After decades of stagnation in the realm of transphobic jokes, wrestling fans on Facebook startled everyone by finally adding a third one to the current lexicon.
For nearly a decade, there have been only two transphobic jokes used by the wide variety of online commenters. These are “I identify as an attack helicopter” and “did you just assume my gender?” It began to look like there would never be a new one.
The new discovery was made under a post by by Pro Wrestling World Facebook page on October 23. The post shared a a screenshot from CNN celebrating the appearance of two trans women professional wrestlers. Dark Sheik and Helen Charlotte Campbell made history by being the first trans women to wrestle each other in a televised singles match in the United Kingdom. The two women squared off as part of a TNT Extreme Wrestling and Game Changer Wrestling crossover event on September 17 in Liverpool, England. Dark Sheik secured the win with her Welcome to Die finisher.
Under the post, dozens of mostly nearly identical white men responded with variations of “just two dudes wrestling.”
Critics might argue that this does not technically count as a new joke, as it is just yet another denial of the existence of trans women. However, the framing is slightly different than previous jokes, and does encompass some of the unique aspects of professional wrestling. A few commenters expanded on the theme, asking of it was a Last Man Standing match. It was not. The bout was under standard rules and won by pinfall.
I asked several commenters how it felt to have finally discovered a third transphobic joke. One commenter, Joseph of Dillingham, Alaska, said “The only joke is you treating mental illness like it’s something to be celebrated.”
Another, Bobby (location unknown but who is a very big fan of former President and currently indicted Florida Man Donald Trump to judge by his posts), denied that the joke was transphobic by not clearly understanding the term.
“Do you know what phobia means?” he said. “It’s a fear of something. We aren’t afraid of people who play dress up. It’s their lives, they can live it the way they want. It’s not really news article worthy though. Do you know when we all die our remains will tell them what gender the person was. Guess what it will be male or female. It’s just science.”
He then referred to me as “cupcake.”
For the record, no major medical professional body considers transgender people mentally ill simply by virtue of their gender identity. Some commenters assumed gender dysphoria and being trans was the same thing. Gender dysphoria is the negative feeling and depression felt in regard to gender identity, usually brought about by society’s rejection to refusal to address the person by their preferred pronouns and status. Many trans people who receive widespread support report non-clinical levels of gender dysphoria.
Also, despite Bobby’s assertion, there is a growing movement in archeological circles to avoid assigning gender to unknown people. Archaeologist Brenna Hassett tweeted about the subject in 2022.
“We don’t even use ‘male / female’ as categories in our notes because we really aren’t that good, and homo sapiens sexes really aren’t that different,” she said. “Your standard skeleton report has FIVE categories. Female, ? female, ?, ? male, male.”
It is interesting to see wrestling fans so thoroughly reject Dark Sheik and Campbell. After all, this is the demographic that consistently believed a wrestling Undertaker had supernatural powers and that Roman Reigns is actually interesting.
Trans wrestlers have become far more prominent in recent years. In 2020, Nyla Rose captured the AEW Women’s Championship. The move was castigated by fellow wrestler Sean Morley (better known as Val Venis), who said that the title should only be held by a “real” woman. His comments were pushed back on by many prominent wrestlers, including the WWE’s Cody Rhodes, who called Morley’s comment “terrible” and “awful.”
That rise in prominence is likely what triggered the creation of the fabled third transphobic joke, though transphobes still lag far behind in the humor and original thought categories. Who knows if transphobes will one day craft a fourth. If trans people continue to succeed, it is as certain that they will try as it is that they will not be funny.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
