Chihuahua, Mexico bans musical performances that “promote violence against women”

The city of Chihuahua, the seat of Mexico’s largest state by area, has passed a law banning artists from performing misogynistic songs, The New York Times reports.

Chihuahua’s mayor, Marco Bonilla, posted a video to Facebook last Wednesday (July 26) announcing that the City Council had come to the agreement unanimously. “Shows will incorporate sanctions ranging from 640,000 to 1.2 million pesos to those who [perform] songs that promote violence against women, or promote their denigration, discrimination, marginalization, or exclusion,” he said in Spanish. The fine converts to between $39,000 and $71,000 USD.

Elsewhere in the video, Bonilla explained that domestic violence, and especially violence against women, have “reached levels that we consider a pandemic.” While understands freedom of speech, he asserted, he doesn’t believe in songs in which people “stop seeing women as human beings.” Watch the video in full below.