Authorities in the northwestern Mexican state of Chihuahua have banned artists from performing misogynistic lyrics at live music venues.
Chihuahua, the state’s capital on the border with the United States, has passed a measure banning musicians from performing songs promoting violence against women.
That means Puerto Rican reggae star Bad Rabbit, who had a sold-out concert in Puerto Rico last year, and Peso Prama, Mexico’s most talked-about artist and leader of the “drug ballad” genre, could be out for their bragging rights. And misogynistic and unpopular. lyrics.
Pan MP Patricia Urad, who introduced the reforms to the city council, said “harsh realities” — including grave violence against women and a persistent culture of machismo — prompted lawmakers to act last week , against promoting gender-based violence.
Violators face fines of up to £55,000 (1.2 million pesos), with funds raised going to municipal women’s projects and domestic violence shelters. Lawmakers insisted the law was not intended to target any particular genre of music.
“Chihuahua is one of five cities in the state that have implemented a gender alert, which was announced due to high rates of structural violence against women,” said Urad, chair of the Chihuahua City Council on Women, Families and Gender Equality. “Any action that helps eliminate these conditions is important.”
City Mayor Marco Bonilla said that “anyone [singing] a song that promotes violence against women” will be punished financially. He called the violence an “epidemic”, with seven in 10 calls to city police related to domestic violence. Bonilla said live music that objectifies and sexualizes women would be considered violence.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador last month affirmed musicians’ right to “sing what they want” but criticized artists who glorified violence and drug use. “When they say [ecstasy] is good, they have 50-caliber weapons, and their idol is the most famous drug dealer, we won’t be silent.”
Chihuahua lawmaker Francisco Sanchez, from the Citizens’ Movement party, has spoken out against the ban, calling it “useless and retrograde.” “It threatens freedom and even violates Article 6 of the constitution which protects the expression of ideas,” he told local media.
In 2015, the city of 1 million banned music promoting crime at public events. In 2017, Mexican pop group Los Tigres del Norte was fined 500,000 pesos (£23,000) after they sang a song about drug trafficking.
Cancun, a popular tourist destination on the east coast and site of cartel violence, took steps in May to ban concerts promoting violent lyrics.
Ciudad Juárez is the most populous city in the state of Chihuahua and is notorious for the systematic killing of women. Veronica Corchado, a women’s rights advocate in the city, said: “The reality is that we have gender-based violence that cannot be ignored…[Women must] be involved in day-to-day political decision-making so that women can have Better opportunities, voices, perspectives on the political side of everyday issues.”
