Pressing back with Jenni Hermoso: Understanding the non-consensual kiss as abusive

Abstract

The coverage of the Rubiales/Hermoso kiss in the news and broadcast press and the interest that was generated on social media testify to the complexities involved in seeing and understanding a kiss as an act of abuse. This essay borrows Sara Ahmed’s notion of the feminist snap, seeing the kiss as a breakage. But rather than exploring the non-consensual kiss as an end point, it dissects the moment of the kiss, as captured on camera, so as to make visible the build up of pressure that led to the snap. In so doing, the essay identifies how Jenni Hermoso was forced into the kiss by a build up of force, motored by abuses of power, whether from Luis Rubiales directly or Spanish football indirectly. Such an analysis is an attempt to press back against such abuses, along with Hermoso, and thus to leave an impression upon sport more generally. This article is part of a special themed issue on the Rubiales/Hermoso non-consensual kiss.