"Son? Your mother and I are worried about you. You seem to spend an awful lot of your time watching these big, sweaty, heavily muscled men in Speedos wrapping their legs around each other's heads. Is there something you'd like to tell us?" This one probably cropped up a lot during your teenage years, when puberty reared its ugly head and everyone wanted to compensate for any insecurities in their own masculinity by implying that wrestling fans got some sort of homoerotic thrill whenever they watched Monday Night Raw. This is another ridiculous thing to imply. The majority of wrestling fans are straight, and are watching purely for the entertainment value. Even gay wrestling fans would rather enjoy the show for what it's meant to be rather than reach for the tissues. This stems from some kind of "alpha male" mindset in some anti-wrestling fans, and it should be disregarded entirely. Anyone with that kind of viewpoint regards everything from Swan Lake to Fight Club with homophobic disdain, and their opinions count for nothing. Wrestling has one of the most diverse audiences any show could hope to have. Men, women, children of all ages, homosexuals and heterosexuals alike are all drawn to the action inside the squared circle. Should we not be allowed to enjoy that without sexuality entering into it? By the way, if you ever get bored of alpha males saying "it's gay", just show them a good old-fashioned bra and panties match. Shuts 'em up real quick.
Stephen Maher has been a rock star, a bouncer, a banker and a busker on various streets in various countries. He's hung out with Robert Plant, he was at Nelson Mandela's birthday and he's swapped stories with prostitutes and crack addicts. He once performed at a Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras by accident. These days, he passes the time by writing about music, wrestling, games and other forms of nerdery. And he rarely drinks the blood of the innocent.
