A vulgar folklore: the pornographic fantasies of pornocorridos

Abstract

This article examines the vulgar folklore of pornocorridos, sexually explicit ballads that have circulated Mexican popular culture since the 1970s. Current literature on pornocorridos argues that the subgenre is misogynistic and a violation of women's bodies. These anti-pornographic critiques resemble the feminists debates of the 1970s and 1980s, which argued that pornography was destructive and an expression of woman-hatred. This article argues that a perverse reading of pornocorridos shows us that this music genre transgressed normative ideas about sexuality and that contemporary Mexican performers reimagine this vulgar folkloric practice to explore semi-sadomasochistic sex and lesbian sexual desires. The subgenre of pornocorridos has the potential to create sonic spaces that imagine, challenge, and create fantasies of brown sexual pleasures.