How much does a kiss cost?

By Rosa Covarrubias

In Spain, a forced kiss can be cheaper than we think, of course, if you have the money to pay for it and avoid going to prison. 

While the Prosecutor's Office of the Audiencia Nacional had requested two and a half years in prison for Rubiales, one year for sexual assault and one and a half years for coercion, José Manuel Clemente Hernández-Prieto, criminal judge of said Audiencia, sentenced Luis Rubiales, former president of the Real Federación Española de Futbol to a fine amounting to 11 thousand dollars (just over 223 thousand Mexican pesos at the current exchange rate), only for the crime of sexual assault, because he was acquitted of the crime of coercion.

Spanish justice had a golden opportunity in the trial of Rubiales for the non-consensual kiss to Jenni Hermoso at the award ceremony of the 2023 Women's World Cup, an opportunity to implement a significant penalty for a fact that went around the world, for many it will be little punishment the economic fine, for others, enough.

In a trial that lasted 6 days and in which little by little the people who were on the field, in the dressing rooms, on the plane and later at the RFEF gave their testimony, the resolution may send a misleading message about the consequences that an act of this magnitude may bring, it may be a step forward for having been mediatic, but if instead of being so, is it ten steps backwards?

That kiss meant for many female soccer players and more women, a liberation; a way to raise their voices, to be heard and to put an end to what, in most cases, is invisible to the rest of society, a common practice in many areas. 

The Rubiales case starkly exposed the culture of impunity that has reigned in sports for decades. His gesture can be taken as a mistake, as something mischievous for some, or, from another perspective, as the manifestation of a system that has historically minimized, covered up and justified the abuse of power in the spheres of sport.