Luis Rubiales could face a prison sentence of two and a half years if convicted of kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips against her will, court documents have shown. The former Spanish football federation chief has been charged with one count of sexual assault and one of coercion in the aftermath of the kiss, offences carrying jail terms of one year and 18 months respectively.
The 46-year-old grabbed Hermoso and kissed her on the lips on 20 August during the awards ceremony after Spain beat England in the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney, sparking global outrage and causing a national debate in Spain about sexism. Hermoso and her teammates said the kiss was unwanted and demeaning, but Rubiales argued it was consensual and denied any wrongdoing.
If a boss forced an unwanted kiss (and bear hug lift) on an employee, and then insisted that it was consensual and that the employee was lying when they said it was not, tried to coerce them into saying they were lying, had other senior people declare that they were lying, and used the company website to declare that they were lying, after a years-long dispute with this and dozens of other employees complaining of sexism and creepy behaviour endorsed by this boss…
I’m not a fan of carceral solutions but I’d certainly like to see a lifetime ban on working in that industry, a lifetime ban on holding any position of authority over others without supervision, and massive monetary compensation to every complainant.
And if the criminal justice system in its current carceral context magically became laser-focused on rich people abusing their power instead of poor people trying to survive, that would be an excellent start, no?