Noah Berlatsky has written an interesting article over on Escapist Magazine: How Wonder Woman’s Lasso Lost Its Kinky Power:
I think the article raises some interesting points. I'm not sure I prefer the Lasso of Aphrodite (ie the one invented by Marston) or the Lasso of Hestia (the Lasso of Truth). While the points Berlatsky raises about kink and stories are quite valid, I do think that the Lasso of Hestia can be more interesting from a story standpoint to explore questions of what truth is and our relation to it.If there’s one thing that you probably know about Wonder Woman’s lasso, it’s that it can force people to tell the truth. But the famous “Lasso of Truth” is something of a falsehood — or at least, a garbled half fact. Wonder Woman’s lasso wasn’t originally a Lasso of Truth; it was a much more versatile lasso of control. It was changed over time to make her less kinky and more mainstream — which is to say, truth pushed the Amazonian princess into the closet.
It also makes me once again believe that DC really missed the mark when they had Morrison write Wonder Woman Earth One. Marston's stories carries so much kink subtext that to engage with it requires creators who are familiar with and positive to kink.