It was a moment of superlative achievement for Jenni Hermoso, the prolific scorer on Spain’s women’s national team. The 2023 tournament was Hermoso’s third World Cup – and, at 33, it may well have been her last. But it was the first Women’s World Cup she had won: in fact, the first Spain ever won. Sweaty and exhilarated, Hermoso joined her teammates after the match for a medal ceremony, a moment that for any athlete would mark the pinnacle of her career. And then Luis Rubiales, a Spanish soccer official, decided to make the moment about him. He grabbed Hermoso, in front of television cameras and thousands of onlookers, and forced his mouth on hers.
Hermoso, in that moment, was demeaned and downgraded by Rubiales, denied her triumph, stripped of her status, and shown not as the victorious athlete that she was, but as a woman, subject to men’s violence and whims. It was supposed to be the high point of her career; instead, he made it the moment when she was internationally humiliated, subjected to a sexual assault broadcast around the world.
