Quoted By:
It unironically goes back to the carny roots
>As we saw in the last chapter, romantic relationships between the men and women of carnival troupes was extremely common. But, more surprisingly, there was also ample space for same-sex desire in the carnival, even if it existed mostly outside the view of paying patrons. Among women, it was primarily found in “back of house” workers, the group of younger runaway girls and older, carnie lifers who provided domestic duties like cooking and cleaning to the group. Among men, however, same-sex relationships were quietly located in more outward-facing figures, particularly the hypermasculine, visually specular performers who proved to be among the most popular attractions in the entire carnival. Indeed, in many troupes, there was something of a “queer fraternity” that developed between the “strongmen” — towering giants who awed spectators with feats of physical prowess — and the “wrestlers” — brawlers and technical athletes who engaged in choreographed combat with each other, but who would sometimes challenge audience members to real fights. To prevent the con from being exposed, the wrestlers had to be particularly secretive, traveling in an insular clique that was incredibly hostile to outsiders — and that certainly had no room for female interlopers. By necessity, then, wrestling crews were male and male-only, and over time the grueling travel and physical toll of the matches themselves led the men to seek comfort and pleasure in the only place they could find it: each other. Of course, the rampant homoeroticism of wrestling’s carnival roots endures in professional wrestling today, as the half sport-half performance sideshow has long been the home to gay men cloaking their tender inner desires in the guise of a outwardly rugged “tough guy.
— from Diana Hamilton’s new book, “Under the Tent: The American Carnival Tradition” (2025), p. 205.
