Two Women Discuss Food and Fashion

"Hey, Diana, I thought you were a vegetarian!"

Wonder Woman looks up from her snack to see Power Girl approaching.

"Hi Karen!"

"Is that beef jerky?" Karen asks.

"No, it's venison," Diana takes a bite and offers it to the others. Karen accepts, but still raises a questioning eyebrow

"No," Diana answers, "I'm not a vegetarian. My cook is. I respect his personal reasons for being so and eat what he makes, but I have nothing personaly against eating meat."

"Isn't that a conflict with your nature-beliefs and animal rights stance?"

"Not at all. Lady Artemis' primary office is Chief Hunter, Lord Hermes is the patron of livestock farmers, and I've been recieved more from them than I can repay. It would be a spiritual betrayal, for me personally, to swear off meat when I benefit from their patronage. This doesn't mean I condone unnecessary cruelty, but I don't find nutrition cruelty, just how it may be collected. This venison, for example, was freeze-dried and given to me by a hunter friend from a deer she personally killed during the allowed season."

"Still seems like a conflict to me," Karen says, "but then a lot of things with you are contradictory."

"Not to me they aren't. As I'm sure things that seem natural to you may seem contradictory to others" Diana indicates the window over Power Girl's cleavage.

"Look who's talking!"

"This outfit was considered acceptable by my culture. Themiscyra is a very warm climate, and I had no need for extensive armor with my gift from Demeter. You chose your costume well aware of what the Patriarch's World would think of you. I'm not condemning you at all, but I am curious as to why."

"It's a distraction tactic."

Diana raises an eyebrow. Karen frowns, she should have known better than to try and bullshit Wonder Woman.

"I was going to put a symbol there, like Superman's..."

"Then why not leave it blank?

Karen tosses her head, ill at ease. This is embarassing.

"I have a nice body, I'm proud of that. I wanted to show off a little."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing!"

"Then why try to cover it with another explanation?"

"Because guys don't understand, damn it. They see the window and the boobs and think 'That's it. That's Power Girl.' And if I complain, they say 'Well, you're showing yourself off. You want this kind of attention.' Which is wrong, I want to be sexy and lively and beautiful, but I'm still a person, y'know. I don't want to be reduced to these."

"Makes sense. A little in this society tends to turn into a lot. Some people see a little bit of skin and consider it a complete nullification of humanity. They can't see past the sexuality and see that it's just a part of an entire person, and so a little sensuality gets seized upon as a 'distinguishing characteristic' and even the entire identity of a woman. The emphasis on sexuality increases, and soon the whole woman is lost in this hideous caricature of femininity. They're not a fully realized person to the observer, they're just a fantasy, or a joke. I can see why women in this society would tend to hide themselves in the attempt to minimize this."

"I've tried that," Karen states sullenly, "more covering costumes, frowning and scowling all the time. It didn't feel like me!"


"Of course not! You're lively and bawdy and it's wonderful. You remind me of my mother sometimes."

"Now, you mother was fun," Karen grins momentarily, remembering the Amazon Queen, "But she had the same problem. It pissed her off, too."

"And she resisted both sides of the argument. She resisted the people who tried to define her as little more than a pair of breasts, and the people who tried to cover her up because they believed that definition. And in the end, how do you remember her?"

"As a wise, lively, brassy woman," Karen says after some thought, "Who found the same fun and excitement saving the world as dancing at the victory party."

Diana smiles widely.

"But not everyone remembers her that way."

"I'm ever an optimist, Karen, those are the ones who never met her. And I have to believe that more people remember her for the good deeds she did than the pin-ups she posed for. I also have to believe that more people will remember you for saving the world than for baring part of your bust."

"You are so naive," Karen replies affectionately.

"Still, are you going to sew up the hole in your costume?"

"Are you going to drop the deer jerky?"

"Fair enough. Let's find something to do."

"Or someone to hit."