Mexican city bans misogynistic lyrics from live music venues

Machismo music has no place in this Mexican city.

Last week, the city of Chihuahua reportedly banned lyrics that degrade or promote violence against women from performance venues — to curb the rampant gender violence in the area, reported Mexico News Daily.

“Today, another of these harsh realities has motivated reform,” said Patricia Ulate, the Chihuahua city councilwoman who promoted the bill.

“Chihuahua is one of the five municipalities in the state with a Gender Alert, declared due to high rates of structural violence against women. Any action that contributes to eradicating these circumstances counts.”

According to the bill, any artist found spouting misogynistic lyrics will be fined $71,133 (1.2 million pesos), with the funds being donated to domestic violence shelters and women’s programs.

“The reality is that we have a gender violence problem that cannot be unseen,” women’s advocate Veronica Corchado told the Guardian. “Women have to be part of political decision-making on an everyday basis so women can have better opportunities, a voice, an opinion about political aspects on everyday issues.”

Ulate has insisted that the ban “is not aimed at a particular genre” but will apply to any material — including video — that denigrates women in any musical style or format.

Those most likely to be affected by the ban are performers of the reggaetón and corridos tumbados genres.

Many performers of these styles of music, such as Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and Mexico’s most streamed star, Peso Pluma, might no longer be welcome in the city as both men feature questionable themes in their songs.

The municipality’s Mayor Marco Bonilla affirmed his stance on the ban, saying in a video that there is a “pandemic” of domestic violence adding that live music that objectified and sexualized women would be considered violence.

Chihuahua state congressman Francisco Sánchez slammed the reform calling it “useless and retrograde.”

“It threatens freedom and even runs counter to Article 6 of the constitution that defends the manifestation of ideas,” Sánchez told a local news outlet.

This is not the first time Mexican legislators have introduced measures to restrict popular music.

In 2015, Chihuahua instituted a reform prohibiting any music that advocates crime from being played at public events.

The city of Cancún also reportedly put a stop to any public events from playing narcocorridos, music that promotes drug trafficking, in May.

“Every time there is an event like this, the reality is that there are attempts at violence,” Jorge Aguilar Osorio, general secretary of Cancún’s city council, said to the Economist. “The municipal president [mayor] gave the instruction that this type of event is not allowed where in one way or another violence is promoted in any of its forms.”