Is WWE sexist for posting bikini photos of its female stars on WWE.com?

Kevin Eck

Is WWE sexist for posting bikini photos of its female stars on WWE.com? image

Some of the images featured on the WWE.com home page today include an intense Brock Lesnar, a brash Enzo Amore and a “cheeky” Lana. Scroll down a bit and you’ll be greeted by a large photo of Maryse in a cleavage-baring bathing suit.

The latter two images were taken from photo galleries on the site of a bikini-clad Lana, Maryse, Naomi and Emma.

I was checking the website to see if there was any interesting WWE news and didn’t really give the bikini photo galleries a second thought. That is, until I came across a tweet from a female wrestling fan who replied to WWE’s tweet linking to the bikini photos by posting the following comment:

“Still awaiting the male Superstars in Speedos gallery.”

I chuckled when I read it, but then it struck me that she had a valid point. It raises the question of whether WWE is sexist for posting bathing suit shots of its female stars but not their male counterparts.

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This type of debate occurs annually the second Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue hits the stands. The answer is pretty simple: Of course it’s sexist, but it’s no mystery why WWE and SI take the approach they do in regard to which gender they feature in skin-baring pictorials.

Both companies have predominantly male audiences, so they cater to that demographic. Showing men in Speedos in addition to the women in bikinis would be more politically correct, but it probably wouldn’t be best for business since it would likely alienate its target audience. For WWE and SI, it’s really all about getting clicks and selling magazines.

To be fair, the photo galleries in question on WWE.com are much tamer than SI’s softcore porn. And WWE, in general, has certainly come a long way in how it portrays its female stars.

A little over a decade ago, WWE women were wrestling in bra and panties matches, mud matches and participating in in-ring bikini contests. During the Attitude Era, Sable appeared in the ring topless except for two painted-on handprints on her breasts, and Miss Kitty took it a step further by flashing her bare breasts on a WWE pay-per-view following an evening gown pool match.

As far as racy photos, in addition to WWE featuring provocative spreads of its female stars in its magazine, eight WWE women posed nude in Playboy from 1999-2008.

WWE eventually moved away from the salacious manner in which it portrayed women, and within the past two years, the company stopped referring to them as “Divas” and began treating them as athletes rather than eye candy.

These days, T&A in WWE’s women’s division could very well stand for “takedowns and armbars.” And for a company that promotes itself as family entertainment, that is significant progress.

Kevin Eck