Posted on 07/04/2005 11:21:26 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Spain's bullfighting fans were yesterday digesting the arrival of only the second woman ever to join the top rank of matadors after Mari Paz Vega fought for the first time in the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid. Dressed in a glittering emerald and gold suit, Ms Vega dispatched two half-tonne bulls on Sunday as she continued the slow conquest of this traditionally masculine profession.
By fighting at Las Ventas, the mecca of bullfighting, she was deemed to have confirmed her "alternativa", thus joining the highest echelon of the matador ranks. Ms Vega, 30, has been fighting bulls for the past eight years since formally becoming a matador at Cáceres, western Spain.
On that occasion her "godmother", Cristina Sánchez, was the only other woman to have made it this far in bullfighting. But she later threw in her cape, complaining that many male matadors refused to appear on the same bill as her.
Ms Vega had hoped Sunday's fight would see her accepted by Spain's notoriously picky bullfighting fans, who have seen relatively little of her. Much of her career has taken place in Latin America, where she is a favourite.
A triumphant exit from Las Ventas on the fans' shoulders would have sealed her future. That did not happen, though she was deemed to have done as well as she could under difficult circumstances
Critics agreed the bulls she fought were not the raw material for a brilliant display.
One thing is for sure, fighting bulls are not amenable to sensitivity training or gender norming.
A Spain of women bullfighters and men "marrying" each other! What would Papa Hemmingway think?
That is my impression of spain at this point, a nation of girlie men and dyke females.
Maybe they'll give her a decent selection of bulls next time. It's sort of like bronc riding -- who you draw can limit your performance.
She doesn't look like a dyke.
she doesn't look like a bull either..
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