South East Women’s Wrestlers to host WRESTLEWOMANIA event

On Saturday April 28, the South East Women’s Wrestlers will present their first WRESTLEWOMANIA event staring at 7 p.m. at The Mill on 1085 Danielsville Road.

Kate Bundy, known by the name Amazona Prime, is a participating wrestler and founding member of the collective. Bundy also serves as the group’s communications officer.

“If you’re there for wrestling, you’re in for a treat. If you’re there for theatre, you’re in for a treat. If you’re there for feminism, you’re also in for a treat,” Bundy said. “It’s basically blurring all of these boundaries with a feminist slant to it.”

 The South East Women’s Wrestlers are a group of women who create indie, feminist-centered wrestling events for the enjoyment of all. The group was started in July 2017 by printmaking MFA student Kaleena Stasiak, who received a grant to help put on a piece of performance art to be featured at the University of Georgia Dodd galleries.

Stasiak was inspired by a group of women wrestlers in Ontario, Canada who encouraged her to create a feminist wrestling group of her own right here in Athens.

Shortly after the group was formed, the members began researching their roles and preparing to make their local debut.

“We began training, watching wrestling videos, writing scripts, coming up with our own costumes and really just getting into that head-space of doing something wildly different with our bodies,” Bundy said.

The collective has put on several events since its formation, with the upcoming WRESTLEWOMANIA as its largest spring event.

The group is welcoming all kinds of spectators to come to the event to see what the night has to offer.

“We have a lot of different spectators in the crowd,” Bundy said. “We have people that are associated with the arts school. There are friends of the wrestlers… some of us are professionals in Athens or part of other departments at UGA. Then we have hardcore wrestling fans, we have people who travel from rural parts of Georgia and Athens who come.”

The group seeks to show wrestling in a way that is not commonly seen in popular culture, and their events are conducted in an effort to challenge the conventions of patriarchy and promote ideals that empower women.

“Feminism is a big word, especially when you’re thinking about wrestling,” Bundy said. “The first few things that people think about [wrestling] is [that it’s a] hyper masculine space. The male gaze, especially when you’re thinking about women’s wrestling, is ‘Okay are you mud wrestling or are you jello wrestling?’ None of the above.”

The South Eastern Women’s Wrestling Collective seeks to put on a show that is interesting, safe and ideologically feminist, and is an event that can be enjoyed by fans of all sorts.

“My hope is that [people] would come and walk into a space in which they can relax, enjoy the show, be a little bit surprised and walk away with a different vision of what wrestling could be,” Bundy said.

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