The Problem with Watching Wrestling

There is a problem with watching pro wrestling.  Most of the people watching, and society in general, are largely heterosexual and maybe even homophobic, so how can we tolerate a “sport” that is all about showing off men’s bodies? Isn’t that gay?  We are supposed to be spending our time looking at women: in beauty pageants, pornos, magazines, etc.  But pro wrestling — particularly when the athletes are handsome, virile specimens like Paul Diamond and Jimmy Powers — turns the focus of the male gaze on other dudes, drawing our attention to the beauty, power, and agility of the male physique.  This is a problem — it creates a tension in the viewer’s head that needs to be resolved.

The first issue we need to deal with is the revealing clothing.  I mean, look at Jim Power’s satin red trunks, clinging to his muscular body, bulging in all the wrong (or right?) places — putting his manhood gratuitously on shiny spandex display.  If he wasn’t so darn good looking, I mean if the wrestling wasn’t so entertaining, we’d turn the channel for sure.  So how do we justify the wearing of these skimpy outfits?

Well, it is certainly hot in the arena under those bright lights, and the wrestlers need to move about.  I mean, of course Tarzan wore just a loincloth because he had no access to a sewing machine, plus it’s hot in Africa and there was no air conditioning.  Also, this is the accepted uniform for wrestling — it’s tradition.  Of course the guys in “Sword and Sandal” gladiator movies wear skimpy, butch, revealing outfits because, as far as we know, that was the fashion for gladiators at that time.  Sword and Sandal movies aren’t gay, right?  Pro wrestling is the same way: they’re told they have to wear those trunks and it’s more comfortable.  So seeing revealing outfits on a pro wrestler is no reason to feel bad about yourself or wonder if you’re a fairy.

Next, what about all these close-up camera shots of that flexing and grinding manflesh, filling the whole screen up with beefcake posed and writhing in a variety of suggestive positions?!    They don’t do that when televising other sports. Making the nearly naked male body the center of our attention is troubling for straight dudes.  Being the focus of the male gaze is the role of women, and a male body is not meant to be the object of contemplation and desire.  Just watching this makes me feel like I’m sinning.

But wait, wrestling is a sport, just like boxing or MMA.  Guys are supposed to watch sports — that’s what normal masculine dudes do.  And the camera men are supposed to capture the action as clearly and completely as possible, making sure our view is not obstructed.  The photographers are paid good money to give us  clear images so we can enjoy and understand the action, and how can we help it if the director chooses to linger on the muscular body, or zoom in on a wrestler’s face??

But what about all this man-on-man touching and grabbing?  It sure seems like pro wrestling involves a lot of body contact, hands on skin, pulling each other’s clothing, etc.  Where I come from, guys are never supposed to touch each other like that unless fighting to the death, preferably over a really hot chick.

But let’s keep in mind that wrestling is a violent sport and the rules require physical contact, applying holds, and pinning, so the guys need to grope, grip, and manhandle each other by any means necessary to win in this sport.  They can’t help it if, in their drive to win the match, some junk gets fondled or there is a wardrobe malfunction.

Finally, how can we explain all this sadistic pain and punishment inflicted on the good wrestlers, especially the really handsome studs like Jimmy Powers?  Why does nearly every match have a long segment depicting the suffering of the handsome hero?  And if I tune in week after week to see more of that, does that mean I am queer?

Actually, the fact that the pretty-boy who has been attracting our gaze ends up getting punished and hurt totally dispels all our guilt.  The strong, virile male is brutalized, emasculated, to remove his erotic appeal and cancel out our attraction to him.  The threat of homosexuality is neutralized by showing the spectacular male being victimized, maimed, and destroyed.  The pretty boy is punished for drawing our gaze and making us feel like a bunch of queers, so it’s OK — it’s actually therapeutic — to watch him take his beating.  We need to witness his power taken away, his sexual attraction disavowed by his being dominated and beaten. We can cancel him out in our minds as yet another dude whom we have no absolutely no attraction to whatsoever because he’s a loser. So a pro wrestling match first creates and then, whew, cancels out the homoerotic attractiveness of the wrestler, his potency and masculinity.

So I don’t think there is any problem with watching wrestling after all.  No, not a problem at all…