"There was sexual assault."
The kiss on the hand can be considered sexual assault, ruled the Supreme Court of Spain, as reported by Deutsche Welle. The court examined the case of a man who kissed a woman's hand at a bus stop in the city of Alcobendas near Madrid in 2023. The man also gestured for her to come with him and offered her money. The defendant's lawyers tried to present this as street harassment, but the court ruled that any sexualized physical contact is an assault, meaning the man "acted with the intention of violating her sexual autonomy."
"There was sexual assault, as the description of the act refers to contact of a sexual nature and a tone that the victim was not obliged to endure, a tone that had an obviously sexual undertone and constituted a violation of her rights by reducing her to the level of an object," the court added and upheld the ruling of the lower court: a fine of 1500 euros.
AFP calls Spain a "leader in the fight against gender violence." As early as 2022, the country's authorities introduced a requirement for mandatory consent for sexual actions. In 2025, a Spanish court found the former head of the country's football federation, Luis Rubiales, guilty of sexual assault for kissing forward Jennifer Hermoso on the lips.
Leave a comment