Conchita Cintron, also known as La Diosa Rubia (born August 9, 1922 in Antofagasta, Chile) was a female bullfighter in a time when it was unusual for women to work as bullfighters. Some people thought that fighting bulls was for men and did not think it proper for a woman to
participate. Cintron started riding horses when she was three and eventually learned how to
bullfight from a horse. In 1938 at the age of 15, she made her professional debut in Lima, Peru. Throughout her
career she traveled to Mexico, Portugal, France, Venezuela, Colombia and Spain to participate in bullfights. She even fought once in the United States, near San Francisco, in an event in which she was not allowed to
kill the bull.
During Cintron's career women were not allowed to fight on
foot, which is the classic style of bullfighting popular in Spain. But her popularity in Spain was great, and eventually she was allowed to fight on foot at
charity events
not open to the public. In one of her last fights in Spain, she asked the president if she could
get off of her horse to kill the bull. He refused, but she
dismounted her horse anyway. She acted like she was going to kill the bull, but just dropped her sword instead. The
audience loved it and threw hats and flowers at her feet. When she walked out of the bullfighting ring she was
arrested. She retired shortly afterward. In her career she killed over 750 bulls and proved that women could
compete with men.