Women have been wrestling in Mexico since the 1930s. Decades later, lucha libre is part of a sport that is still dominated by men. More and more girls dream of making a career in the ring, but headline female shows remain rare.
Multimedia reporter Marta Franco spent almost a month documenting the lives of several female wrestlers and the meaning of lucha libre in Mexican culture. She met the women and their families and got to know their dreams, aspirations and the reasons why they endure a world that is often full of suffering, misunderstandings, and challenges.
All these women share a love of their sport and each one has an amazing story to tell.
Multimedia Journalist: Marta Franco
Additional Video in Lola Gonzalez: Clío TV, Alejandro Islas, Eduardo Javier VIDEONEMESIS
Music in Lola González: Infados, by Kevin MacLeod - incompetech.com
Additional Images in The Women: Super Luchas
Titles Fonts: Luchita Payol - Tecnica and Luchita Payol - La Ruda
Background Texture: Lost & Taken
Seeing Stars Font by Jess Latham - BV Fonts
Las Luchadoras wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the following people:
Paul Grabowicz, adviser, edited the content and supervised the whole project. Jeremy Rue helped code the website and Richard Koci Hernandez advised about the design. Journalist Deborah Bonello offered further suggestions on the story.
Neus Valencia and Maris Bustamante offered accommodation and great support in Mexico City. Germán Solano made the trip a bit more affordable. Special thanks to Andrea Valencia, who helped with shooting, reporting, and translating the texts into Mexican Spanish, and whose collaboration and friendship made things in Mexico City much easier.
Valerie Richter, Ernesto Ocampo and Alejandro Torres Huitrón offered countless advice and resources, as well as facilitating contacts in Mexico City.
Tony Jimenez, Alicia Avila and her family, Octavio Lopez-Raygoza, and Nina Caussa offered housing, driving and assistance in Los Angeles. While the reporting there was not part of the final project, their help is greatly appreciated. Alicia also helped with the shooting in Mexico City.
Juan Pérez Bermejo, Ana Rodríguez, Luis Luna, Nèstor Prado and, again, Alicia Avila, took a last look at the videos and made sure audio and Spanish subtitles were smooth. Daniel Monserrat edited the texts in Spanish.
Thank you.