There are images that make you feel secondhand embarrassment even if you weren't involved in them. What
happened in front of the mass in homage to the dictator Franco is one of those scenes that smell of
rancid mothballs, of roadside patriarchy, and of recycled fascism. An indecent cocktail.
A religious act to whitewash a dictator who died in bed—and not for lack of merit to the contrary—is already grotesque in itself. But that, in 2025, there are still those who dedicate themselves to touching the breasts of peacefully protesting women… that only confirms one thing: Francoism is not just a dead ideology; it is a mentality that still lingers in some, a toxic mix of caveman machismo and authoritarian nostalgia
Franco died; his mentality did not.
The most alarming thing about this scene is not just the act itself, but what it represents. That in
Spain there are still tributes to a regime that prohibited freedoms, shot opponents,
silenced women, and turned fear into state policy is a collective failure. And that
young people attend these masses shows that some have been sold the dictatorship as if
it were a nice history documentary, when it was rather a manual of oppression with
a prologue, index, and appendices.
Meanwhile, those who raise their voices against that legacy—like the FEMEN activists—end up assaulted by the umpteenth male who confuses protest with permission, bare torso with a license to grope, and a recording camera with "look, I'm on TV."Machismo is the spoiled grandchild of Francoism. It's no coincidence. Francoism was a regime that turned women into perpetual minors. Without bank accounts, without rights, without autonomy. Today, its modern version is still alive in guys who believe they can touch someone else's body because "they were asking for it." They weren't asking for it: they are reporting it. The problem isn't that they go around with their chests uncovered. The problem is that there are men who go around with their brains unused.
This aggressor—pre-constitutional flag in hand, nostalgic spirit of dictatorship—is the perfect portrait of Francoist machismo version 2.0: the kind that doesn't read books, but does touch bodies; the kind that doesn't understand democracy, but does know who to try to intimidate
What kind of country does this seem normal to?
Spain has to accept something uncomfortable: as long as we continue to tolerate tributes to
Francoism, we will continue to tolerate Francoist behaviors. And one of those
behaviors is believing that women are there to be disciplined, touched, corrected, or silenced.
But we are not in 1950. And those times are not coming back, no matter how much some people dress up as enthusiastic Falangists
The message is clear:
– To fascism, neither honor nor glory.
– To machismo, neither excuses nor leniency.
– To aggressions, not one second of silence.
– And to those who long for dictatorships, let them go back to 1960… but without dragging us along.
Spain will only move forward when we stop being afraid to point out the obvious: if you allow a
sexist, authoritarian, and repressive regime to be honored, don't be surprised when
sexism, unlimited authority, and violence reappear. Spoiler: they haven't gone away. And society
doesn't have to tolerate their imitators.