Mexico’s Female Matadors Return to the World’s Largest Bullring Emily Green - NPR
go to original March 11, 2024

Spectators wait for the start of a bullfight at the Plaza México, in Mexico City, Jan. 28. Bullfighting returned to Mexico City after the Supreme Court of Justice overturned a 2022 ban that prevented these events from taking place in the capital. (Fernando Llano/AP)

Hilda Tenorio feels at home in Plaza México, the world's largest bullfighting arena, approaching an angry bull that outweighs her by some 1,000 pounds. It is her 17th appearance here. Wearing a shimmering suit of pink and gold rhinestones, Tenorio waves her cape — and the bull charges.

But Tenorio is nervous. It is only her second bullfight in four years, after a hiatus that began when a bull gored and nearly killed her in 2019. She couldn't eat solid food for three weeks and needed reconstructive surgery on her face. She had returned to the ring out of sheer commitment — she wouldn't let a bull dictate when she would retire.

"The biggest scars are the mental ones," says Tenorio, 37. "There is no recipe for overcoming such a trauma."

Tenorio's appearance is also unique for another reason. It is among the first bullfights held in Plaza México in two years, after Mexico's Supreme Court recently reversed a 2022 ban on bullfighting in the capital.

The high court's decision breathed life into a centuries-old tradition that has faced declining popularity, animal rights protests and outright bans in some countries. It's legal in six other countries — Spain, France, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. But amid this fight for survival, bullfighting is also in some ways entering the modern era, as a growing number of female bullfighters challenge preconceptions about women's abilities and demand to be treated on equal footing as their male counterparts.

Read the rest at NPR

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