Author Ehren Schaffter believes women don’t get the deserved credit in the sport of wrestling. His new book, Ascending the Queendom, talks about the lives of many women wrestlers and also explores the struggles of female talent navigating harassment and sexism.
“I went out and interviewed nine women from North America and I wanted to dive into a woman’s perspective on pro wrestling,” Schaffter told SlamWrestling.net. “And in doing that, I discovered a lot of sexism, a lot of ageism, a lot of sexual, mental, and physical abuse that has gone on with these women. We kind of let each lady tell their story.”
He feels the portrayal of women has gotten better than what it was before, but there is still more work that needs to be done.
“For the longest time, it was the bathroom break and that’s how we were kind of programmed to believe it. Right now, were in a pretty good phase, but still there’s a lot to be done.” Said Schaffter. “If you look at Randy Orton or Triple H, it’s very easy for a 50-year-old man to become the World Champion and they have no issue with that but were still not seeing a female.”
Schaffter says it’s on the promoters for not getting these women the shine they deserve.
“They want that sexy symbol, that bright young star on the television, and I think sometimes with women, it is a personal choice with them,” said Schaffter. In talking to some of the women in his book, he learned that some of the ladies are not allowed to come back to promotions after having a child, which only gives them a few years to make a name for themselves.
His book, Ascending the Queendom, which was published in June of this year, talks about the struggles of female wrestlers Madi Wrenkowski, Rebecca Scott, Savanna Stone, Amaris Blair, Airica Demia, Mystii Marks, Mylo, Amy Crimson, and Judi Rae, with each woman getting her own chapter in the book. Some of the wrestlers even mentioned to Schaffter that their own trainers started to see them as sex symbols after a certain age.
Schaffter believes an all-woman promotion can help reduce these issues.
“We really need an all-female wrestling promotion to take off and get a major TV deal. I think when people start seeing woman in pure and true competition, I think a lot of these things will stop,” said Schaffter. “The wrestling fans themselves are beyond thinking it’s a bathroom break. Beyond just having one women’s match on the card, we need more women’s matches and storylines to be developed.”
Schaffter, 43, from Kentucky is a big family man. He’s married with two kids, Quinn who is 11 and Christian who is 17. Other than being an author, his day jobs include working in retail investigations and being the head coach of a middle school girls basketball team. He mentions his family have been a huge support in his career as an author and he got the inspiration to writing his book, Ascending the Queendom, from his daughter.
“She’s a big-time wrestling fan, especially with the women. She doesn’t care much about the men,” said Schaffter. “If she ever wanted to be a pro wrestler, I just want her to understand the struggles that she may have to go through herself one day and hearing it from the women who are doing it now, she could be possibly do it.”
Other than being a major fan, his association with the sport of wrestling is he is the co-host of the Hot Tag Hooligans Wrestling Podcast.“I’ve done that now for the last three years and we feature a lot of independent wrestling guests every week on our show,” said Schaffter.
Shaffter sees his book, Independent Road, A Wrestler’s Journey, which was published in 2021, as his best work but added that Ascending the Queendom was something completely new for him.
“To actually go into a book where I’m driving home a major point like this, I’ve never done anything like it,” he said.
He doesn’t have any upcoming projects, but he did mention an idea of documenting a superstar through out an entire year.
“Never say never, I’m kind of like in that rest period right now. I know my 11-year-old daughter, her book releases this week (already released), she wrote a children’s book,” said Schaffter. “It’s called, Treat Dreams, it’s going to be more based between ages of three to eight.”
“I think I’ll take a little break for a while,” concluded Schaffter.
Ascending the Queendom is available to purchase at Barne s & Noble.
