Wrestling is often compared to other forms and methods of art and entertainment, from popular culture, like sitcoms to sophisticated culture, like ballet. So why not compare it to Ancient Greek Theater? Today, ancient works seem dry and boring; however, in Ancient Greece, it was quite different, as their plays were a popular and enjoyable type of entertainment. They were also religious in nature and the stories examined the human condition.
I’m going to commit to doing the Feminist Wrestling Review. I want to start by doing it once a month with the first one being the being published in the beginning of March talking about February. It will be entitled The Feminist Wrestling Review #1. I’m going to write some submission guidelines soon and post them. I think this will be a very interesting project.
you know I never REALLY got a lot of people questioning whether I should be in a certain fandom because of my vagina until lately. It could be because I never really mingle with many fans unless it’s from tumblr and even a select few people.
But oh my god. Ever since I admitted to liking…
Welcome to wrestling fandom. Check your vagina at the door, but bring your tits because we’re here for male fans’ enjoyment, don’t you know.
(At least you know you’re not alone? FJoMo, Ashley, Missy, lipstickndynamite, help me out here.)
You are not alone, OP. We lady wrestling fans endure much in the name of our passion for the sport. I shall impart some wisdom I’ve learned over the years, courtesy of all the doodbros wrestling fans I’ve encountered.
1. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been watching wrestling. YOU WILL NEVER KNOW MORE THAN A DOOD. EVER. It doesn’t matter if the first show you ever watched was Survivor Series 1990. It doesn’t matter if you were a regular attendee of every ECW show back in the day. It doesn’t matter if you saw the CM Punk/Samoa Joe trilogy as it happened. It doesn’t matter if you own every single WWE documentary or bought every single wrestler autobiography. None of that matters, because by simple virtue of having a cock, doods know more than you. That’s because as ladies, we only care about things like clothes and shopping and friendzoning all those nice doods, so clearly we are incapable of having any sort of passion at all beyond acting as either their willing sex slave or heinous bitch out to ruin their lives with our vaginas and evil ways.
2. In fact, you only started watching wrestling thanks to some doodly presence in your life, whether it be a boyfriend or male relative.
3.. That being said, YOU SHOULD NEVER CORRECT A DOOD WHEN HE’S SPOUTING INCORRECT FACTS ABOUT WRESTLING. Like, seriously. So what if he incorrectly insists that Undertaker made his debut at Survivor Series 1991? HE remembers it being 1991, so dammit, it must have happened in 1991! Your silly little lady brain is obviously confused! And if you insist on sending him a Youtube clip of Taker’s match at Survivor Series 1990, he will miraculously not have time to watch it but is pretty certain that it was 1991.
4. It also doesn’t matter if you have been following a certain wrestler’s career for a long period of time. You just like him because you want to bone him.
5. And if you even DARE admit that you find a wrestler attractive, shame on you, you harlot of a fangirl! Back to the dark shadows from whence you came!
6. But remember, it is totally okay for doods to begin his opinion about a female wrestler about the size of her breasts or how hard he wants to bang her.
7. But the absolute worst thing you can do is mention any sort of sexual tension between male wrestlers, even if you’re joking. Because that shit is GROSS DONTCHA KNOW and you ARE RUINING THE MANLY MACHO-NESS OF THE SPORT. Even though WWE uses “Running Up That Hill” by Placebo as music for match promos (for two of the most rugged competitors in the sport’s history, mind you). Also, all Randy Savage references in this point are purely coincidental.
8. If you actually have the nerve to point out the gross sexism, misogyny, racism, and homophobia in wrestling, you’re just some humorless femnazi who doesn’t know how to take a joke. This point goes for all genders, but is especially true for lady wrestling fans.
9. The Attitude Era was totes the best era in wrestling BECAUSE of all that sexism, misogyny, racism, and homophobia. This is actually the first commandment in the Doodly Wrestling Fans Bible, so this cannot be disputed in any way shape or form.
10. Also John Cena and Rey Mysterio suck because they pander to all the women and kids. Because anything that appeals to women and children by default sucks a big bag of donkey dicks.
11. Never roll your eyes when a dood wrestling fans bemoans the lack of bare breasts, bare asses, and queer-baiting of lesbianism amongst the female wrestlers these days. You just don’t understand their pain of their boners no longer being catered to.
12. Really, it would just be better if you only admit to liking wrestling, but never actually attempt to engage doods in a conversation about it. It ruins their fantasy of that Hot Nerdy Chick Who Is Into All The Things They’re Into But They Know More Than You So They Still Get To Feel Manly as Fuq.
That being said, for your own sanity’s sake, do not attempt to infiltrate the Doodly Wrestling Fan Circle. No matter how much you argue, you will not win. No matter what angle you come out, you will never be accepted. Your knowledge and passion for the sport will never be acknowledged and appreciated. Your only option for lively discourse is to take your awesome brain and opinions to other lady wrestling fans, who actually WANT to talk about the decline of Sheamus as a character due to his racism, and will only stare at your boobs during the conversation if you want them to.
This is very true in many ways. Honestly I’m torn. Part of me wants to say screw that - I don’t care if you want me in the Wrestling Fan Circle or not - I’m here because I belong here. But another part of me is starting to feel it’s not worth it. I’ve been attacked by these kind of fans (and a few hardcore Cena fans.) It’s not fun and just kills my desire to share any serious opinions about wrestling or even just participate in wrestling fandom.
