Why WWE’s Women Aren’t Drawing
Internalised sexism is a real thing. There is no escaping this.
Say Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Simon Pegg and Sean William Scott led the cast of the Ghostbusters reboot of 2016. This film doesn’t bomb at the box office. This film isn’t protested as a woke gimmick, as if male-led films should exist as the default. In 1994, Hole released the seminal album ‘Live Through This’. Drenched in fierce, feminine energy, it was a vital record, a defiant call-to-arms that could only have been written by a woman raging, passionately, at her place in the world. Only, Kurt Cobain apparently wrote it for her; this patently bullsh*t conspiracy theory gained traction because, to many, a woman couldn’t possibly have recorded such a masterpiece.
Pop culture is almost defined by misogyny.
This inherent misogyny doesn’t just exist; WWE for years massaged it, and WWE does to this day, involuntarily. Even without considering the stench accrued by bra and panties matches, two minute matches, and portrayals of bitchy, manipulative shrews, this internalised sexism is writ large on WWE television now. In 2017, during which the Revolution was in full swing, Alexa Bliss via the writing staff wrote off Mickie James as an “old lady”. She was 38 at the time. Younger than AJ Styles, but he was a man, of course, so Jinder Mahal was never going to use that for heat. In WWE, even in 2019, no matter what aggressive bullsh*t Stephanie McMahon screeches—and this desperate, anti-premium marketing does not help, incidentally—is guilty.
The company ages its women in what might as well be dog years.
This isn’t specific to WWE and its myopic male writing staff. It's a message the audience is very receptive to.
Here’s an exercise: look up any former Diva on YouTube, and scan the comments section. We’ll start with Sable. Type ‘Sable WWE’. The first result generated is ‘WWE SmackDown | Sable Invitational Bikini Contest’. Comment: “Torrie got the fat ass [three love eyes emojis].”
Now try Sunny. You’ll find ‘Sunny tribute. Amazing’. One commenter paid additional tribute to her by writing “She has such a beautiful face, very nice features and shape. But, beauty fades, for everyone, at some point”. A user named Desstrik wrote this, and we’re quite sure he didn’t mourn the Undertaker’s hairline on his tribute video.
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