Posted on 09/16/2002 3:53:28 PM PDT by adam stevens
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:08:35 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Vince McMahon had last laugh when WWE's same-sex wedding, lauded by Gay and Lesbian Alliance, turned out to be vulgar display of homophobia.
September 15, 2002 -- FOR years, the WWF's (now the WWE's) portrayal of story-line gay wrestlers hasn't merely been homophobic, it has been hateful. And the kids in the live audience responded accordingly, chanting, "Faggots!"
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
TV rassling has long exploited and perpetuated hateful images of sexual minorities, with added dynamite of impressing these images on the minds of kids (who make up about half the TV rassling audience) and not-too-bright adults (who make up the other half), even as it gives them lessons in How to Hurt People.
About 25 years ago there was a TV rassler known as "Adrian Street", who dolled up in a sort of skirt and garish makeup and would try to plant a kiss on the ref's cheek. Some other rassler, maybe on some competing syndicated show, announced that he was "coming out of the closet" and starting wearing frilly things. Neither of them were described, or self-described, on the air as gay or any explicit word that meant homosexual, but everyone in the audience knew what they were (or were pretending to be).
I think it was extremely damaging, not only for whatever image was in the public mind, but for youngsters who (if we believe the theories) were already on the road to being homosexuals and lacked any other role models. And, naturally, it perpetuated the notion of a gay male as aggressive toward straight men ... and capable of withstanding a beating.
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