Cintrón, Conchita (1922—)

Latin-American bullfighter. Name variations: Cintron. Born in Chile in 1922; daughter of a Puerto Rican father and an Irish-American mother (both U.S. citizens); raised in Peru.

Though women have been active in the corridas since the 17th century, it was usually on horseback, "Portuguese style." The first mention of a torera, or woman bullfighter, was in 1654, and Francisco Goya portrayed a torera in action in his painting La Pajuelera. The first woman of modern times to achieve success as a torera was Conchita Cintrón who began to slay bulls on horseback at age 12. At 15, in Mexico, she made her first appearance in the arena on foot. During a career that spanned 25 years, Cintrón was gored only twice while mastering over 1,200 bulls. Acclaimed in Mexico for her bravery as well as her beauty, she would open the way for women bullfighters in other parts of the world.

France, Portugal, and Spain resisted having women in the ring. In Spain, bullfighting by women on foot was banned from 1908 to 1973. (The first woman to appear there as a torera after 1973 was Maria de Los Angeles .) In 1949, in her farewell appearance in Spain, Cintrón challenged the law of the ring by dismounting from her horse and executing a collection of perfect passes; she then tossed her sword to the ground and refused to kill the bull. Though she was taken in custody by outraged authorities, she was soon released because of the demands of the crowd.

In 1951, Cintrón married and retired in Lisbon, reporting on bullfighting for newspapers. Three years later, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Texas-born Patricia McCormick made her debut in January 20, 1952. Over 40 years later, in 1996, Cristina Sánchez (1972—), who was badly gored three times, became Spain's first female matador de toros—a bullfighter of the first rank. No female bullfighter before her had been allowed to take on fully grown bulls weighing over 1,300 pounds.