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MEXICO CITY — Hilda Tenorio relaxes in the Plaza de Mexico, the world’s largest bullring, as she approaches an angry bull that weighs about 1,000 pounds more than her. This is her 17th appearance here. Tenorio, dressed in a glittering suit of pink and gold rhinestones, waves his cloak and the bull charges.
But Tenorio is nervous. This is her second bullfight in four years, and she took a hiatus in 2019 after she was nearly killed by a bull. She was unable to eat solid food for three weeks and required reconstructive surgery on her face. She returned to the ring out of sheer determination. She wasn’t going to let the bull decide when to retire.
Tenorio, 37, said: “The biggest wound is the psychological one. There is no way to overcome such trauma.”
Tenorio’s appearance is unique for another reason. It will be one of the first bullfights to be held in Plaza de Mexico in two years, after Mexico’s Supreme Court recently revoked the 2022 ban. About bullfighting in the capital.
The high court’s ruling breathes life into a centuries-old tradition that has faced declining popularity, animal rights movements and outright bans in some countries. It is also legal in her six other countries: Spain, France, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. However, in the midst of this struggle for survival, a growing number of female bullfighters are challenging preconceptions about women’s abilities and demanding to be treated on an equal footing with male bullfighters. is also entering the modern era.
Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images
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AFP (via Getty Images)
“There’s this idea that the braver you are, the more macho you are, so women can’t be as brave as men,” Tenorio says. “Women bullfighters were ignored.”
Alexander Fisk-Harrison, author Into the Arena: The World of Spanish Bullfighting, compared female bullfighters to the women who play Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth. “If you’re in a setting that’s defined by masculinity, you’re going to disappoint,” he says.
When Tenorio became interested in bullfighting, he didn’t think about expectations. She was 12 years old and a natural athlete when she saw her father watching a bullfight on TV. “She saw a video of a bullfighter manipulating a bull and she was amazed,” she says. “And they did it so calmly. I said to myself, ‘I can do it! ” ”
Tenorio had no idea until years later that all the bullfighters she saw were men.
“When you’re a kid, and that’s what you should learn from kids, dream big and think that nothing is impossible.” In addition to being a bullfighter, Tenorio is also a general lawyer.
Tenorio said that in the history of bullfighting, only 16 women have become bullfighters, the highest rank a bullfighter can reach.
It wasn’t until 1974 that women were even allowed to enter the bullring in Spain. According to Spain’s Ministry of Culture, there are currently 803 bullfighters out of 10,554 certified bullfighters in Spain, but only seven are women.
However, although female bullfighters and male bullfighters fight bulls of the same size, they are most often separated into separate competitions.
“This goes against what women bullfighters have been fighting for for a long time,” Tenorio said. “We fight the same bulls as men. Same weight, same size. And we should be able to mix with male bullfighters. That’s true inclusion.”
Fisk-Harrison said male bullfighters have historically been reluctant to mix with women. If a male bullfighter sees his male mate about to be gored, “he won’t run over and help him until he literally jumps on the bull’s horns.” he says. But if a male bullfighter sees a woman in distress, he faces the conundrum: “If he ran into the ring to protect her, that would be a grave failure of professional decorum.” Become. On the other hand, a male bullfighter would be breaking “the chivalric code of being a knighted gentleman” if a woman was actually bloodied, he said.
“I think the bullfighters decided they didn’t have an advantage,” Fisk-Harrison says.
Opponents of bullfighting do not recognize the distinction between male and female bullfighters. They say this tradition amounts to animal cruelty, sometimes resulting in the slow and painful slaughter of majestic animals.
Regarding the ban on bullfighting in Mexico City in 2022, a judge said the practice violates residents’ right to a healthy environment free of violence.
almost every city This ruling was a surprising event in the 500-year history of bullfighting. A five-judge Supreme Court panel overturned the decision in December without explanation.Tenorio served as a clerk of the Supreme Court Cooperated in drafting opinions from 2017 to 2021. She quit to pursue her bullfighting full time.
Now, Tenorio was about to make a triumphant return to the world’s biggest stage. In early February, she appeared alongside two other female bullfighters, fellow Mexican Paola San Roman and Colombian Rocio Morelli. Unlike a few weeks ago, when the 42,000-seat arena was packed with spectators, the women’s bullfighting arena was only a quarter full, if at all. Vendors sell beer and snacks as the audience, a mix of rich and poor, children and the elderly, wavers between cheers and boos.
Gabriela Rodriguez said she came specifically to see the female bullfighters. Even though she’s a motorcycle enthusiast and adrenaline junkie, Rodriguez says she never could have imagined taking on a 1,200-pound bull. ”Imagine a woman going up against such a huge animal. I mean, I wouldn’t do that,” she says.
Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images
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AFP (via Getty Images)
Everyone in the stands gasped when the 30-year-old Morelli walked to the center of the arena, pink and yellow cape in hand, and took a knee. Morelli waves her cape as her bull charges, but the giant bull misses her by mere inches.
After about 20 minutes, Morelli confronts the bull again, alone. She raised her sword and thrust it into the neck of her cow, killing it on her first try. The crowd cheers wildly, and spectators take out white handkerchiefs and begin waving them, a sign of a great bullfight. Morelli is given one of her bull’s ears as a prize.
Next is Tenorio. Although she is a more experienced bullfighter, she looks unstable. When her time to kill comes, she stabs the bull, but her sword does not pierce. After various attempts, she stabbed the bull in the neck multiple times. The bull staggers, but still does not die.
As the crowd boos, the bull is led from the arena and killed behind closed doors.
A week later, Tenorio says that night was tough. She tried her best to train, but she says she wasn’t in the best shape. Moreover, her bloody trauma still haunts her.
She said, “We still have a ways to go before Hilda Tenorio comes back to what she was before.”
Copyright 2024 NPR. For more information, please visit https://www.npr.org.
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