Legitimizing and transforming gender relations within the contemporary equestrian sport of Charrería in Mexico

Abstract

The equestrian sport of Charrería is the national sport of Mexico. This ethnographic study illustrates ways in which Charrería helps legitimize unequal gender relations and, in some circumstances, provides opportunity to challenge and rework the wider gender order. Hegemonic masculinities are performed and reified through the gendered performances of male charros and the complementary, opposite, yet unequal gendered performances of female escaramuzas. Yet hegemony requires constant renewal and consent, and Charrería illustrates the potential for equestrian sports events to also contribute to challenging and reworking the wider gender order and reconfiguring relations between men and women, masculinities and femininities, to be less hierarchical and oppressive.