Queering the Internet: The Subversive Politics of Homoeroticism in New School Professional Wrestling

• In Event: 306 - Section on Sociology of Sexualities Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Sex and the Internet

Abstract

This paper explores how gay fans of professional wrestling appropriated the Internet as agency to subvert the heterosexual hegemony of contemporary professional wrestling. Noteworthy instances of Queering the Internet as subversive politics include slash fiction, captured frames of what Roland Barthes referenced as exhibitions of ‘Suffering and Humiliation’ and the growth of for profit companies of gay wrestling videos and downloadable movies. What is and what is not subversive in the homoerotic politics of professional wrestling are examined. Differences between the Internet usage of straight male and female fans of professional wrestling are also analyzed.

Author

• Daniel G. Glenday, Brock University