David Worboys – The Kiss

I’m not qualified to write about the most famous kiss in history, so here goes!

As I write, Luis Rubiales is still in place as President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (AFE). There seem to be good reasons for him to have stepped down or been dismissed. He may have bullied or harassed female players and he comes across as arrogant and confrontational. But we may never know whether he or Jenni Hermoso was lying about consent to the kiss on the lips.

It may well be that Rubiales made an error of judgement in seizing Hermoso’s head and planting a kiss on her lips. However, is it not possible that he was carried away by the emotional Latin frenzy around him? I simply don´t know. But I find the days of feverish worldwide discussion over the whole issue raises other questions about the direction in which the human race is veering.

What I can observe is how the world’s attitude has changed since the advent of Women’s Lib. The huge flaw in that movement is the interpretation that women and men are equal. Unquestionably, after centuries of subjugation, persecution and rape, women deserve equal rights, opportunities and respect. But they are different from men – just as a puffin is different from a penguin. And if this difference continues to be diminished so that women and men become less distinguishable, the world will become a confused, tense and colourless place. Just like climate change it is happening in front our eyes.

We only need to look at a movie from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Men were masculine and women were feminine and the world ticked along very nicely. There was romance and humour in mutual sexual appreciation. It was the same in everyday life. And there were Benny Hill’s Angels – saucy but fun.

The Miss World pageants were organised by an odd London couple, the Morleys, and dismissed by some as a “cattle market” but no harm was done. A woman’s beauty was something to be admired and celebrated just as a man’s physical strength. For every woman embarrassed or annoyed by a pat on the bottom or a wolf whistle from a building site there used to be another who was amused or flattered. And on the subject of building sites, how many women in Spain work on construction or in mines? How many women own garages or drive juggernauts? Is it because they are not men? Do they want to be more like men? And vice versa?

Whether in the office, in a restaurant or in the street, men are discouraged from showing the attraction they find in a woman to whom they are not related.

Women have far more opportunities nowadays in many walks of life but there is so much sensitivity. If Rubiales has lost his position as AFE President, we have to ask if the kiss were the most justifiable reason.