By Kyra-lin Hom

Wonder Woman, in all her thigh-bearing, corset-wearing glory, is arguably one of the most iconic female characters in American media. She originally emerged onto the comic page in 1941 as the first female superhero under the pen of writer William Moulton Marston, and has since launched into the feminist hall of fame. It's no surprise then that her soon-to-be live action film revival has sparked a storm of social and fandom controversy.

For those not in the nerdy-know, please stick with me. I promise we'll be leaving the comic book realm shortly.

Here's a brief background to get you up to speed. There are two major comic book publishers: Marvel and DC. Marvel has been kicking serious economic tail with their Avengers cinematic universe. DC, desperate for a piece of that action, is attempting to launch its own cinematic super-verse – i.e. a whole bunch of Justice League films – to compete. The original 'Big Three' of the Justice League are Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, a scantily clad, super powered, buxom beauty. In the comics, she's said to be “beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, as strong as Hercules, and as swift as Hermes.” Yeah, she's kind of a big deal.

Especially once we get passed the 1970's, she's a strong, paragon of justice that's not afraid to snap a few necks. What she isn't, is a Hollywood waif. And that's the controversy. To be clear, I have nothing against the model/actress that's been cast to play her. Gal Gadot (best known for her role in the Fast & Furious franchise) is sexy, spunky – heck, she served in the Israeli army for two years! And she's certainly already taken enough flack over the role that she doesn't need anymore from me.

No, I have nothing against her. What I have a problem with is the machine that looked at a rail thin model and thought, 'that's our Wonder Woman.'

The American cinematic 'ideal' that its men be absurdly ripped and its women be a striking balance of thin-curvy-sexy breaks down once women start crossing into the action realm. To phrase it differently, we accept that Chris Hemsworth should play Thor and Michael Cera should play the awkward teen, but we don't bifurcate like this with our actresses. We've instead, adopted the image of the unrealistically waif-like, butt-kicking woman.

There are several reasons this image straight up needs to change. Here's three. First of all, in cases like Wonder Woman, it simply doesn't fit the mold. Wonder Woman's comic book build puts Olympic boxers to shame. And while no actress should resort to steroids to bring those knee-high boots to life, some shoulder muscle would be nice.

Second, it perpetuates the idea that women are only strong in the movies. FYI movie makers, your female audience is intelligent. We know that a woman whose upper arms are the size of my wrists isn't packing much power. Pretending she is, isn't empowering the average woman, it's warping the concept of a strong woman into cinema fantasy.

Third, women are constantly (unnecessarily) worried about getting too 'bulky' when working out. Bringing a muscled woman into Hollywood would make this body type more socially acceptable.

Let's hold our female and male action stars to the same fitness standards. I'm not saying that either is healthy or realistic, but if one is going to exist so should the other.