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Assignment: Spain: The kiss and the culture war

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(Image: A protester holding up a red card reading “1 Feminisme - 0 Masclisme.”

01/02/2024 GMT

Spain: The kiss and the culture war

BBC World Service - Assignment, Spain: The kiss and the culture war

Has feminism gone too far? A world cup kiss that set a match to Spanish gender relations

Football boss Luis Rubiales' kiss after Spain's world cup victory set a match to Spanish gender relations. Sofia Bettiza hears how the case tapped into a rift in Spanish society.

When Spanish football boss Luis Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso after her team’s world cup victory last summer, it set a match to Spanish gender relations. On every chat show, on every campus, in every couple’s bedroom, arguments started - does a kiss count as sexual violence? What is consent? Has feminism gone too far? 53% of Spaniards think it has, and that it is discriminating against men. Now, Rubiales is facing criminal trial. “Se acabó” (it’s over) trended after the kiss, but this battle is far from over. For Assignment, Sofia Bettiza travels to Madrid to hear how the Rubiales case tapped into a rift in Spanish society that has been splitting further apart for decades. 

Presenter: Sofia Bettiza
Producer: Ellie House
Series Editor: Penny Murphy
Studio Manager: Neil Churchill
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman

(Image: A protester holding up a red card reading “1 Feminisme - 0 Masclisme.” Credit: David Ramos/Getty Images)

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