Tropes. Tropes Everywhere.

[Sarah Jade Wilson]

Sarah Jade Does Life

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1st July 2016

Incapable Sidekick Trope

So, it would appear that once again, I am forced to speak out against the raft of injustices that are sustaining the life of damaging tropes in the Imperial Wrestling Federaton.

A company with whom I reluctantly have sought employment. (Ed: Though fear not my comrades, for the income I am supplied by this wretched organisation is being used to strengthen the cause of social justice across campuses through the United States, funding education programmes and supporting our brave campaigners whose justified demands for segregated safe spaces continue as I type.)

This week I am forced to confront a particularly foul trope, one which has truly bound women in servitude for centuries, rendering as little more than prop devices whose accomplishments are never truly our own, relegating us to the supporting actors of history, marginalising us over and over again.

I am of course referring to the “Incapable Sidekick Trope”.

And why must I share this with you? It is simple, for this week the heteropatriarchal oppressors in the IWF Head Office have deemed it appropriate to denote more airtime to the chief perpetrator of this sickening stereotype.

None other than Addisyn Starr.

But who is Addisyn Starr you may ask? And you would be entirely justified in your confusion, for she is a woman who continually hides in the shadows of another before basking briefly in the enriching rays of success following the exertions of another.

Addisyn is a woman who would sooner leech of the success of a male supporting figure at the expense of her own autonomy. Rather than helping society’s perception of women advancing and highlighting their ability to create their own success, she is content with claiming her success by proxy through the actions of a male.

Like so many of the “role models” on the Diamond’s roster, she severely falls short of providing a woman for young girls to legitimately look up to and aspire to emulate.

For weeks she has claimed success through O’Buffington’s actions (we won’t even get into the blatent display of toxic masculinity endemic in his self-styled ring name), routinely reinforcing the idea that for a woman to be a success she must attach herself to a male who will effectively do the heavy lifting for her.

Addisyn’s success isn’t a victory for women everywhere, it’s a constant reminder of the struggles we face to define ourselves separately from a man.

Everything she has accomplished simply reinforces the toxic assumption that women are incapable of achieving success on their own and are subservient to, and reliant upon, the assistance of men, their oppressors. This is incredibly damaging because it teaches us that we cannot achieve things on our own, that we are intrinsically bound to a man, therefore reinforcing the damaging idea that we are incomplete until we have managed to entrap a male through the patriarchal bonds of matrimony.

This is not the positive message of female empowerment we should be sending, instead it is simply re-treading familiar tropes which have bound us in servitude since society began.

What is worse is that Addisyn appears, albeit it in brief spells, to have some semblance of ability, but it is too often dominated by the defining message that without O’Buffington she is a weak inferior woman who is incapable of fulfilling her objectives alone.

That is perhaps a greater sin than reinforcing the damaging sidekick stereotype.

To accomplish through the actions of others when one is merely lacking the talent and application themselves is perhaps understandable, though still lamentable, but to accomplish through another’s actions when you’re more than capable of doing so yourself and thus setting back women’s rights another decade?

This is inexcusable.

That is why this week I will do everything in my power to not only defeat Addisyn, for allowing her to gain a victory will merely reinforce that her methods are somehow acceptable, but also allow her a platform to display these skills that she has, at present, failed to demonstrate to the world. In doing so I will humble her in defeat, but open up her genuine talent to the world and prove that women, rather than achieving because of male assistance, are more than capable of defining themselves through their own actions.

That, at least, will be a minor comfort.

July 1, 2016 ❤ 8754
#Addisinner

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2nd July 2016

So I heard Ana Jones and Amber Richards are back…

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3rd July 2016

Fiona McFly Continues to Fail to Evolve

TRIGGER WARNING: The article contains discussion of Fiona McFly. Caution is advised.

I regret, dear readers, that I must commit the sin of repeating myself, though my hand as been forced by the inept and unimaginative booking team of the Imperial Wrestling Federation, whose creativity is evidently at an all-time low.

Which is depressing when you consider this is the company who broadcast a live crucifixion, hired Joanna Tarzanna and were reportedly condsidering making Jack Gaither a “colour commentator” when he has the depth of a paint by number pallet for ages 3 and under.

This week, I once again am forced to enter the ring to face Fiona McFly, a woman for whom this blog has already expressed its opinion and, despite a commendable performance in the Iron Maiden, it is an opinion that has not evolved much beyond its previous manifestation.

Which is ironic given that Fiona has still failed to develop a personality.

Fiona McFly many not be as noticeably living in the shadow of Jack Gaither any more, consistently playing the role of side-kick rather than a leading lady, but as Eternity proved, she is still incapable of defining a space for herself at the head of the biggest table in women’s professional wrestling.

Content with being nothing more than a walking endorsement for the violating BDSM movement with her constant obsession with whips, McFly continues to prove to be anything but an inspiring story for young girls everywhere, remaining a cheap caricature. Instead of being the embodiment of the empowered woman rising above adversity, McFly would rather portray herself under this cheap veneer of the “bubbly fun loving Irish girl” persona than actually flesh herself out.

For layers are too complicated when applied to a woman, we simply must be neatly packaged in an easily digestible gimmick and trotted out to the predominately white, cishetero male audience to perform as eye candy in between the men’s matches.

Fiona MCFly is merely symbolic of this consistent problem within the pro-wrestling community.

Week after week she plays out her vacuous empty character, rarely developing beyond very simplistic and easily recognised tropes and cheap attempts to appear edgy. Fiona McFly is exactly the same woman she was when she first entered IWF and despite teases threatening some sort of character arc beyond the empty “damsel in distress” narratives surrounding her love life with a mentally inept Texan.

It is with regret that this author must simply give up on Fiona as a lost cause, a sheep who will eternally be without a flock, and certainly not welcome within our open-minded, free thinking and non-judgemental community.

Normally, I would never advocate for the public embarrassment of another woman, but these are sentiments reserved for those who are not deliberately enabling patriarchal tropes and reinforcing damaging stereotypes about our gender. This week, I must deliver a message to Fiona that her actions have consequences and she will not be allowed to simply denigrate women everywhere by continuing with her damaging behaviour.

So, this week, I will once again enter a professional wrestling ring, despite the disappointments of our fight last week against a similarly “deep and complex Irish girl” walking trope, and dole out just punishment.

Fiona McFly has transgressed for far too long and this week is the culmination of her ineptitude and inability to evolve and demand more for herself and the women she shares a locker room. She will pay for her decision to merely be content with her lot in life and not challenging the status quo we find ourselves in and breaking free of the over-simplified mould she has been cast in.

I will not fail in this task, for failure will only reinforce her belief that she is somehow in the right, it will allow her to continue to reinforce harmful stereotypes in young girls minds.

This fight is about much more than some mere wrestling match.

It’s about preventing McFly from damaging women everywhere any further.

July 3, 2016 ❤ 10102

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3rd July 2016

Miss IWF 2016

Once again it is time for the annual exercise in ranking women, the “honourable and respected” Heiress to the Throne tournament. You must forgive this author for not merely buying into this veiled attempt at dressing up the categorisation of women as objects behind the mask of “competitive sport”. It is nothing more than a Miss Universe contest in a sports bra, anybody who endorses and celebrates this blatant objectification of women should be immediately removed from your social media accounts and their name added to the BlockBot which shields us from harmful opinions on a daily basis.

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