spittleteets
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Before Wonder Woman's creation and appearances in 1941, William Moulton Marston was a Psychologist who invented the systolic blood pressure test and first hypothesized the correlation between blood pressure and emotion. Marston's test and hypothesis is what led to John Augustus Larson combining other tests to arrive at the polygraph (lie detector test) as we know it today.
Despite her public image today, Wonder Woman was a controversial figure in the 1940s because of her overt sexuality and her link to bondage. Her costume was inspired by Marston's interest in erotic pin-up art.
"There are a lot of people who get very upset at what Marston was doing ... 'Is this a feminist project that's supposed to help girls decide to go to college and have careers, or is this just like soft porn?" - Author Jill Lepore on early reactions to Wonder Woman
While still slightly problematic as to "how a woman should act" Marston was extremely progressive by comparison of his contemporaries.
Now knowing this history, it makes a lot of sense that WW was given the "Lasso of Truth". Marston really embodied the saying, "Write about what you know"
Anyway, I thought it was interesting and hope you did too!
AtsaMattaForMe
spattr
There's a film biopic of he and his wife from a few years ago called "Professor Marston and the Wonder Women".
marthafarquar
His former Tufts student and mistress, Olive Byrne wearing the large gold bracelets that Marston gave her in 1928, 13 years before he gave Wonder Woman a similar set of bracelets.
JaceCameron
I heard he based her off his mistress? Could be rumor but it was a dominatrix and thats why she uses the rope?
spittleteets
Yes, he did have a mistress, Olive Byrne, who was a writer for the magazine Family Circle and niece of activist and Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger.
Marston, his wife Elizabeth Holloway, and Byrne all lived together. Marston had children with both women. There's definitely a lot of nods to bondage in the comics, I imagine the unorthodox living arrangement also added to how people viewed him. Again, IDK, jus finding this out, could have been the kinkiest mf that ever was!
ThePsychAutist
Give this person a prize! You are correct! I forget where I heard it, now... Maybe on QI? But Marston was indeed a bondage enthusiast, and was in a three-way relationship with his wife and mistress. The original WW stories involved a lot of bondage themes, including the fact that her Lasso of Truth was not just for truth - it gave her the power of complete command; also, her powers were completely negated if she, herself, were tied up, so that happened a lot, too.