Lesbian Turkish Oil Wrestling

Yes, you read the heading of this post correctly. Denise, myself, and friends attended an event put on by the producer of the L word, Ilene Chaiken, called FYKE which featured lesbian Turkish oil wrestling. Let me just say that one more time... Lesbian Turkish Oil Wrestling. Really, it had been my great pleasure all week to tell people I was going to such an event because when else in my life am I going to get to say that!!

Now, I decided to do a little research on this type of wrestling just for my own edification, and found that making it a match between women seems to be Ilene Chaiken's twist on the event because in Turkey, it only involves men. An episode of the L word featured Turkish oil wrestling between women at "she bar" hosted by the character Dawn Denbo, climaxing in a drag down, oil filled, smack down between Dawn Denbo, her lover Cindy, Molly, and Shane. The oil wrestling I attended on Saturday night was a sort of cross promotion for the L word and the constantly referenced online site called ourchart.com.

If you would like a more in depth exploration into the history of oil wrestling in Turkey, here is a link to it from the extremely accurate wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_oil_wrestling

When I google imaged Turkish oil wrestling, I was given countless images like the one below.

I can see why I was told by someone that this sport is very popular among gay men. However, as seen from the photos above, this is nothing like what I saw Saturday night.

Before I get to the actual event, I must say that on Saturday day, Denise, Noa, Shannon, Vince, Justin and I went on a BEAUTIFUL hike in Eaton Canyon back to a waterfall. It was a gorgeous misty and foggy day, and the green hills around us just came alive. We had done this hike once before, but it was last summer when everything was bone dry and the water was nothing more than a trickle. After all the rain we have had this year, the water was gushing down from the waterfall and forced us to negotiate over rocks, climb hills, and balance on trees in order to traverse the water back to the falls. It was a wonderful day and I was so overcome by the beauty of nature. Any LA people reading this blog, I TOTALLY recommend this hike, but do it soon before the water starts to get sucked up by the blaring sun.

After enjoying the beauty of nature, I was ready to enjoy the beauty of two women soaked in oil wrestling. haha! I had to say it....

So, we all arrived at the venue a little before 9:00 PM. The email sent out by the promoters said that between 9-9:55 they would sell tickets for 10.00, but after that they went up to 20.00. Although I was excited at the prospect of telling people I had attended lesbian Turkish oil wrestling, I was not really willing to pay 20.00 for that prestige. Also, we had a feeling the later we were, the less our likelihood of getting tickets became, and from what I heard the line was like as the night went on, we were right!

We were in line waiting for them to open the doors, which they finally did at about 9:15, but this was long enough for us to be subjected to the really annoying lesbians who think they are more important than everyone else so they MUST be on some list or be able to cut in line. Ugh... annoying. However, we got in without any issue and went straight to the bar after dealing with all the egos outside the door.

For hours lesbians just kept pouring in through the door, crowding around the wrestling ring set up in the middle of the room. Denise, Noa, Shannon and I were able to secure a spot at the front of the ring, but we paid for it by a number of shoves, squeezes, and smelly armpits. Finally the event started with an introduction to the sport by Michelle Wolff (you will only know her if you watch Dantes Cove on the HERE network) and the host was Elizabeth Keener (aka: Dawn Denbo on the L word, and the sister of Catherine Keener who I LOVE).

They introduced the wrestlers and began the first match. Oil was dumped out of a bucket onto the ring floor, and they got down to it (and I mean literally down). In all honesty, it was more fun to say we were going to lesbian Turkish oil wrestling than to actually watch it. People were shoving you the whole time, it was likely that oil would get on you if you were too close (and I liked the shirt I was wearing), and one of the wrestlers was not wearing a great outfit and as a friend of mine so politely stated, "her ladies were falling out." After the first match, we decided we would just hang out with friends and people we had not seen in a long time, and catch some of the matches on the televisions provided.

The rest of the night was really the best part. I saw many friends who I have not spoken to in months, took lots of pics (well, Denise took lots of pics), and even made a few videos. Cybill Shepard's daughter, Clementine Ford was in attendance who is also staring in the L word this season. She is SO cute in person, and as Denise said, she could be the exception to the monogamy rule. ;) haha! I gest, I gest. I also spotted Ilene Chaiken in the crowd inspecting her creation and seeming quite pleased.

At one point in the night I was trying to sneak between Elizabeth Keener and Clementine Ford who were getting their pictures taken by a fan, and Elizabeth Keener playfully bopped me on the head, so that was pretty cool. :)

So folks, lesbian Turkish oil wrestling just turned out to be an entertaining springboard into a really fun night with friends and those I have lost touch with, which is completely fine with me.