In Spain, kissing someone's hand without consent is considered sexualized violence.
Spain's Supreme Court has ruled that non-consensual hand kissing constitutes sexualized violence, according to the BBC.
The ruling was made in a 2023 case. At a bus stop in Madrid, a man kissed an unknown woman's hand twice and then motioned for her to follow him, promising to pay. The victim appealed to the local court, which sided with her: the defendant was found guilty and fined €1,620. He attempted to appeal the verdict, but the Supreme Court upheld it.
According to the case file, the defendant claimed the woman "might have felt offended, insulted, and the victim of an invasion of her privacy, but there was no threat to her sexual integrity." His lawyers also emphasized that the incident occurred during the day in a public place, not far from a police station, and insisted on downgrading the charge to a lesser offense—harassment in a public place.
The court rejected these arguments, citing the "clear sexual connotations" of the man's actions, including the hand kiss itself. Three of the five judges in the Second Chamber upheld the decision. Two dissented, considering the gesture an outdated form of greeting.
Amid the public outcry, a similar incident from three years ago was recalled. Back then, a scandal erupted around Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish Football Federation, who, while congratulating the national women's team on their World Cup victory, kissed footballer Jennifer Hermoso on the lips without consent. Initially, the athlete claimed she saw no problem with the incident and even joked about the situation, but later admitted she was offended by the kiss and considered it a form of sexual assault.
Rubiales himself initially denied any wrongdoing, then publicly apologized, and later resigned under public pressure. The incident was widely covered in the media, and the case went to court: last February, Rubiales was found guilty of sexual assault and fined over 10,000 euros.
Photo: Film stills/Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, press service archives
