Love but Little Money for Mexico's Female Fighters
 Agence France-Presse
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February 11, 2010
| | Mexican Lucha Libre, Spanish for "free fighting," is a form of professional wrestling with high-flying moves which has grown into an international pop culture phenomenon. It includes fake and real characters and, increasingly, women, in a country marked by machismo. (Agence France-Presse) | |
Mexico City - Grandmothers, tiny children and rowdy couples are among the Friday night crowd screaming obscenities at the ring in the Mexico City arena, where two women leap forward and pull each other's hair.
Women from as far away as Japan these days fight alongside men in bouts of Lucha Libre - Spanish for "free fighting" or professional wrestling - at venues such as the capital's Arena Mexico, and in rings across Mexico.
Behind the playful antics, tight costumes and colorful masks, battles for many females continue outside the ring.
Marcela Maria Helena Santa Maria, whose stage name is simply Marcela, started attending fights as a spectator aged 10.
"Mother took me to a lot of fights, she was a big fan, and that's how I started to like Lucha Libre," said the stocky mother of two, wearing pink and blue spandex in a backstage interview.
Lucha Libre has increased its draw in recent years, with its pop culture status enhanced by comic books, video games, TV programs and even a movie, starring Jack Black, called Nacho Libre.
But far from the million-dollar US wrestling industry, its core support remains among working class families, with tickets at around 100 pesos (7.6 dollars) and matches shown on TV.
Mexico's Worldwide Free Wrestling Council, formerly the Mexican Free Wrestling Enterprise, began in 1933, but women only started to appear significantly in the past few decades.
There were no women fighting in Mexico City until 1986, and there are currently 15 women at the oldest wrestling company, known as a promotion, including four foreigners, compared with around 120 men.
Marcela's opponent, Hiroka, moved to Mexico from Japan five years ago.
"There's also wrestling in Japan, but it's very different," the long-haired wrestler said as she nursed a cut to her cheek, grinning after winning that night's fight.
Training with and fighting alongside men was part of the attraction, since women only had separate promotions in Japan, Hiroka said.
"I also like the atmosphere here, because people are very cold in Japan. They remain quiet. Here they are lively and sometimes drunk," said the 28-year-old.
Although the main Mexican male headliners draw enormous followings and have entered mainstream advertising, salaries remain low for many, particularly women in a country famed for its machismo.
The economic crisis, swine flu and aggressive competition from televised US wrestling have also impacted on ticket sales in recent months.
Most are coy about revealing earnings, but Luciano Garcia, a lawyer who set up the first Mexican women's-only league 10 years ago in Monterrey, north Mexico, told AFP that his fighters earn from 100 to 5,000 pesos (380 dollars) per fight.
Fighting in the bigger promotion, Marcela said she thanks God that she has managed, for now, to support her children with her earnings.
But Hija de Karonte, a 19-year-old wrestler from Monterrey, said she worked part-time to support her passion.
"The salaries are really very, very low," she told AFP in a message on Facebook, where she sports a black and white mask in her profile picture.
Many wrestlers refuse to remove their masks even outside the ring, and female wrestlers sometimes wear them to hide from disapproving family members or boyfriends.
But they remain buoyed by loyal supporters.
"They're strong women and for some reason or another, they have to do this work, because in the end it's a job," said 26-year-old spectator Patricia Gutierrez, accompanied by her three-year-old daughter.
Although women never receive the most prestigious billing, Marcela said she was sometimes recognized in the street.
"It's important that the public responds to you, and that they like your work," she said.
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