Yes, the WWE is still sexist Submitted by Going Broadway on 01/17/2019 at 10:46 AM
Top banana, WWE! You failed yet again at sustaining any sort of valued progress with a chunk of your viewing audience. Not even Finn Balor's future precitable loss to Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble will save face here.
First, a bit of context:
Some of the top rated shows on Netflix include such favorites as Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things, GLOW, and the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Over on Hulu, we've got Handmaid's Tale, Killing Eve, and even Parks and Recreation.
What do these all have in common? Strong, and well developed female leads. It's not as if only women are streaming these shows, as while they make up a higher percentage of Hulu and Netflix subscribers, it's not by much.
The majority of the country now statistically streams their entertainment over most all other mediums.
That being said, in 2017 Stephanie McMahon noted that the number of female viewers has increased since 2013, making up now 40% of the viewing audience.
So why the hell does the WWE continue to portray women in sexist, low-brow, uninspiring ways when statistics show that perhaps this isn't what the bulk of the WWE audience wants? When you figure in that the majority of the country are potentially socially-aware and mostly liberal, as easily shown by 2018's elections, you can deduce that the majority of your audience is not made up of the cliche slack-jawed yokel wrestling fan.
That being said, this week's Raw and Smackdown episodes were an utter atrocity.
Let's start with Alexa Bliss and her "topless" segment. Why did WWE writers, (all male) decide to do this? What purpose does this serve other than to put a half nude Alexa Bliss on television? Remember the most popular streaming shows: They are well-written, award-winning, and all with strong female leads. Quite frankly, this is what many fans expect: For their product to not be equivalent to decroted cow feces when it comes to storytelling.
Note: This is what happens when you only hire TV soap opera writers and producers, instead of those with a legitimate degree in writing itself.
This segment does absolutely nothing to further Bliss's character, and simply paints her as an object of affection. Even if this goes somewhere to a sort of creepy stalker storyline, that falls right into the same sexist trap.
The same can be said for Mandy Rose. Yes, let's take one of our lesser known female talents, and put her in the stereotypical role of seducing a married man -- That will make her look strong!
In the words of the Angry Video Game Nerd: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
Again, this simply paints Rose as nothing more than tits and ass, and lessens the overall value and strength of her character. It also paints Naomi as even WEAKER -- why do I say this? Because if a woman is trying to seduce a married man, in many cases, a level-headed STRONG woman would simply have faith in her husband and walk away.
But you know...catfights equal ratings, right?
This continued with Lacey Evans, who did absolutely nothing but stand around, including an awkward segment where she is watching television sideways. Yes, I always sit on my couch sideways, then turn my head completely to the left to watch television...
Putting Evans there without a word sends the message that she's simply there to gawk at, which furthers the objectification of women in this sport. This is a continued trend in women's talent that are just kind of "there". The only exception to this rule is Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Asuka -- as they have developed notable personality traits and characteristics -- and aren't only reduced to a cavalcade of catchphrases like many others.
Nia Jax has been reduced to female version of the Big Show, but the version late in his career when writers didn't know what the hell to do with him. Tamina follows suit by playing her lackey.
I have slight hope for this continued Sasha/Ronda storyline, but I have little faith that they won't butcher it like they did with the Riott/Natalya angle. (Sad, because the payoff match was well-done) I also have slight hope for Nikki Cross, but again, I ultimately do not trust the WWE writers to write good material for her, and give her a solid direction befitting of her talent.
I could rant about the misuse of most women's talent in the company, but there's no need.
The trend of sexism in the WWE will continue, as seen by this week's editions of Raw and Smackdown. There are others within the organization that could either stop this, but won't -- or at least hire more female writers; or writers are are socially aware of the #metoo movement and what feminism and toxic masculinity actually means.
Though honestly, there's nothing more to say here other than this:
Stephanie McMahon: You're a garbage human being if you let this continue. Do not be the fraud we all think you are.
