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| Sky Photo Credit: Indy Wrestling News |
Wrestling isn't the most progressive artform. Well, wrestling itself is neither progressive nor reactionary, but the people within wrestling by and large aren't exactly on the right side of history when it comes to things like women's rights and treatment of homosexuals. It's getting slightly better, but still, for every empty gesture made by WWE saying that they're against bullying, they have Miz come out and do everything short of blatantly saying Damien Sandow was an awful person for wearing pink tights cuz HAHA GAY GAY GAY GAY.
One might think that on an independent level that things would be better. I don't want to make a sweeping generalization based on one case or another, but at least in the case of Scorpio Sky, it's not. He's landed in some hot water in the past for his stances on gay rights issues. The latest flap? The use of the word "faggot" on Twitter.
Obviously, there's a debate to be had over whether words should have power, but the sad truth is that words do carry weight because of the societal status quo against the people whom they describe. So yeah, intent may not be there with Sky (and given his history, I doubt it), but at this point, why even use the word while gay people are still a second class? When slurring a whole group like that, you have little to gain and everything to lose.
The impact is so great that even WWE, a company that only used him as a bit player in their anger management skits as Harold, is distancing itself from Sky. And they should. That being said, this would have more impact if WWE didn't have characters like Miz and even more blatant, The Rock, pushing such a homophobic agenda.
Rocky spent much of his mic time in the lead up to his match with John Cena last year doing everything but calling him that "f-word." Cena has also really not shied away from using that kind of language either, which is funny, because he resorted to the "Real men wear pink" line when his company was conveniently using him and his merch to promote breast cancer awareness and research. Regardless, Rock is coming back for a match against CM Punk at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship (more than likely). Today, he engaged in "Rock Talk," on Twitter, allowing fans to interact with him. Brandon Stroud had this question for Rock:
#rocktalk @therock When you come back in January, is there any chance you could cut it out with the homo/transphobia stuff? Seriously.
— Brandon Stroud (@MrBrandonStroud) December 9, 2012
If there's any question Rock should take to heart, it's that one.
