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Articles

Vol. 13 No. 1 (2019): Low Cultures and Mass Media: Narratives of the Mainstream

Feminist, Yet Not: Professional Wrestling and the Irreconcilability of the Feminine and the Feminist

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14288/cinephile.v13i1.198200
Submitted
May 12, 2023
Published
2019-03-01

Abstract

Women’s professional wrestling remains an understudied subset of popular media, particularly in feminist media circles, despite its similarities to other forms of traditional women’s media such as weepies, soap operas, and reality television. Catherine Salmon and Susan Clerc note, “the current metaphor for professional wrestling is ‘a soap opera for men,’ a phrase that denies space for female fans while co-opting a traditionally female-centered genre” (167). Each era of professional wrestling offers commentary on trends in feminism through the visibility and iconography of women wrestlers employed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). As Sharon Mazer writes, “the microcosm of the squared circle reflects first the largely unseen conditions of the game and then the world outside” (71). In analyzing prominent women wrestlers during three distinct time periods within the WWE as case studies – Chyna, Trish and Lita, and the Total Divas – this paper explores the roles of women, past and present, within the company. The role of women in WWE has transformed considerably over the years, from the 90s “Attitude Era” which prominently featured women as ringside entertainment in bras and underwear to the current Women’s (R)Evolution in which women have longer and more frequent matches that focus on athleticism rather than sexuality. Regardless of manifestation, women in professional wrestling serve as signifiers of the tension, overlap, and the acceptably irreconcilable relationship between modes of feminism, the feminine, and popular culture.