No One Should Be Allowed to Put Their Crotch in a Woman's Face against Her Will, Not Even Austin Aries

Not acceptable at all. Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com

I sometimes tune out of Impact, or really, any televised wrestling show during the entrances, because there's only so much of wrestlers milling about the ring I can take without checking Twitter, harassing my dog, or doing other things that aren't fixating my eyes on the TV screen. Obviously, Christy Hemme botching the announcement of Austin Aries' and Bobby Roode's ring entrance got me to watch a little while longer, especially with Aries getting all up in Hemme's grill. I missed what happened afterwards because again, I got the gist of it. Aries was pissed and he playfully backed Hemme into the corner. Or so I thought.
Of all people, Mark Madden's article, pointed out to me by someone who read it and linked it, brought to my attention that Aries actually mounted the second turnbuckle and placed his genitals in her face. She took to Twitter to comment on it when asked:

“@therealgarys: Did @austinaries Put His Nuts In @hemmepowered Face? #Impactlive” Yes. Unacceptable.
— Christy (@hemmepowered) May 10, 2013

Of course, there is a chance that this is all a huge work. I wouldn't be so dismissive of that idea if this didn't feel like something TNA would do in this day and age. If it is a work, then holy shit, what a fucked up work it is, especially given the track record of how awfully women are treated in the company to begin with. Hemme has no agency other than being a ring announcer who wears salacious clothing. What can she do to get back at Aries in character? Call on another good guy to fight for her? Unless that good guy is ODB or another woman wrestler, then it's just another case of the boys club getting to be the boys club.

But if this is a real incident that played out on television, and Aries isn't disciplined for it, then that could be my final straw for TNA. I'm sorry, I don't care how talented Aries is, nor do I care how many wrestlers I like and support work there. Sexual harassment is a real problem. Disrespect for women in wrestling in general, let alone in the misogynist shithole that is TNA, is a real problem. If I go to work, I should have a reasonable expectation that my coworker isn't going to stick his or her genitals in my face. Why should that be any different for a woman, even one who works in an environment where she should "expect" it? If you can't see across space and time, I am furiously rolling my eyes and making the jerk-off motion with my hand while writing about anyone expecting to be assaulted on the job.

Aries is one of my favorite wrestlers, but the thing is, he fucked up here, and he fucked up huge. I don't care how pissed off you are that a woman fucked up your ring entrance. IT doesn't give you the right to harass her. I mean, if Aries had his opponents shove their dicks into his face every time he fucked up a wrestling move (which by the way, is far more dangerous than fucking up identifying you coming down the aisle), then he might be accustomed to the smell of a dude's junk in his face as punishment. Every wrestler fucks up a bunch of times over his or her career. They're allowed mistakes. The worst thing that happens to them is that assholes in the crowd chant "You fucked up! You fucked up!" If that's not acceptable, then what the hell makes forced, feigned mouth penetration? It makes it felony assault, brother.

His reactions on Twitter are even more damning to him. It might even signal more that it's a work, because who the fuck would be stupid enough to go all Internet tough guy on someone in Madden who was calling him out for being a bully, one that is perpetuating the rape culture no less? Shoot or work though, this is a really awful situation that needs to be remedied, either by Aries getting suspended, fined, or fired, or by whoever thought this was a good idea for an "edgy" angle to get the same sort of treatment. This kind of thing is unacceptable to do as a real reaction, and it's not really something that should be played around with as an angle when women sometimes can't even fight back against that sort of thing with any hope of it being resolved justly.

One last note on this, please don't turn this into a referendum on Mark Madden. Most of the time, he's bad, but in this case, he's fighting the good fight, even if it's not in a way I'd go about it. If you make it about him, then you betray the cause. Save your vitriol for the next time he writes something dumb about "fake wrestling."