The Stronger Sex? Ch. 05

"What does mom think?" Evan said, looking at the mom as he spoke.

"Ashley, please." She said as Evan made a mental note not to forget again. "I obviously worry about my baby getting into a ring with a man, even after They changed everything. I'm still a mom and she is still my baby girl." She paused to look at Lexi.

"I understand," Evan said sympathetically, "please, I would like to hear more, if that's ok."

"Sure, its fine. Well..." she paused again. She was clearly not as articulate as her daughter, but Evan felt that came from her lack of complete comfort with the situation.

Evan realized that Ashley grew up with women being physically weaker than men, preC, and things were different then. Lexi only knew a world where most men pose no physical threat to her, Ashley grew up in a world (according to Evan's readings and conversations with people) where women were in constant fear of assault, rape, harassment or unwanted sexual advances. Evan had also read that it influenced many aspects of women's lives and mental health. He had a hard time imagining such a world, but he was very aware of his history.

"I tell myself she is perfectly safe with all the young, enhanced women here, and I like that they vet the men so no crazies get in. Men still have guns and weapons, and that part is still scary... "

"Mom..... we don't have that here!" Lexi interrupted in an exacerbated tone that only a daughter would use on a mother. It implied she had been over this conversation with her mom before

"I know, I know, but.... Anyway, I think it's a good thing for the girls and I really don't see a problem with it. When I remind myself she can probably take out every man here if they tried anything (Evan noticed an eyeroll from Lexi) I'm glad everyone here has an outlet like this. The guys obviously get something out of it, getting to roll around with a girl when they wrestle. They obviously have some pent up things..." she paused, clearly talking around an issue, but continued, "and this gives them an outlet to safely express themselves in a safe and structured way"

"And the girls have so much fun, they just seem to love it. They really do, I can see it on Lexi's face when she is done, even when she loses..."

"Mooommm..." another eye roll and exacerbated interruption from Lexi.

"I'm sorry, but it was obvious how much fun you still had. When you win your face is lit up for days, I love seeing that. And the money! They can make so much money! The girls are young, they have to be fully enhanced to make the big money, and let's face it all men love young women the most. Even the old men (yet another eye roll was Lexi was paired with a snort of a laugh from Jake) want a young girl. Always have. But they have money, the girls don't, I think it's great that the girls have a chance to make some big money by just having fun."

Evan thought about pressing mom about the girl's clothing as he saw they were dressed in rather skimpy gym clothes and bikinis. He thought better of it, so he asked Lexi about it and watched mom's reaction.

"Moving on, Lexi how do you feel about the outfits? Are girls wrestling the men while wearing bikinis in those private rooms?"

"Well, yeah, I guess, yeah." She paused, considering what to say next. As she did, Evan began to notice her habit of repeating her words for effect.

"Yeah, it's what they want, and they are paying a lot of money here. It's cool though, it is. I don't ever feel uncomfortable, even in my swimsuit, and I make sure I choose a swimsuit that won't let anything fall out, if ya' know what I mean. Everything is covered, I don't think there is ever any nudity, but I'm not in every room. I would never, no matter how much they paid, and this isn't that kinda place."

"Sex sells, right?" Lexi continued without stopping, "If we did this in jeans and a t-shirt the guys wouldn't come back. I also wouldn't want to do this in jeans! That would be awful for me, plus scraping my jeans on their face and body would have to hurt for the guys, I don't want that! I usually wear a bikini in private, it works for me. I'm comfortable wearing one, I have free range of movement, I know they like it, and, and this may just be my opinion, but I think I look good in my bikinis!"

"You look beautiful in your swimsuits" Jake said bluntly, taking advantage of Lexi's pause.

"Rubs my feet and gives me compliments! Gold star for Jake!"

"Plus: I get more tips when I wear bikinis. Harper wore one that first time I came here, the guy tipped her $100 just for wearing one. And extra $100? Harper stuck $400 in her swim top before they hugged and he got his kiss on the cheek!"

"Do the guys always get a hug and a peck on the cheek?" Evan interrupted.

"No... not always... Always a hug, that's a given, it shows it's all fun and we are all friends. The kiss is earned and us girls don't always give that part."

"I see, thank you." Evan responded. "Do all the girls feel the same as you about the expected attire of workout clothes and swimsuits and bikinis?"

"Yeah, I think so, yeah. So, I've been coming here for about 8 months now, off and on as I want to, or have time, or need some extra money. In that time, I've met a lot of the girls, not all, and only one wears something more conservative than this." she waved her hands up and down her torso indicating she was talking about her own outfit.

"So, to be clear, only one girl refused to wear what looks like standard dress of swimsuit or the sport bra/spandex combo?" Evan asked for clarification. She nodded. He went on, "And you are wearing a green sports bra and tight green volleyball shorts, barefeet, no other padding or gloves." He explained that this description was for his recording.

"What did she wear?"

"Leggings or long spandex past her mid thigh, usually paired it with a tight tank top covering her stomach. She looked good, and she is super cute, but she got less sessions with most of the regulars and we all think it's because she doesn't want to dress the part. All good though, no disrespect, she can do as she is comfortable."

"But most of the girls..." she went on without needing prompted, "go bikini for the private low intensity stuff and spandex/sports bra for the more competitive or physical stuff or boxing. A few girls even go thong bikini, which is a bit too.... personal for me and a lot of the rest of us. They are too close to my butt for a thong, but that's just me, no disrespect."

"I'd like to ask about the boxing, if I may." Evan asked as he saw Ashley's face darken.

