Wright State University CORE Scholar The University Honors Program Academic Affairs 4-24-2018 WWE: Redefining orking-ClassW Womanhood through Commodified eminismF Janice M. Sikon Wright State University - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/honors Part of the Women's Studies Commons Repository Citation Sikon, J. M. (2018). WWE: Redefining orking-ClassW Womanhood through Commodified Feminism. Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Affairs at CORE Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in The University Honors Program by an authorized administrator of CORE Scholar. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. WWE: Redefining Working-Class Womanhood 1 WWE: Redefining Working-Class Womanhood through Commodified Feminism Janice M. Sikon Wright State University WWE: Redefining Working-Class Womanhood 2 Introduction World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is the largest professional wrestling promotion in the world (Bajaj & Banerjee, 2016). Their programs air in 20 languages in over 180 countries, and in the United States approximately 11 million people watch their programs each week (“FAQ,” n.d.). These programs include six hours of televised weekly events and 16 annual pay- per-view events (“WWE Reports,” 2017). In the first quarter of 2017 the company grossed $188.4 million (“WWE Reports,” 2017). They have close ties with the current presidential administration, as Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon was the CEO of the company from 1980 to 2009 (Reuters, 2009) and President Trump has made several appearances on WWE programming in the past (“Donald Trump,” n.d.).