Meet the Swedish Sex Worker Who Jumped Into a Bullfight for PETA

When Amina Axelsson jumped into the middle of a bullfight in the Spanish city of Málaga last weekend, she wasn't sure whether the bull or the armed guards would reach her first. Axelsson, a 41-year-old adult model and stripper living in nearby Marbella, says she is outraged that bullfighting is allowed to continue in the country.

Although Catalonia banned the practice a few years ago—making it the first region in Spain to do so—bullfighting is still considered a traditional part of rural Spanish life. It's estimated that approximately 250,000 bulls die each year in bullfights. Traditionally, Spanish bullfights take place in stages that are designed to weaken the bull over a series of bloody encounters, culminating in the matador stabbing and killing the animal with a sword; the animals die slowly, in agony, and often in front of a jeering, cheering crowd that eggs matadors on. Attendance at bullfights has been declining for the past decade. Young people in particular are part of a growing vocal group of dissidents protesting against the practice and demanding to see it outlawed.

Back in July, Axelsson and 100 other naked protesters daubed themselves with red paint and lay down naked in Pamplona, the site of the annual Running of the Bulls event during which runners lead bulls through the city to the bullring. Protesters came from as far away as Australia to lie in the streets in front of the town hall, spelling out the words "stop bullfights" on the pavement to draw attention to what they call the "barbaric" act of the bullfight. It was here that Axelsson was approached by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who asked her to carry out the stunt at Málaga's La Malagueta bullring last weekend.

Although Axelsson had protested Pamplona, she had never been to an actual bullfight, and she says the experience had her in tears.

"I hadn't even seen them on YouTube," she says, "and I just wasn't prepared at all for what I saw."

As a "really young bull" entered the ring, Axelsson says she knew she had to act. "It wasn't the plan—I was going to wait until later in the fight—but I just couldn't bear sitting through it anymore," she says. When the matador dug his knife into the animal's throat, she decided to jump into the ring. "It was far steeper than I thought it was going to be, but I had so much adrenaline coursing through me it didn't matter. When I got there I looked at the bull. The bull was giving them hell, it didn't want to die, but I hesitated, not wanting to stress it out too much."

Axelsson had just enough time to hold up a sign protesting against bullfighting before guards came to march her out of the arena. "They took the sign out of my hands and pulled me out of the arena roughly. I was definitely more afraid of the guys with weapons than of the bull."

Still, a hardcore group of people remain very proud of Spain's bullfighting tradition; Axelsson says she was grateful no one attacked her. When a man named Pedro Torres jumped into a bullfight in Marbella earlier this year, both the matadors and the crowd kicked and spat at him until he was carried away.

On her blog, which she writes in Swedish, Axelsson describes how she was taken to a small room where the manager of the bullring was absolutely furious with her. "When the police came they took my information and everything calmed down, I told the police why I was there, that I am against all forms of cruelty to animals and want to bring an end to bullfighting." The policeman then told Axelsson that he was also strongly opposed to bullfighting, which "warmed [her] heart."

Axelsson describes her act as largely symbolic; although the bull got up after her scene, the matadors ultimately killed it, "of course."

Antitauromaquia, or anti-bullfighting protests, are becoming more common in Spain according to PETA, who have observed growing numbers of Spanish people at protests such as the one in in July. Kirsty Henderson, a campaign coordinator for PETA, has worked on anti-bullfighting campaigns for the last three years and explains that PETA approached Axelsson at Pamplona because they needed somebody "strong and brave to pull off the stunt."

Figures suggest that 80% of Spanish people are opposed to bullfighting, and groups of British Parliament members have discussed banning the sport—which is often called an "art"—all together."I can sense a real change happening, especially among younger people who have noticed how the rest of the world reacts to the practice," Henderson says; indeed, a video of the protest reveals that stands were nearly empty when Axelsson walked into the bullring. According to a spokesperson for the EU, Spanish farmers have not received subsidies for raising bulls for bullfights since 2003. These farmers, he says, are "subject to the respect of a number of standards such as environmental or animal welfare legislations," though some outlets (including PETA) have reported that farmers raising bulls for bullfights nevertheless do receive these types of benefits.

Axelsson says she is glad that she was able to do the stunt so she could draw more attention to the issue."Since [I made] the leap, more people are asking about bullfighting, so we're keeping the issue alive," she says.