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What’s the story?
Laurel Van Ness has taken to social media and in a series of Tweets called out a booker on the latter’s alleged sexism.
On that note, Van Ness expressed her displeasure towards certain unnamed promoters, asserting that they mustn't decide to pay her only what they think is fair, but instead ought to discuss what she expects, before finalizing her fee.
Additionally, Van Ness insinuated that the aforementioned discrimination towards her may be due to the fact that she’s a woman. Speaking of which, she emphasized that in this day and age, female professional wrestling performers draw just as much as their male counterparts, if not more, hence deserve to get paid just as much.
In case you didn’t know…
The pro-wrestling industry has, for long, been dominated by male competitors, with men getting paid more than female wrestlers/personalities.
However, in light of the steadily rising popularity of feminism and the women empowerment movement, females—be it sport, business or any walk of life—are being accorded equal pay at the workplace; and the pro-wrestling industry has been playing its part in providing an impetus to its female stars as well.
The heart of the matter
Laurel Van Ness refrained from naming said promoter(s) but simply stated—
"Promoters, NO you can not just pay me what YOU think is fair…It's unbelievably disrespectful to assume you can pay me what YOU want. Why? Because I'm female?”
Furthermore, she noted that women in the sport are now headlining shows and drawing crowds to arenas; raking in just as much if not more revenue than men. She continued—
“So no, I will not take your $50 to go out there & put my body at risk, because you don't care to ask me how much I charge. Oh and, DEAR PROMOTER: Welcome to 2017."
What’s next?
Laurel Van Ness presently performs for GFW/Impact—a promotion that’s struggling to stay afloat owing to severe financial problems.
As of this time, it’s unclear which promoter or promoters the GFW star is referring to in her aforementioned posts.
Author’s take
I’ve got to agree with Laurel here, in the sense that the promoters need to pay their talent right, and under no circumstances should they discriminate between male and female talent.
My hat is off to the young star for speaking up against someone who’s resort to such measures. Do you agree with Van Ness? Sound off in the comments!
