"I wanna do something fun tonight." T Boy Wrestling. "But I wanna do something different that we've never done before." T Boy Wrestling. "And I want it to be a bit on the edge, and push my comfort zone." T Boy Wrestling. "And it has to be LGBTQ+ friendly." T Boy Wrestling. "Can it be physical? And gritty? But also fun and with a sense of humor?" T Boy Wrestling. "And also a little sexy. And arty! Like arty, sexy, physical theater!" T BOY WRESTLING! ALL OF THAT IS T BOY WRESTLING!!!
So, yeah. T Boy Wrestling is a thing now, and it's playing to full houses up and down the West Coast and NYC, and might be coming somewhere near you soon! So what is T Boy Wrestling?
Check out the following IG video:
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As Greg Owen reports in his recent article on the LGBTQNation site, T Boy Wrestling is an "avant-garde trans wrestling group (that) is the antidote to toxic masculinity." You've seen, and maybe even lusted after, professional wrestlers, boxers, and ultimate fighters. It's dripping with sweat, muscles heaving, as men grab onto each other, crotches pressed into faces, as their testosterone-pumped fans marvel at the masculine display going on in front of them. You can smell the manliness wafting in the air. And it's absolutely not gay at all! and just ignore those rumors of WWE casting couches for top honors.
Now, flip all that on its head, add a touch of theater (okay, more so than has already always been there!) and a heavy dose of ironic humor, and let it all be played out by some seriously rough-and-tumble trans male athletes, and you have a small inkling of what goes on in the ring at a T Boys Wrestling show.
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"T Boy Wrestling, organized by Trans Dudes of LA, is packing venues across the country with a politically charged mix of classic American wrestling, staged psychodramas, mixed fighting with strip teases, and drag" says Owen. Take all of the latent, and not-so-latent, homoeroticism of mainstream professional wrestling and turn it up a few notches. Flip the script and bring it all out in the open with overtly politically and sexually charged characters and "psychodrama," and that's what the men of T Boys Wrestling attempt to do. And it's cathartic as well.
Adam Bandrowski and Mich Miller, L.A.-based artists and founders of Trans Dudes of LA, say that by replacing self-help groups and emotional sharing with body slams and elaborate playing with the hyper-masculinized gender norm has made T Boys Wrestling a form of therapy. “We wanted to move away from a support-group model to highlight artists and makers in the community,” Miller said. Bandrowski added, “We don’t have to talk about being trans. We can just hang out.” And if "hanging out" means pile drivers and inverted atomic drops and half-Nelsons, then hey, what's to judge?
carlinstiehl, the photographer of the above photo, has this to say about a recent event:
Let me say this, I have a lot of judo behind me and when I tell you I was hearing slams on that mat, you know these wrestlers were going hard. The energy was immaculate, that raunch was supreme and through the sweaty heated fog of t boy wrestling is a breath of fresh air hanging out with a group of friends who truly are having the time of their life.
The wrestlers train hard and fight hard, and they create characters with an eye towards recognizable positive and negative male stereotypes. And the fans know who to cheer for, who to boo, and who they want to start making out.
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You can get info about T Boy Wrestling events such as fights, fundraisers, and get-togethers, from their Instagram account or by visiting their website.
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