The Diplomat
The European Parliament yesterday condemned by a large majority the “embarrassing” non-consensual kiss on the mouth made by the former president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, to the soccer player Jennifer Hermoso after Spain’s recent victory in the World Cup.
During the debate in the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the PP MEP, Rosa Estarás, said that this episode is just the “tip of the iceberg” of a “sexist reality” that had been denouncing the players of the national team, which has recognized the “lesson” they have given to society. “You have made history in sport but also in terms of equality in sport,” she added, quoted by the Europa Press agency.
For her part, socialist Lina Galvez praised the reaction of Spanish society to the sexual harassment of Hermoso, which she attributed to the high level of awareness and the double fact of having advanced equality laws and a robust feminist movement, and her socialist colleague, Laura Ballarín, warned that Rubiales has not resigned, but that “all the women have kicked him out”.
Sira Rego, of IU, charged against those who have justified the actions of Rubiales and have normalized that “a boss gives you a snog because he is happy” and the representative of Ciudadanos, Soraya Rodriguez, lamented that the players of Spain have had to win a World Cup “for everyone to listen to them”. The discordant note was set by Jorge Buxadé, from Vox, who avoided expressing his support for Hermoso or denouncing Rubiales’ conduct and limited himself to criticizing the ‘trans’ law in Spain and the sentence reductions and releases of rapists caused by the ‘yes is yes’ law.
