The Internet Wrestling Community can be toxic at the worst of times and just downright rude at others, especially toward female talent.
Deonna Purrazzo had a chance to talk about this with James Walsh of the Wrestling Epicenter podcast where she recalled a tweet she found particularly rude. While she didn’t name the fan’s handle on Twitter, she opened up how body shaming on social media bothers her, especially considering the factors that go into maintaining certain things that are beyond just working out and eating healthy.
“Well, there was one tweet… And I try not to really engage with those types of fans, if you want to call them fans…But, there was one person who tweeted to me that I needed to lose 30 pounds and do some squats. That struck me because I was a little girl that grew up wanting to be a wrestler in a time where women’s wrestlers were size 0 models and they weren’t real women who came in a variety of sizes and shapes. For me, 30 pounds is a lot of weight! I’m not unrealistic with myself. I’ve been through the ringer with anxiety and depression and reclaiming my emotional health and my mental health this year. All of those things contribute to what your physical health looks like. And, I might need to lose 5 pounds. I might need to lose 6 or 7 pounds. I’m not against the losing weight part. But, I’m against calling people out for it. And, I’m against people who call themselves fans thinking it is OK to criticize a woman’s body because it is more than doing squats. I do squats everyday. It is a mental game as well. It is so much more than just working out. You know what I mean?”
While it will always be open to debate whether or not wrestling fans should make comments like that to performers, especially over social media, Purrazzo does have a valid point how mental health and depression can play a part in weight gain and many other changes with the human body. Thankfully the Virtuosa handles it with poise. You can listen to the interview below.
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