Chihuahua, Mexico, has announced that large fines will be issued to live performers who use “misogynistic” lyrics.
The decision comes as the Mexican government seeks to tighten up on safety protocols for women. According to the United Nations, ten women and girls are being killed in Mexico each day.
Musicians who use lyrics that “discriminate against women” will receive a fine of up to 1.2 million pesos (more than $70,000 USD). The fines will also be aimed at songs that promote the “denigration, marginalization or exclusion” of women.
In a video posted to Facebook, Chihuahua Mayor Marco Bonilla remarked that nearly 70% of calls placed to Chihuahua’s emergency services relate to domestic violence.
Bonilla said that Chihuahua’s city council “unanimously approved” the decision to ban misogynistic and discriminatory lyrics and added that funds raised by the fines will go to “shelters for abused women or to programs to prevent violence.”
“Violence against women has reached levels that we could consider like a pandemic,” Bonilla said. “We can’t allow this to happen, and we also can’t allow this to be normalized.”
Chihuahua also enacted fines and bans on songs that were seen to glorify drug crime after the city experienced an increase in drug-related violence roughly a decade ago.
Popular Mexican band Los Tigres del Norte were banned from Chihuahua in 2012 and fined in 2017 for lyrics that were deemed to celebrate drug trafficking.
Featured image from Pexels.com.
