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The city of Chihuahua, capital of the homonymous northwestern state of Mexico, has changed the Regulation of public entertainment and shows introducing the ban to sing misogynistic lyrics or lyrics that incite violence against women in clubs and places where live music is played. Offenders risk a fine of up to 1.2 million pesos (equal to about 65 thousand euros): the money collected from the fines will be used in the municipality’s programs in favor of women and for shelter homes for those who have suffered domestic violence.
Among the artists who could be affected by the new norm there are singers of very widespread genres in the country such as reggaeton, corridos tumbados and narcocorridos: the latter are sub-genres that often tell the deeds of drug traffickers, celebrating them, glorifying violence or a certain masculinity. Popular Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Bad Bunny, whose concert sold out in the country last year, and Mexico’s most-streamed artist, Peso Pluma, may no longer be welcome in Chihuahua due to misogyny, several newspapers report. of their texts.
The reform was promoted by Councilor Patricia Ulate at the head of the Commission for Women, the Family and Gender Equality. It was approved unanimously, with the support of the majority of the councilors of the National Action Party (PAN), of conservative and Christian democratic orientation, of those of Morena, the party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and of the Labor Party and the Left-wing citizen movement.
Patricia Ulate has explained that the ban aims to prevent gender-based violence and penalize behaviors that violate women’s dignity and which are still today “a structural reality”: “Chihuahua is one of five municipalities in the state with a violence alert gender… any action that contributes to its eradication counts».
The official data they say that 1,383 domestic violence complaints were filed in Chihuahua in the first five months of 2023, with cases increasing 21 percent from April to May. According to statistics, in January there were 249 complaints, in February 222, in March 302, in April 277 and in May 336. In the same period, the 911 emergency number recorded 677 calls for domestic violence and there were more than one hundred arrests related to this type of crime.
Explaining the ban, the mayor of Chihuahua, Marco Bonilla, he precised that “anyone who sings songs that promote violence against women” will be sanctioned, defining this violence as a “pandemic” and specifying that they will be considered violent texts that objectify and sexualize women. He went on to say that the municipal regulation change was not intended to target any particular musical genre.
– Read also: The music that tells and celebrates drug trafficking in Mexico
In Mexico, to prevent the spread of violence and “narcoculture” through music, many attempts at censorship have been made over the years. Some states have banned the radio broadcasting of narcocorridos, some radios have voluntarily chosen not to broadcast them, and some governors have tried to ban listening to them in bars or nightclubs.
Last May Cancún, a popular tourist destination on the east coast of the country, has approved for example a series of measures to ban concerts with lyrics promoting violence. But Chihuahua’s initiative is the first of its kind because it specifically addresses violence against women.
Verónica Terrazas, president of an association that works for women and girls in Chihuahua, he said that “violence has been recognized as a social and public health problem both in Mexico and in the rest of the world” and that “it must be understood that, among all the inequalities that exist, the one based on sex is the oldest: that’s where all the other inequalities come from, which is why domestic violence is so structural.” This is why it is important for her to intervene at all levels “with a cultural change that does not allow any type of discrimination”.
– Read also: The neo-melodic singer accused of writing lyrics in favor of the mafia