AEW\u2019s Dynamite Spring BreakThru episode was both a celebration and an all-timer episode, except for one segment involving MJF and The Hurt Syndicate. The issue is the underlying presentation of women as objects.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the first time this year this has occurred with MJF\u2019s character, but it\u2019s a problem. It left a sour taste in some fans\u2019 mouths.<\/p>\n
MJF is an incredible heel and wrestler. Few twenty-nine-year-olds would have coped with his first and historic World Championship reign.<\/a> Nor navigate the subsequent turmoil.<\/p>\n The character, whose lore remains consistent, simplistic, and archetypical, exposes something very true about masculinity. It\u2019s nuanced, but the character\u2019s misogynistic streak is alienating some female fans.<\/p>\n The nature of online outrage leads to dismissal and minimisation<\/a>. The impact, however, is real. Not just for women.<\/p>\n It\u2019s just as relevant for men and our relationship with women. The historic issues of misogyny go beyond wrestling to real life. Yet, in the context of wrestling, there is the real risk that female AEW fans will become alienated.<\/p>\n My partner is slowly but increasingly becoming a wrestling fan. She loves MJF and \u201cTimeless\u201d Toni Storm. Wherever she hears The Hurt Syndicate\u2019s music, she\u2019ll pop and sing along. I want her and other female fans to keep enjoying AEW and wrestling.<\/p>\n For her and others to feel that when MJF says he is better than us, and we know it, it\u2019s not a reminder of real sexist attitudes that say they are less than.<\/p>\n In MJF\u2019s attempt to convince Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin to allow him to join the faction, the once-in-a-generational wrestler brought \u201ctalent\u201d. MJF invited a group of women dressed in black into the ring.<\/p>\n They surrounded the AEW World Tag Team champions. The kayfabe implications were clear. These women are sex workers.<\/p>\n It was otherwise a hilarious comic segment. The humour comes from the contrasting characterisation, the desperation, and the incredible characterisation of MJF, as well as the cool, no-BS presentation of The Hurt Syndicate.<\/p>\n MJF, the spoiled rich kid, wants to buy his way into the club. He is looking to buy his way to friendship. His desperation is the root of the humour. It\u2019s sad and pathetic in one way.<\/p>\n What\u2019s not funny is the use of these women as literal props. Their purpose is one-dimensional. They\u2019re there for sex. It\u2019s The Attitude Era train in all but name.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a trade: let me join and I\u2019ll pay women to have sex with you. The women are there to be ogled and spun around for the male gaze, which Shelton Benjamin demonstrated. Benjamin\u2019s answer is that he\u2019s \u201ca fan of nice things\u201d.<\/p>\n When MJF replies there\u2019s \u201cplenty more watches and women\u201d, the two are interchangeable objects. Things of value. Objectification.<\/p>\n Most of us aren\u2019t silly. We know these local indie wrestlers are playing sex workers. They willingly agreed to take these roles.<\/p>\n The fact that their roles are interchangeable. Compared to security guards, who get beaten up, the women in this segment existed only for their appearance. They\u2019re background characters whose function is purely decorative.<\/p>\n My partner\u2019s first exposure to women\u2019s wrestling was the Attitude Era. She cringed when talking about the segment. Like many female fans, the segment gave her the ick.<\/p>\n She called it \u201cstupid and degrading<\/em>.\u201d Yet, optimistically, she said it\u2019s fixable.<\/p>\n Contrasted with the way Athena, Mercedes Mone, and \u201cTimeless\u201d Toni Storm were presented as characters highlights a huge gulf in AEW\u2019s general presentation of women in the spotlight.<\/a> Women are objectified and are not yet equal in this world. Bluntly, some folks don\u2019t want them to be.<\/p>\n Women are used to being dehumanised into sexual objects, reproductive organs, and kitchen\/household appliances. Classified as either Madonna virgins or whores. If you want a wrestling analogy I\u2019ve used before, Elizabeths and Jezebels<\/a>, or somehow both at once.<\/p>\n As fans we are supposed to find MJF a despicable scumbag. Yet, part of the character\u2019s heat comes from having advantages that have granted him success, and still, MJF cuts corners.<\/p>\n The character\u2019s wealth and incredible physical and gift of the gab make everything appear easy. That gift of the gab means the character manipulates his way out of trouble and can get whatever he desires.<\/p>\n We are supposed to hate MJF in part because immoral, cheats, and hasn\u2019t \u201cearned\u201d that success the \u201cright way\u201d. Yet, that success is what? Money, materialism, and career achievements.