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| In a vacuum, cool. With WWE's context, uh... Photo Credit: WWE.com |
However, there's still this nagging feeling that has been provided as a track record for every intergender interaction in WWE for the last forever that Lee still hasn't been granted full agency, that she's a distraction and an accessory to the "real" feud between the two men. If WWE wants to tell compelling stories with women in a full array, they need to have a full array available instead of just the same old, borderline misogynist ideals that they've been running for their entire existence. Here are six ways they can fix it.
1. Have non-title women's feuds, preferably without the impetus of promoting a reality television series
Brie Bella and Naomi got a bunch of time last night to wrestle despite the fact that neither one was involved in the Divas Championship scene nor were on their way to contention, at least apparently. That was refreshing to see, even though it was a thinly veiled infomercial for the Total Divas reality show. I have to admit, even though I am not watching that show (for the same reasons I didn't watch Tough Enough, I don't like most reality television), if it leads to more ring time for women in WWE, I'm all for it. However, when the show has run its course, where will the stories come from? Why have a roster of more than three or four women if most of them are just going to take cheesecake shots or fill a ring for the next battle royale?
I've argued that agency is the biggest step towards equality in any professional wrestling setting. Letting women have issues that don't revolve around the Championship is the biggest possible step to becoming fully fleshed out characters. They took a big step with the Kaitlyn/Lee feud, even if a lot of that build was both accidental and done independently of the writers by the two wrestlers on social media. Characters resonate with people when they're relatable. Women make up half the population and 35% of the audience. It's not only the right thing to do (the most important thing when the dust clears), but it's the best business decision to treat women like they're, y'know, people. This is the origin of every single problem with women WWE has right now.
2. Let women and men interact without sex being at stake
I know this is going to sound shocking to some, but men and women can interact with each other without the throbbing need to intermingle each others' genitalia. It happens every day. Don't let shitty "humor for men" Twitter accounts or the burgeoning portrayal of men and women as ravenous sex fiends when forced to mingle with each other in film and on television fool you. I know it's anecdotal, but I have a ton of women with whom I'm friends. Several of them are attractive. But the only one I ever feel the need to lie with in sexual congress is the one I'm married to. I would be willing to bet that I'm in the majority. If wrestling is supposed to take real life and amp it up to 11, then why aren't all possible relationships at play here? Why is it that men and women only interact in WWE for sexual purposes, and moreover, why is it that women are seen only as distractions to babyface wrestlers?
I'm not saying all romantic relationships should end (I've changed my mind on this), but they shouldn't be the only thing that makes women and men interact, and furthermore, it shouldn't play out the same way every single time. Besides, WWE actually tells a better relationship story using the same beats as romantic relationships in platonic situations between two males (see Team Hell No's breakup and the current Paul Heyman/CM Punk beef). Why mess with perfection in that department?
3. Never let the Bella Twins near a live announce table mic again
I know I bitch a lot about Michael Cole putting down talent in the ring with no real intent of making those criticisms build a character. But the Bella Twins make Cole sound like Gordon Solie in that regard. Every time they're on guest commentary, which seems to be on every other show, they talk about how every other woman character is awful and horrible. There's being catty, and then there's reinforcing the worst stereotype about women that no matter how much they say they're friendly with each other, they always let the claws out in the right scenario. To make matters worse, the Bellas are the logo characters for this Total Divas show. Basically, you have the figurehead for women in the company spouting off that every woman in the company is worthless. Yeah, I'm gonna have to ask you to stop doing that.
4. Drop the "Diva" terminology and refer to everyone as a "Superstar," regardless of gender
Compartmentalization on the surface seems harmless, but when those sorting bins are used to trivialize along gender lines, then the practice's insidious nature comes to the forefront in a shameful way. "Superstar" connotes the ideal that you can main event a pay-per-view, win a title that isn't shaped like costume jewelry that no one would wear unironically after the 4th grade, and actually be a part of the show in a meaningful way. "Diva," however, seems to have the implication that you're there to be a love interest to the wrestlers or spank bank material for the fans.
Again, I'm not saying that the bikini shoots need to completely go away, although I think female and homosexual male fans would love to see cheesecake photos of guys like Randy Orton, John Cena, or David Otunga, for example. What I'm saying is that if a company is going to go about bringing a culture change of equality, they should maybe look to lift a belittling label from an entire gender of performers and let them have the same title their "important" male counterparts have.
5. More Layla, Naomi, Sara del Rey, Natalya Neidhart, Paige, and Tamina Snuka in the ring, please
John Cena derided the idea of wrestling Michael Cole last night in the opening segment of RAW because Cole "wrestles like a girl." Forget the fact that some of the best wrestlers in the world are women, like Ayako Hamada, Kana, Madison Eagles, Manami Toyota, Cheerleader Melissa, Jessicka Havok, Rachel Summerlyn, Tomoka Nakagawa, Saraya Knight, Athena, Kaori Yoneyama, Tsubasa Kuragaki, and LuFisto just to name a baker's dozen. Within the company, there are women who can go in the ring, and WWE barely does anything to let them shine.
It's one thing to give Kaitlyn and Lee time to prove they don't deserve that grotesquely sexist accusation in the ring, and whenever they've done so, the two have shown they are worthy of that spotlight. But if you follow it up with derision from the Franchise, then what good is it? That narrative needs to stop, and it needs to be buttressed by letting the talented women WWE has on their roster actually wrestle for extended periods of time in the ring. One match can be written off as a fluke. An entire, realized division? All the sexist blather in the world can't deny that kind of talent, especially with the wrestlers WWE has contracted to them right now.
6. Let women wrestle men and look credible doing it
You didn't think I was going to do an article about gender equity in WWE and not bring this up, did you? Again, it's something I champion not only because it's the right thing to do (and again, that's the main reason here), but it's also the one last frontier of unexplored territory in the mainstream that could pop the entire industry. It would be one thing if there wasn't evidence of it being accepted by crowds everywhere, and even then, I'd still argue for it. But how many times are the doubters and naysayers, whether within the fan community or WWE's front office, going to look at Chyna's successful run as Intercontinental Champion, Kharma and Beth Phoenix in the Royal Rumble being over as shit, and important independent arenas around the country having hot intergender matches like current WWE employee Sara del Rey vs. current WWE employee Claudio Castagnoli before they admit that they're absolutely wrong on this subject?
Someone as small as Lee competing against men is no different than Rey Mysterio being competitive and besting folks like Kane. Kharma and Phoenix are both comparable in size to men. A woman with a complete skillset is only different from a man in breast structure and reproductive organ. Wrestling is about storytelling, and shutting oneself off from telling an entire subset of stories is not just stupid, it's sexist.