"Ok, what do you want to know?"

"I don't know, I'm not incredibly knowledgeable of this world..." Evan lied, "... but I am aware boxing happens here too. Or am I mistaken."

Evan noticed Lexi look at Vic uncertainly before she spoke, and it reminded Evan that Vic was still sitting next to, but just behind, him and had been listening to everything quietly. Evan looked back over his left shoulder at him, and he nodded, signaling it was ok to talk about it.

"You sure Vic? Everything?" Lexi asked. "You know how mom feels about that part? Other's probably feel the same?"

"It's ok, it is, we are all adults here, everyone has consented to everything that goes on. If you don't want to talk about it that's ok too." Vic replied. Lexi began:

"Ok, here goes. Yeah, we box, and sometimes it's competitive and they both wear padded helmets to protect noses and heads. Most of the time us girls have to hold back a bit for fear of hurting some of the guys, but some people will go all out. It's crazy to see and only a few girls and a few guys do it, but the girls have to hold back on the power behind the punches. They go all out when it comes to speed and quickness, but we never hit 100%, that's just too much. The super competitive stuff is always on weeknights when its slower."

"Most of the time it's playful and more of a foxy boxing thing where we punish the guys a bit while they get some shots in on us. They love it, especially the older guys. I think they like it so much since it's new, ya' know? They grew up with women being weaker, they could never dream of hitting one let alone hitting them over and over. So, I think they have this pent up desire for beating or pounding on a woman that has been simmering for 40 and 50 years with some of them. I mean, how old is Joe?" Lexi said while looking to Vic. "65? He told me he had dreamt of beating up a woman or being beaten up by a woman since he was a teenager, then he got the internet in his late teens and joined those early mixed wrestling subscription groups."

"But honestly, a teenager? He talks about movies he used to watch where women would beat up men, he still talks about some secret agent guy or whatever movie and some girl villain who scissors people...."

"I remember that movie from the 90's..." Vic interrupted. "The smokin' hot Russian girl body scissored her victims to death...." He trailed off, obviously thinking back to that movie. "What a great movie! Why they couldn't mix in a headscissor I will never know... Anyway, sorry for the interruption Lexi."

"But, some guys get their rocks off beating on women. I don't judge, honest, I don't, and I guess I get it... to a certain point. I mean, I like punishing guys like Jake here a bit by squeezing them until they beg for mercy. I guess pounding on a girl with your fists is the guy's equivalent."

Evan noticed she was rambling a bit and bouncing back and forth between men hitting women and women hitting men, so he tried to steer her responses a bit.

"Using your words, how, specifically...." Evan paused to phrase this the right way, "... are women beaten up or pounded on? It seems a young girl would defeat a man in a boxing match, not get beaten on?"

"True, but it isn't always like that, it's often not competitive. Sometimes it's competitive, but that can be dangerous if someone doesn't know what they are doing. Sometimes, and this is a favorite of some of the regulars, a girl is tied up and used as a punching bag or allowed to move around the ring but has her hands bound behind her back. Sometimes she is even tied to a heavy bag. There are a few private boxing rooms, and two even have a Rack. It's a favorite of more than a few, and it has to be reserved in advance. Also..."

"Wait, excuse me, a Rack?" Evan said in a questioning tone.

"Yeah...." She paused, thinking about how best to describe it. ".....it is the apparatus that holds a heavy punching bag, except there is no heavy bag. Instead, a girl has her hands tied up and she is tied to the part the heavy bag would have been tied to. So, she is tied up with her hands tied over her head and is defenseless. Then, the guy punches her over and over until she quits or time runs out. He wears boxing gloves, most of the time, and they usually agree never to punch her in the boobs or face. So, he usually punches her belly. Some guys pay extra to punch us bare fisted, they like the slapping sound of their fists hitting our bare bellies."

"Have there ever been any injuries from this? And they usually agree with no punches to the face?"

"Injuries? No, never that I have ever known. We are tough! We can take it!" she said boisterously and confidently, "and they don't get to punch at 100%. There is also always another girl there to look after the girl getting beat on. Not all the girls do it, and those that take punches to the head and face remind the other girls that concussions for girls in sports is down like 90 or 95% since the Event. So, knowing that, some of the girls will take a few gloved punches to the cheek and head and charge the guys a huge extra fee for it. Having said that, there is a waiting list for that, I don't know how many girls agree to be punching bags, but there are a bunch of guys who want to use us as punching bags."

"Wait," she said as she seemingly interrupted her own train of thought. "I think Cassie dislocated a guy's shoulder once when he went too hard on somebody....." Lexi paused and looked away as she thought. The atmosphere of the group conversation had definitely shifted, Evan felt the light hearted nature was temporarily gone.

"Yeah, she did! She was telling some of us about it when I was pretty new. He kept punching too hard and she warned him several times, I think he did it one more time and she threw him across the room, dislocated his shoulder when she did. I don't think he's allowed to come back."

"Have you ever witnessed this? Ever been a "punching bag", your words...." Evan used air quotes and reminded Lexi who introduced the term. He did not want to offend her, or her mom, and risk slowing down the conversation. This was the greatest interview he could ever dream of. this was going to be huge!! He continued to try to act normal and nonchalant, ".... or ever been the girl keeping watch and playing bodyguard.?"

"Yes, both, yeah." Lexi began as Evan noticed Ashley's face darken even more, if that was possible. "I watched first, Harper will get strung up maybe a few times a month..."

"Strung up?" Evan asked for clarification.