Spain’s Supreme Court has delivered a landmark ruling establishing that non-consensual hand kissing can qualify as sexual assault, marking a significant interpretation of the country’s consent laws. The decision stems from a 2023 incident where a man approached a woman at a Madrid bus stop, kissed her hand without permission, and made suggestive gestures indicating she should follow him for payment.
The court rejected the defendant’s argument that his actions merely constituted sexual harassment rather than assault, emphasizing the clear sexual component of the encounter. In its ruling, the court stated that ‘a woman cannot tolerate being subjected to a man taking her hand and kissing her without consent in acts that have a clear and obvious sexual connotation.’
The convicted individual had appealed his initial guilty verdict and €1,620 fine, arguing that the incident involved neither violence nor intimidation and occurred in a public space near a police station during daylight hours. He maintained that the victim might have felt bothered or offended but never faced genuine risk to her sexual integrity.
Two magistrates filed dissenting opinions, characterizing hand kissing as an obsolete cultural greeting rather than a sexual act. They argued that such gestures, along with cheek kissing or handshakes, lack inherent sexual nature.
This ruling reflects Spain’s ongoing transformation regarding sexual consent standards, particularly following the 2022 ‘Only Yes Means Yes’ legislation that eliminated requirements to prove violence or intimidation in sexual assault cases. The law gained prominence during the high-profile case involving former football federation president Luis Rubiales, who was convicted of sexual assault for non-consensually kissing player Jenni Hermoso during World Cup celebrations.