I was privy to a bit of banter regarding WWE (wrestling entertainment) on Twitter and it suddenly got me thinking. Are sports entertainers in general, and wrestlers in particular, closet drag queens?
Consider that wrestlers often wear lycra and spandex tights, have very over the top make up and seem to enjoy wearing long hair in quite spectacular styles. In addition to this they have stage names and other pseudonyms. They love hamming it up for the audience and dare I say it they have a somewhat camp approach: there is a very fine line between a swagger and a mince.
Now I am no fan of WWE and I actually have not ever watched a show, but I have seen the images in popular culture and I feel my thoughts are broadly valid.
The other element worth considering is the homo-eroticism of the wrestling match. Men grabbing each other, hugging each other and all associated activities really does start to make you wonder.
Daniella's Ramblings 
Well now that you mention it maybe it is something to wonder about. Like you I am not a big WWE fan, but could be the case that some might be drag queens. But then again people wonder about me and that leads to some bad assumptions also 😛
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When The Colbert Report was nearing the end of its run and Colbert was fielding offers for the late show, he pointed out something I found curios. He said if he took the job, he would not be doing it in his “…Republican drag.”
It was at that point I fully began to see drag as merely costuming. I always knew drag queens did what they did for comedic value, not usually out of need or desire to be a woman. I’m sure some do, but the overall majority are hay men, essentially taking shots at women. I mean think about the context of the pejorative they use towards women, “fish” and “fishy.”
It’s ghastly when you start to see it in proper context.
Ever & Always,
Caden Lane
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Yes, I am somewhat conflicted about this (an idea for another, more serious blog emerges)… For me dressing is something of a tribute to women. I revere the feminine and do my best to emulate it and do it justice. In essence I am deeply respectful of the feminine. I also feel a need to welcome all my trans sisters no matter where they may be on the spectrum, but at the same time I wonder about the sincerity of some of them. I see some people’s approach to dressing to be less about sincere emulation and more about parody. I console myself by admitting that I cannot know what happens between the other person’s ears. I do my thing and they do theirs…
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I agree. When I dress, I primarily do so to get in touch with my femme aspect of who I am. But I also wish to emulate them, and pay them the highest compliments with my efforts. I wish to embrace femininity, and take part in it. In general, drag queen comments and position on women is sometimes disturbing.
Like you, I also feel that some in the community tend to more or less make a mockery of women when they dress. Some fetish dressers seem to lean that way, in a very similar fashion as drag queens. But because we all are part of the same spectrum, we are sort of hedged into accepting it and dealing with it, because a house divided will not stand. But I do not think that should mean we cannot discuss it amongst ourselves, and maybe, by having intellectual discussion about it, we may bring attention to it in a mature fashion, and maybe change some minds.
Ever & Always,
Caden Lane
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You may be on to something here, but these guys have nothing on the glam rock/metal bands of the 70’s and 80’s!
-ValS
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I know next to nothing about wrestling, but I went to see one for laffs in college with some friends. As a femme bi-guy, I found it really hilarious to be surrounded by folks who might’ve been tempted to beat the crap out of me … instead cheering wildly at what, to me, was a pretty obviously homoerotic spectacle.
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LOL!!
Well, I would say some definitely have been, no doubt. “Ric Flair”, AKA “Nature Boy”, comes to mind. He used to come out, flouncing about with a feather boa and very flamboyant robes. His actions were flamboyant as well. There was “Gold Dust” (a Dustin Rhodes Personae) who was very obviously adopting that sort of characterization.
On the other hand, a lot of the female wrestlers adopted a much more masculine presentation.
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When I was younger, before I grew to appreciate football, my parents has season tickets to The Steelers. I went to quite a few games and I would always tell them, football is all about butts, they wear tight pants that show their butts, they stick their butts out, they each others butts…. Not fully related to this post, but made me nostalgic.
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