Consent and Rage in Digital Media Discourses on the Rubiales Scandal

Abstract

Introduction. The non-consensual kiss from Luis Rubiales, former president of the RFEF, to Spanish National Team player Jennifer Hermoso during the medal ceremony following the World Cup final held on August 20, 2023, spurred a media debate in Spain concerning the limits of consent as promoted by the so-called Only Yes Means Yes Law. Objectives. The main objective of this article is to analyze the media accounts of the Rubiales scandal from a critical discursive approach. We have explored the ways in which the intelligibility of consent in this context has been mediatized and whether or not this process has recognized the transformative nature of women’s rage. Methodology. We have employed Critical Discourse Analysis to analyze the processes of politicization of feminist rage as well as the resulting illegibility of this rage when characterized as excessive or non-productive. A sample of opinion pieces published between August 20 and September 10, 2023 in four digital newspapers has been analyzed: El Mundo, ABC, Eldiario.es and El País. Results. The analysis of the opinion pieces selected in the four media outlets studied reveals that there is a consensus about the inappropriate nature of Rubiales' kiss to Hermoso. The consideration and approach of the progressive and conservative media differs, however, in the identification of Rubiales' kiss as aggression, as well as in the recognition of the concept of consent and the portrayal of feminist rage as transformative or, alternatively, as excessive and politically instrumentalized.