Contesting hegemonic masculinity with a kiss: exploring exótico interventions in Mexican lucha libre*

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the gender performances of Mexican lucha libre wrestlers, focusing on the impact of wrestlers who play stereotypically gay characters called ‘exóticos.’ Exóticos often use words like ‘glamor,’ ‘elegance,’ ‘toughness,’ and ‘homosexuality,’ to describe themselves, while also rejecting the labels of ‘weak,’ ‘submissive,’ and ‘passive.’ One of the most recognizable traits of the exótico, however, is a move called ‘el beso del exótico,’ (‘the exótico’s kiss’), during which exóticos use the beso as a strategy for distracting (or even attacking) their opponent. Exóticos therefore position themselves in a way that contests their opponents’ performances of a heterosexual, hegemonic masculinity, while also refusing to reinscribe themselves within the traditional bounds of femininity. Exóticos thus blur the boundaries between heterosexuality and homosexuality, as well as the hierarchical relationship between femininity and masculinity, illustrating the potentials of their modes of performance to undermine hegemonic gender relations.