Luis Rubiales ended up submitting his resignation from the presidency of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Sunday September 10. Not without having previously denounced, in a press release, the pressures of “parallel powers” and an “disproportionate campaign” against his person. Three weeks have ped since his forced kiss on player Jenni Hermoso, after the victory of the Spanish selection in the final of the Women’s World Cup on August 20. The shock wave caused by the Rubiales affair has continued to fuel dozens of press columns, debates on the airwaves and comments on social networks in Spain. Wednesday September 6, Jenni Hermoso filed a complaint for “ ault” and, two days later, the state attorney general did the same.
If Luis Rubiales had apologized to the player and to the company, it is very likely that the matter would not have taken such proportions. If he had offered his resignation, aware that his behavior intolerably reflected an outdated machismo, exhibited from the height of his position of power, the debate would undoubtedly have been quickly closed. Not only did the Spanish sports leader not ume his responsibilities, but he denied the facts and brandished the standard of anti-feminism to defend himself. This is not trivial.
If Spain has become, over the last twenty years, one of the countries in Europe where the feminist struggle is the most vigorous and where progress in terms of equality and the fight against violence against women has been the most large, the kingdom is also prey to a backlash of which the far-right party Vox is the incarnation. Quick to qualify feminists as “feminazies”, the party created in 2013 made them the main targets of its attacks. He opposes laws against gender violence and courts specialized in femicide, but also quotas in politics or the right to abortion.
“Let’s not be self-conscious”
Certainly, the indignation at the behavior of Luis Rubiales and the support for Jenni Hermoso were mive, but they were far from unanimous. The Rubiales affair unleashed macho comments on social networks, questioning the player’s comments, minimizing the behavior of the former president of the RFEF, or denouncing an alleged “feminist dictatorship” under under the hashtag Yoconrubiales (“me with Rubiales”).
In a country at the forefront of feminism, the Rubiales affair highlights the residue of a patriarchal society being demolished. Former Spanish football leader pressured player to support him, called her” fools “ those who were outraged, described as ” bullshit “ their criticisms. Above all, he continued to manipulate the facts, before presenting himself, on August 25, as the victim of a “false feminism”which would be “one of the great scourges” from Spain.
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