the letters of their names? Wait—can Wonder Woman be a “hero” or am I still bound to “heroine”?

This silly little switch plate led to an unexpected exploration of my subconscious gender bias.

I swapped out their plain, white cover and decided to see if they said anything upon return from their dad’s house. Nothing came up for a couple days, so I casually asked if they noticed anything new in their room. After some prodding they finally said, “Oh that. Yeah. It’s cool.” 

Wonder Woman fits right in with the boys--and Bat Girl.

Nothing about how excited or disgusted they were. Nothing about there being a girl in their room. I questioned if I had made a big deal in my mind out of nothing, but I don’t think I had.

Whether we guide or simply allow our kids’ room décor, all sorts of messages are sent right along with the movies they see. We want our boys to recognize the strength and power in women in terms of treating them as equals and with respect. We also want them to know that they can lean on women and count on them right along with the men in their lives.

I counted on Wonder Woman as a kid and that’s led to a family attendance at the Wonder Woman premier this weekend and including her among the heroes in our boys’ room. I hope they want a movie poster, but I’m not going to push it. It is their room after all.