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heatherbandenburg

heatherbandenburgheatherbandenburgheatherbandenburg

unladylike: A grrls guide to wrestling

"Unladylike made me remember why I fell in love with wrestling in the first place." Mick Foley

 

Unladylike is the first book written about feminism and wrestling - it follows one unlikely woman's journey to becoming an infamous masked wrestler, and honestly retells the life lessons grappling teaches her on the way.


Most wrestling books are about the stars of the industry – this one isn't. Unladylike offers an honest and comedic insight in to the world of independent wrestling from the perspective of one angry, overweight woman following a dream she didn’t know she had. Unladylike is structured around the last five years of my wrestling journey, using it as a backdrop to explore both the hidden and overblown world of wrestling. It also talks about women's bodies; cabaret in Underground post-recession London; forming unlikely friendships; generational ennui; pushing boundaries and personal politics. It is written for both an existing and new wrestling audience in a way that hasn't been attempted before – sitting squarely within the narrative non-fiction genre with influences of both sport writing and feminist thought.


Receiving top-end reviews from readers both from the wrestling and non-wrestling community, Unladylike is a feminist romp like no other.


other published work

Women Love Wrestling

'WLW' is an anthology of writings about feminism and female-identifying lovers of wrestling. From discussions of sex work to queer rights to fandom - it's a rich collection of essays that I've had the pleasure to contribute to. All proceeds go to charity. 

Find out more

Professional Wrestling: Politics and Populism

Edited by Heather Levi, Sharon Mazer, Eero Laine and Nell Haynes - I contributed a chapter to this amazing reader. It's on female wrestling as an act of resistance. Available on Seagull Books

Buy now

The Women of Jenji Kohan

Edited by Scarlett Harris (A Diva was a female wrestler) as part of her 'Women of...' series, this volume explores the characters in Kohan's filmography. I contributed a piece on how GLOW altered the world of female wrestlers.

Learn more

Unladylike press

BBC Breakfast

BBC Women's Hour

BBC Breakfast

On the 9th of August myself and homeslices' Pro Wrestling EVE sat on a sofa and I talked about how great wrestling was, and forgot to mention my book.

I Newspaper

BBC Women's Hour

BBC Breakfast

'I went from working in a call centre to a wrestling superstar' including an extract from Unladylike.

BBC Women's Hour

BBC Women's Hour

SLAM Sports (USA)

I fulfil a life ambition by appearing on the flagship show and end up talking about breast feeding and how I almost broke someone's nose with my pubic bone.

SLAM Sports (USA)

SLAM Sports (USA)

SLAM Sports (USA)

Jamie Hemmings reviews my book and shares insights from our interview.

OZY (AU)

SLAM Sports (USA)

Slate (FR)

Scarlett Harris includes notes on Unladylike as part of a piece on feminism and wrestling.

Slate (FR)

SLAM Sports (USA)

Slate (FR)

A history of women in wrestling, including extracts from the book.

buy unladylike

The best way to support my book is to buy a copy directly from me.

Please order below and specifiy what you would like (£2.00 for shipping will be added).

E book £5.00
Signed copy of book £15.00
Signed copy of book with a print of artwork by Jules Scheele £20.00
Print of Jules Scheele's illustrations (A4) £5.00 each

Pay with PayPal or a debit/credit card

podcasts featuring unladylike

Grap Grrls Podcast

Pro Wrestling Torch (USA)

Pro Wrestling Torch (USA)

C. Grap Grrlz - Heather, and Burning Hearts pals Kayla Fizz, Nye-Oh and Mesha East

Interview with Heather about her reasons for writing the book, and her love of zines with the world's only riot grrl wrestling podcast

Pro Wrestling Torch (USA)

Pro Wrestling Torch (USA)

Pro Wrestling Torch (USA)

C. Maskal

An interview with Rich Fann

Holy Shoot Podcast

Pro Wrestling Torch (USA)

Switch On, Tag In Podcast

Heather chats about her book and wider debates in the wrestling community around women in the ring.

Switch On, Tag In Podcast

Last Minute Wrestling (IT)

Switch On, Tag In Podcast

C. Rob Brazier photography

An interview with Shaz from the Switch On, Tag in Podcast about the London School of Lucha Libre, and how this inspired Heather's book.

Last Minute Wrestling (IT)

Last Minute Wrestling (IT)

Last Minute Wrestling (IT)

C. Rob Brazier photography

An interview with journalist Frank Mandolini

Wrestle Thoughts

Last Minute Wrestling (IT)

Last Minute Wrestling (IT)

C. Rob Brazier photography

I chat with Kurt about the release of Unladylike

Past musings of an angry lady wrestler

The Guardian

The Independent

The Guardian

From love and rockets by the hendandez brothers

Online comment on women's wrestling aimed squarely at a non-wrestling audience.

Don't read the comments.

Huffpost

The Independent

The Guardian

From Love and Rockets by the Henandez brothers

More on how feminists and wrestlers are secretly best friends

The Independent

The Independent

The Independent

C. Henandez brothers

Absolute click bate on one of the UK's leading newspapers.


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