Britt Baker has worked very hard to improve herself and become one of the best female wrestlers in AEW. The doctor of AEW knows what fans want, but that does not mean she will readily accept all kinds of reactions from them. Now it appears Baker decided to call out double standards for women over the recent t-shirt controversy.
A couple of weeks ago on AEW Dynamite, Britt Baker was on the receiving end of a brutal beatdown at the hands of The Outcasts. As a result of the beating, Baker showed off some nasty bruises.
Saraya had t-shirts made with Britt Baker’s bruised face on them. That black eye is on full display on a new piece of merchandise, but the t-shirt got a lot of backlash for apparently promoting domestic violence.
Both Britt Baker and Saraya previously joined forces and fought against this narrative that the t-shirt glorified domestic violence. While speaking to Sports Illustrated, Britt Baker directly addressed the controversy again and called out the apparent double standards for women over the t-shirt backlash, pointing out how there wouldn’t be any Backlash if Chris Jericho did it.
“I was very surprised. When I posted the picture of my black eye on social media, it got almost 100,000 likes saying that I’m tough and I’m a badass and, ‘Wow, this girl, she’s strong.’ It was empowering.”
But then when it went on a shirt, it was really problematic, and that was so confusing to me. Because why? If I’m on a shirt with a black eye, why does that make me weak? Why does that make me a victim? But if a man, or Chris Jericho, had a black eye, they would be seen as tough and they would be a badass.
To me, it’s showing the internal narrative that people are saying about women—and that’s that we’re not as strong or as tough as the men, and that’s the real problem here.
It’s not a black eye on a T-shirt. Sometimes I do get hurt. I’ve broken my leg, my wrist, my nose, and guess what? Now I have a black eye and I signed up for that.
I’ve actually been telling the makeup artist, ‘Don’t cover up my black eye.’ Because I think it’s empowering, because I’m tough. You should see the other girl.”
AEW has a lot of merchandise and not everything will resonate with fans. Even then, Britt Baker is a staunch supporter of her own beliefs and will not let anyone change what she feels about the t-shirt.
What’s your take on what Britt Baker said? Do you think the backlash is unwarranted? Sound off in the comments!
Transcription by Ringside News
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