5 things you might not know about Mae Young
Thankfully, throughout much of the Western world, women are encouraged to live the lives they wish to lead. While we still tend to subconsciously instil gender stereotypes on young boys and girls growing up, if a woman wants to thrive in an industry typically dominated by men, she is perfectly free to do so.
As a result, it’s sometimes difficult to appreciate just how important the early pioneers of women’s rights were in forming the kind of society we take for granted today. You might hear about important women from history who were the first to do this or that, but we’ll never really know what it felt like at the time for such an impact to be made.
When it comes to professional wrestling, female pioneers are few and far between. In what is still very much a man’s world, female wrestling continues to tread water, desperately trying to prove itself worthy of our attention and admiration. Even in 2017, it is still a novelty for a company like WWE to main event a women’s match on PPV or in one of their weekly episodic TV shows. The names most responsible for allowing women’s wrestling to continue in the West could probably be counted on one hand.
One among those names is Johnnie Mae Young, and there is so much more to know about her than being the baby mother to Mark Henry’s hand. There are several reasons why the WWE are celebrating the life and career of Young by naming the upcoming WWE Women’s tournament in her honour. Here are just five things you need to know about the legend.
Also read: 5 things you didn’t know about Nia Jax
#1 Her early years were spent defying gender stereotypes
Growing up as a so-called ‘tomboy’ is not generally seen as too out of the ordinary today. More and more young women around the world choose to take up male dominated hobbies such as gaming, rock music and sport. As a result, some of the most celebrated figures in these industries today are women. Who could have predicted just a few decades ago that the UFC’s biggest star ever would be a female?
Of course, there was a time in which things were a whole lot different. Anyone with an interest in pre-Second World War US culture will be aware of just how stringently gender stereotypes were followed. During high school, men were expected to join the sports teams, while women prepared themselves for a life of domestic servitude. Against this backdrop, it is important to note just how much of a trailblazer the young Johnnie Mae Young was.
Not content with living the life of a domestic goddess, Young decided to follow her rather unconventional instincts and found herself rubbing shoulders with the very best male athletes her high school had to offer. As well as joining the high school’s male wrestling team – something previously unheard of in the States – she was also a skilled softball player and even kicked field goals for the school’s football team.
With the benefit of hindsight, it’s probably not all that surprising that we speak about her today as one of professional wrestling's most important female stars. It seems she was always destined to stand out in a man’s world. And while it is difficult enough to do that today, just imagine how many people would have attempted to squash her dreams back in the ‘30s and '40s.