Aldo Cazzullo (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
TOthe end the president of the Spanish football federation Luis Rubiales he resigned, for “stolen” kiss from Jennifer Hermoso after the victory in the World Cup final. Someone said: what could it be, she gave her a kiss, not a punch. But apart from the fact that those of “what will it ever be” if it is their mother or their sister or their daughter who is wronged, they become the most ferocious defenders of women (their own), that is not the point.
When it was time to lift the Cup, the eyes of the whole of Spain – one of the Western countries where the phenomenon of violence against women is most serious – were focused on that pitch. A prevarication, however innocent in appearance, had a clear meaning: you women may have won, but we men are in charge, and we do with you what we want. It was an unacceptable message; and in the end President Rubiales himself understood it.
In the same days, the women’s volleyball team from Turkey – a country even more chauvinist than Spain – won the European Championships, unfortunately after eliminating the Italians in the semifinals. Istanbul is plastered with images of players celebrating. After the champion Vargas, the most representative athlete is Ebrar Karakurt. Although she never declared herself, he posted photos on social media with her girlfriend.
A user with the pseudonym Abdülhamid (name of one of the last sultans of the Ottoman Empire) attacked her: “We, as a Muslim Turkish nation, continue to tolerate you.” Karakurt’s response – “stop talking nonsense” – went viral and sparked the newspapers of the religious right, which they accuse the athlete of having offended the memory of the sultan and the national conscience.
A big problem for conservative nationalists: how can they not rejoice in a victory for the national team? But how can we not condemn what for them is a violation of morality, in a country that organized the largest Gay Pride in the Middle East and has now banned it?
They are obviously two different stories, with one point in common: women’s sport matters more and more, and machismo will not be eradicated, it will have to retreat step by step.
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All articles by Aldo Cazzullo.
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