Public Project
The Luchadoras
THE LUCHADORAS
Lucha libre, literally "Free fight", is a term used in Mexico for a form of professional
wrestling developed in the country.
It is a unique pop-culture phenomenon whose origins date back to 1863 when a Mexican
wrestler first developed the art of "˜free-style' fighting based on Greco-Roman traditions and
after a few decades its popularity started to grow when two Italian businessmen began
promoting no-holds barred fights.
Women have been wrestling since the beginning, but female wrestling was forbidden in
the capital city"it was considered immoral. So women had to tour around the country to
wrestle. From the 90s to the 2000s, it became more popular to see a woman fight and
nowadays there are several girls trying to make a career in the ring.
Sadly they have to accept that no matter how hard they try, they're rarely going to be the
headliner at the show. They're mostly on the independent circuit because it's hard to join
the bigger companies in Mexico.
A lot of women had to retire due to their husbands obligation but others could get out from
abusive marriages thanks to this kind of fight. Some of them started just to learn how to
defend themselves and ended up travelling the world in a very unexpected way.
But fighting is not just their big chance to travel, know the world and achieve a better life.they are also fighting for more rights, both in Mexican society and inside the ring.
In fact the macho culture is all pervasive in Mexico and this emphasis on male pride is a
contributing factor in the high rates of violence against women that Mexico is experiencing.
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