Women and Bullfighting: Gender, Sex and the Consumption of Tradition

242 Pages·1997·40.967 MB·English

by  Sarah Pink

l
I
Women and Bullfighting
Mediterranea Series
GENERAL ErnrnR: Jackie Waldren, Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University; Research
Associate CCCRW, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford; and Field Co-ordinator, Deya
Archaeological Museum and Research Centre, Spain.
This is a new series which will feature ethnographic monographs and
collected works on theoretical approaches to aspects of life and culture in
the areas bordering the Mediterranean. Rather than presenting a unified
concept of 'the Mediterranean', the aim of the series is to reveal the
background and differences in the cultural constructions of social space and
its part in patterning social relations among the peoples of this fascinating
geographical area.
Women and Bullfigfiting
Gende'1 Sex and the
Consumption ofTradition
SARAH PINK
i
~ ~~o~;~~n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1997 by Berg Publishers
Published 2020 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint ofthe Taylor & Francis Group, an infor ma business
Copyright © Sarah Pink 1997
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of
Congress.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
Front cover photograph: © Sarah Pink
ISBN13: 978-1-8597-3956-3 (hbk)
Typeset by JS Typesetting, Wellingborough, Northants.
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Prologue: Constructing Femininity and Inventing Tradition 1
Introduction: A World of Bullfighting 9
Part 1 Rethinking Gender and Bullfighting in Andalusia
1 Slaying Anthropology's Goat: Men, Women and
Reputation in Andalusia 29
2 Gender, Bullfighting and Anthropology: Theorising
Women Bullfighters 47
Part 2 Detras de la Barrera? Women off Stage and Women
Creeping out from Behind the Scenes
3 Wife, Seductress, Mother and the Beautiful Spectator:
Representations of Femininities and Tradition 61
4 Active Aficionadas: A Gendered Lens on a
Photographic Ritual 85
Part 3 Women Performers: From a Public Arena to a
Domestic Screen
5 Gender, Power and Access to the Arena: Media,
Experience and Representations of Self 109
6 Toreras and Trajes: Dressing Up in the Names of
Histories 129
vi Contents
7 Breasts in the Bullring: Female Physiology, Women
Bullfighters and Competing Femininities 153
8 The Commodification of Ritual: Women Performers
and Media Events 171
Part 4 Conclusions
9 Modern Femininities and Consuming Traditions 197
Appendix: Questions of Terminology and Translation 205
Bibliography 209
Index 221
Acknowledgements
This book is based on a doctoral thesis presented at the University
of Kent, England, in 1995, the research for which was supported by
an ESRC award. Since this project began in 1991 I have become
indebted to a great many people at each stage of its development:
John and Marie Corbin who gave me their support, advice and
friendship during my fieldwork and writing up; Richard Sanders,
who carried out fieldwork in Cordoba during the same period and
with whom I shared ideas and research materials; Ana Martinez for
many insights into Spanish anthropology. For their comments at
various stages and on different parts of my manuscript I would like
to thank John Corbin, John Jervis, Penny Harvey, Neville Colclough
and Ursula Sharma. A particular thanks goes to Alan Bicker for his
constant support and encouragement.
My research in Cordoba and Andujar led me to meet many people
whose contributions were invaluable to my research. It would be
impossible to name all of them here. In particular I would like to
thank, Encarni Lucena Solis and Eva Perez Torres for their patience
with my Spanish and their friendship; Baldemero Herrero Sanchez
de la Puerta, and his family; Rafael Portillo and the staff of the Museo
Taurino; Manolo Gomez; the Aula Taurina; the Libreria M. Sanchez;
Miguel Lozano; Antofiita La Cordobesa; Laura and her family.
Finally most thanks of all to Alberto Martinez Rivero who not only
made an important contribution to my fieldwork but has lived with
me, the thesis and this book ever since.
vii

Prologue: Constructing
Femininity and Inventing
Tradition
W
hen I began fieldwork in 1992 few women bullfighters were
active in Spain. However, the resources of cultural knowledge
that aficionados (enthusiasts) drew on to argue their standpoints over
whether women ought to bullfight were vast. Locally, in Cordoba
(Andalusia), where the majority of my research was based, a young
woman who performed as Antofzita, la Cordobesa figured in many of
these polemics. One summer afternoon the director of the Bullfight
Museum, spurred on by my curiosity, determined to seek her out.
We agreed that he should arrange for me to meet Antofi.ita, and he
embarked on a series of telephone calls that eventually led him to
the house where she was employed as a part-time child minder. Two
days later I left my first encounter with Antofi.ita feeling truly
inspired. She appeared pleased and flattered that I had wanted to
meet her and learn about women and bullfighting. Whilst we sat
outdoors on the patio of a coffee bar in the tourist area of the city
Antofiita and I spoke for two hours about her experience of being a
bullfighter. She explained why she had loved performing, speaking
in terms of a 'special', almost indescribable sensation associated with
confronting a bull in the arena. This emotion becomes a reference
point in many bullfighters' accounts of the essence of performance.
She told me of the people who had helped and supported her, those
who had quite unashamedly stood in her way, her motives for giving
up her dream to bullfight professionally and how she would cherish
the opportunity to continue. The latter, she said could be facilitated
only by generous sponsorship. When we parted, our next meeting
to visit Miguel who had been Antofi.ita's trainer and swords handler,