Sometimes I feel that I’m being I’m being forced into a more fangirl-only role, rather than being myself as wrestling fan. No one gives me any trouble if I talk about Miz and Morrison. I guess I’m non-threatening when I do. But when I start questioning what I’m watching, then there’s a problem.
Moving to FemmeJoMo’s haven.
I think another aspect of this is that wrestling is something that doesn’t really hold under close scrutiny, at least value wise. When you start to examine the behavior of some of the face characters you begin to wonder “wow, why are people cheering for this guy? he’s kind of an asshole.” I mean just look at the Rock Concert, it was nothing but childish and frankly off putting insults. Oh, look heels that aren’t perhaps conventionally attractive, let’s insult the way they look. I think some wrestling fans hate when something like that is brought to their attention because it reflects poorly on them. However, that’s exactly the reason we should question what we’re being presented with. The excuse that it’s “wrestling” and it’s “fake” shouldn’t matter.
The heroes/faces aren’t always the “good guys” anymore and I think it is a reflection of society’s shift into appreciating/focusing on the anti-hero character. We see it in forms of pop culture/media too, for example, Snape in Harry Potter.
The Rock Concert was a terrible segment overall.
“I think some wrestling fans hate when something like that is brought to their attention because it reflects poorly on them.” I read an article that discussed the same point you brought up here. I’m not sure why this is. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that some wrestling fans tend to identify with the wrestlers (I admit to doing it too at times.) they are watching and when you question them, it’s like you’re questioning that individual fan and insulting them personally.
Also, you know I had the kick to comment/analyze on some things I saw on Raw from a feminist perspective. But I don’t know if it’s worth it to me personally, based on the time I will spend and the kickback I will probably get. Then I wonder - “If I don’t say anything, who will?” And let’s say I choose to say nothing - that doesn’t make what happened okay or erase the fact it happened. I’m a terrible revolutionary…
I was thinking about my idea last night. Here’s how it shaping up so far:
Name: The Feminist Wrestling Review
Purpose: To examine the ways that women are portrayed in professional wrestling from a pro-woman, feminist perspective through various media, including articles, lists, opinion pieces, tweets, and art.
Format: Unsure at this time. I don’t know if tumblr is best, since indexing is a pain. Considering a website or blog. Researching this.
Frequency: I’m not sure. I’m leaning toward larger, numbered updates every week or month. Researching this.
Contributors: I am limiting the contributors to women only. I feel that women’s voices often go unheard or are marginalized in the wrestling world.
Content: The Review will include commentary on wrestling-related media, such as on-air commentary, promos, interviews, storylines, internet shows, news/rumors, books, etc…
Commitment: My goal is to make this a long-term project, so I will need to scale or eliminate other projects. My Morrison and Wrestling Fashion Tumblrs will go to start. Also, I will need to push through and finish my Miz-Morrison Tag Team History piece as well.
So, I’m thinking of doing something - a site or blog or something (zine maybe?) centered about women, wrestling, and feminism. I’d love to hear some feedback on the idea.
Check out this Royal Rumble commercial - women (wearing makeup!) displaying wrestling knowledge and debating/talking like actual fans. I like it!
I call out Cena a lot, but The Rock deserves to be called out for some serious woman-hating. Was the Vickie Guerrero song really necessary? It was insulting to not just her, but to every woman. In addition, how did this song progress his storyline and feud with Punk? In another song, he insulted Heyman by saying he had women’s anatomy. It was wrong when Punk said “You have a vagina!” so why isn’t this?
I like Rock for the most part. I thought his segment with Foley was great and so was the fight with Punk. Why did we need a pointless and insulting “concert”?
I posted this to twitter, but I wanted to put it here too - Why are there not more women’s voices speaking about women in wrestling and why are the ones out there harder to find than male ones?
I wish I could tell you, because yeah, it’s hard out here…
I agree with all the above statements. It seems that even with when a female-identified individual writes an insightful response on controversial wrestling topics, there are still a number of narrow-minded people who discredit the writings because “You are taking everything so seriously. They are just storylines”
These same individuals go an 180 and question our knowledge of wrestling and make claims like the classic and heterosexist statement, “You only watch it because you think the guys are hot”.
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard that last statement. I’ve also had a male fan derail a debate by calling me a “fangirl” and dismissing everything I’ve said, even though I made good points and backed them up with history.
I’ve also heard “It’s only storylines,” especially when there is talk about women. I remember people using that as a justification for laughing when Washington made that rape joke. Maybe to make themselves feel as though they aren’t participating of a rape culture. But I also wonder why people make that comment. So, we shouldn’t analyze wrestling? It’s a form of entertainment and has a social impact, like any other type of media.
I posted this to twitter, but I wanted to put it here too - Why are there not more women’s voices speaking about women in wrestling and why are the ones out there harder to find than male ones?
I’m not excited for Wrestlemania at all, especially not enough to pay $70 for limited view seats. I would rather check out PWS’s events that weekend and WrestleCon. As far as WWE events go, I would rather be at Money in the Bank here in Philly in July. I can’t afford both, I think I’m going to wait for MITB…
