WWE: Gender Roles and Why WWE Doesn't Care About the Divas Division

B/R's own Sharon Glencross recently wrote an article entitled Why the Divas Division Is Always Going to Be a Sideshow in the Company.

You can read the article by clicking here, but I would like to give my explanation for why the Divas division is always going to be a "sideshow" in the WWE.

In his book, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, Bret "The Hitman" Hart wrote, "To me, there is something beautiful about a brotherhood of big, tough men who only pretend to hurt one another for a living instead of actually doing it."

Hart sums up the beauty of pro wrestling very nicely in that quote. However, there's no mention of women (or Divas) in that quote. Why?

I can't put words in Hart's mouth, but I think the reason he specifically mentioned men is because while men (throughout history) have stereotypically been known to be violent, women have stereotypically been known to be peaceful.

Because men have stereotypically been known to be violent, its beautiful to see them "pretend" to hurt one another instead of actually doing it.

Women, on the other hand, have stereotypically been known to be peaceful, so it's not as beautiful to see them "pretend to hurt one another" than it is to see "big, tough men" pretend to hurt one another.

It's all about gender roles.

Simply put, societal norms suggest that women aren't supposed to fight, just as AJ wasn't supposed to jump through a table last night on Raw.

Ultimately, WWE's treatment of the Divas division won't change until women make up a larger percentage of the U.S military (they currently make up about 15%) and until men make up a larger percentage of the nurse population (they currently make up about 6%).

What do you think? Will things ever change for the Divas division?

Share your thoughts!

You can find me on Twitter @IAmMazusa