The biggest news about Wonder Woman's success isn't about women

It's easy to find references to the sexism that prevented a woman from directing a summer blockbuster until Patty Jenkins came along, or the triumph of Gal Gadot as leading lady. But it's easy to overlook the core belief of that sexism, what those in Holywood and feminists alike got wrong all along.

You see, the greatest triumph of Wonder Woman isn't that her thigh jiggled, or any other feminist statement, subtle or overt. The greatest triumph of Wonder Woman is that it ended up being just another movie. The reason, so the story goes, that we didn't have a woman-directed, women-led, big-action comicbook blowup earlier is fear that male audiences wouldn't be interested. This, of course, turned out to not be an issue. Wonder Woman was the summer's most anticipated movie, obviously requiring the interest of a great deal of men. On Rotten Tomatoes (love it or hate it), the critics - mostly men from what I've seen - loved it. The largest Youtube reviewers, basically all men, came out in heavy support. And, most importantly, men have come out in droves to buy tickets.

If all of that fear had been true, this movie would have flopped hard. Women and 'allies' could not have made this movie a success alone. It turns out that men are, by and large, more than willing to enjoy a great movie, whether the leading lady is male or female, whether the director is male or female. All of those tropes that people attribute to sexism, such as the 'male gaze' mentioned when noticing the aforementioned 'thigh jiggle' that has people in a tizzy, turn out to be hot air. Men don't need it, and Wonder Woman is the proof. Turns out, in what is probably a surprise to very few, that men aren't as sexist as some thought.

And there is an important message here, one delivered by Wonder Woman herself. She doesn't have to advocate for rights. She simply sees herself as an equal, and by comporting herself accordingly, is treated as one.

The issues around gender discrimination (I hesitate to use the term, because it's not gender discrimination - it's sex discrimination, and I've written elsewhere about the confusion and harm that comes from conflating the two) are complex, and I won't pretend to have all the answers. But while issues such as how close women come to 'same pay for the same work' are muddied by things like choice of profession, willingness to endure different levels of work/life balance, willingness to negotiate, and the like, one thing that the data makes clear is that women's perception of themselves as unable or unwelcome has a huge impact. While there is plenty of data to be had on the issue, I'll link a cute video I've seen recently. The data is easy to find if you look.

So maybe the real message we should be getting out of Wonder Woman is that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Look at the actual speech. President Roosevelt wasn't brushing off the reality of the challenges the nation faced. He was saying that blowing up the fears to unreasonable proportion, confusing matters, and allowing that confusion to paralyze you and/or misdirect your efforts, is what there is to fear. The rest is down to work.

So let's accept that men, by and large, aren't against equality. We men are in this with women, rooting for you. Women don't have to enter high-paying fields. They don't have to pursue STEM degrees. But don't say you won't do these things because you can't. You can, and the largest impediment to your doing so is your own fear that stands in your way.