<\/p>\n Historically, women have been included as an achievement\/property\/commodity. The traditional heat is based on jealousy. MJF can get all the women he wants.<\/p>\n A small and key part of the archetype that goes beyond wrestling and Ric Flair. We see it in film characters, like American Psycho\u2019s Patrick Bateman. Or real-life figures turned iconic characters like Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard not to draw a parallel between MJF and Belfort, given MJF returned with the moniker \u201cThe Wolf of Wrestling\u201d. Charismatic individuals who, with power, money, and no empathy, do whatever they want to whoever they want.<\/p>\n Figures our culture loves to hate but also admires. Afterall, as the crowd said Wednesday, MJF is our \u201cscumbag\u201d. We love to hate Max.<\/p>\n I love MJF because under that, he\u2019s like a lot of real powerful men, an insecure man-child. The problem comes when \u201ccheap heat\u201d comes at the cost of reminding women of their actual struggles. Beyond men like that archetype.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s exclude real-life men who fit the same archetype. Rich, powerful, near-sociopathic, alpha males who have criminal convictions or allegations against them for sexually assaulting women, like Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, and Sean Combs.<\/p>\n Even within the wrestling bubble, the ongoing legal cases where powerful, rich men await court dates have allegedly abused their power. Put those aside, and consider that in everyday life, women face discrimination. Verbally, emotionally, and physically in various ways.<\/p>\n We live in a world of Andrew Tates and manosphere influencers. Men who preach intolerance and hatred towards women because they feel weak and powerless. Can you blame some women for wanting wrestling to be escapism away from these problems?<\/p>\n Remove the sexism, and MJF remains identical. Nothing about his character\u2019s lore, motivations, or flaws changes.<\/p>\n Or if they reflect real-world issues, with some thought, humanise women. Look at Storm and Mariah May\u2019s arc<\/a> and May\u2019s sapphic arc with Mina Shirakawa.<\/a> Have the good guys and company point out MJF\u2019s out-of-touch.<\/p>\n If The Hurt Syndicate, as heels\/tweeners, aren\u2019t going to call out the sexism, why don\u2019t the commentary team? Why not subvert expectations with the women acting? Create more comedy, more of the good stuff.<\/p>\n All solutions were suggested by women. Including my partner, or female wrestling fans, like Sarah and MJ of Waffly Bollox Podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n MJF is a perfect reflection of alpha-male toxicity. As an inverse of AEW\u2019s modern masculinity presented in other male characters<\/a>, signposting why he\u2019s wrong isn\u2019t dumbing down, it\u2019s making it clear. Too many men still miss that the male protagonists in books\/films like Fight Club and American Psycho are a satirical reflection of hyper masculinity.<\/p>\n Small thought for a huge difference and elevates everyone\u2019s enjoyment.<\/p>\n More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n Header photo \u2013 AEW \u2013 Stay tun<\/em>ed to the\u00a0Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a> for more on AEW, MJF, and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.\u00a0 You can catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS. AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday night. AEW Collision airs Saturday at 8pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content available on their YouTube<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AEW\u2019s Dynamite Spring BreakThru episode was both a celebration and an all-timer episode, except for one segment involving MJF and The Hurt Syndicate. The issue is the underlying presentation of women as objects. It\u2019s not the first time this year this has occurred with MJF\u2019s character, but it\u2019s a problem. It left a sour taste […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4960,"featured_media":133918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4677,6,2192],"tags":[4133,9281,2546,1838,9030],"class_list":["post-133907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew","category-north-america","category-wrestling","tag-aew","tag-aew-spring-breakthru","tag-mjf","tag-shelton-benjamin","tag-the-hurt-syndicate"],"modified_by":"Chinyere Okafor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4960"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133907"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133917,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133907\/revisions\/133917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u201cA Fan of Nice Things\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cStupid and Degrading\u201d<\/h2>\n
MJF is Not a Role Model?<\/h2>\n
Solutions Are Straightforward<\/h2>\n