The ‘Rubiales case’ or the revolt in Spain against the “usual” machismo

The earthquake due to the case of the forced kiss of Luis Rubiales, seen as the ‘MeToo’ of Spanish football, shows, according to experts, that the sexism no longer has a place in this country, a benchmark in terms of feminism.

“Is a spoiled peak to get me out of here?”asked the president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Friday, incredulous at the scandal sparked by the kiss that he planted on the mouth of the player Jenni Hermoso during the celebrations for Spain’s triumph in the World Cup, on the 20th of August in Sydney.

Refusing to resign despite a barrage of criticism and calls for him to step down, Rubiales attacked the “fake feminism” and said to be giving “a life lesson” to his three daughters present in the public, in a speech applauded by an audience made up mostly of men.

“An old-fashioned macho”

A few words, broadcast live to the entire world, that impressed Inés Alberdi, a sociologist specializing in women’s rights.

“‘Man, I have not raped her’, was what he came to say in the speech” Rubiales, pointed out this former executive director of the United Nations Fund for Women, for whom the now suspended head of the RFEF is “an old-fashioned macho”.

The scandal, turned into a matter of state, “shows the generational and cultural line between deep traditions of machismo and the most recent progressivism that has put Spain at the European vanguard on issues of feminism and equality”, wrote the New York Times, one of several international outlets that have covered the matter.

Rubiales is a “forever macho”stressed Marina Subirats, former director of the Women’s Institute, with a “vocabulary and a gesture such as touching the eggs (genitals)” in the box next to Queen Letizia during the World Cup final.

For the sociology professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, Aina López, the overwhelming response from Spanish society shows that this case will mark “one before and one after”.

Rubiales represents “a voice from the past” who criticizes “TRUE feminismeither” because he is aware of “who can no longer speak ill of feminism in general”Lopez noted.

After cases such as the group rape of “The pack” to a young woman in 2016, responded to with a massive mobilization of rejection, this new scandal “forces society to consider this type of behavior that is not such a big thing” and wonder “If a woman has to put up with a man kissing her like that,” the expert pointed out.

On Monday, hundreds of women demonstrated in the center of Madrid shouting “It’s not a beak, it’s an aggression” and the prosecution opened a preliminary investigation against Rubiales for a “alleged crime of sexual assault.”

“Any discrimination against women is over”, settled this Tuesday at a press conference by the Minister of Sport, Miquel Iceta, who greeted “A true social and sporting reaction that is going to make this country an even better country.”

“Big paradigm shift”

Spain is a benchmark country in Europe in the fight against gender violence, since it passed a pioneering law in 2004 that introduced the victim’s sex as an aggravating circumstance.

But a certain machismo refuses to disappear and the political consensus that had reigned for years in the fight against gender violence was recently broken, with the irruption of the extreme right-wing ultra-conservative party Vox.

“It is easier to change a law than a culture”, recognized on Monday the government delegate against gender violence, Victoria Rosell, who nevertheless congratulated herself on a “big paradigm shift” in the country, where more and more voices are raised against those who believe they have “the right to access the body of women”.

Spain, “Historically, it has been a very macho country and it is the first time that a very broad society has come out against it and said: ‘No, we cannot admit this.’ It’s serving as a warning.” concluded Marina Subirats.

Source: EFE