Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CULTURE

Why Spain’s Eurovision entry ‘Zorra’ is confusing Spain’s feminist movement

Spain's Prime Minister has come under fire from feminist groups for defending the country's Eurovision song 'Zorra', meaning "bitch" or "slut" in English. Other women claim it's the perfect chance to reshape the word's derogatory meaning.

Published: 8 February 2024 12:30 CET
Why Spain's Eurovision entry 'Zorra' is confusing Spain's feminist movement
Valencian electropop group Nebulossa after winning the Benidorm Fest with the controversial song 'Zorra'. Image: RTVE

Spain’s leftist government has defended the country’s entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest after it came under fire from feminist groups who said it “insults women”.

Spanish electro pop group Nebulossa’s song “Zorra” – a word that can be translated as “vixen” but is almost always used to mean “slut” or “bitch” – will represent Spain at the world’s biggest live music event.

It was picked by a mix of votes from a jury and televotes during a contest broadcast last Saturday night on public television TVE.

A video of the group performing the song — which includes the lyrics: “If I go out alone, I’m the slut. If I’m having fun, I’m the sluttiest” — has since been viewed 2.5 million times on the station’s YouTube channel .

“I have often been called a zorra. This song is a way to transform that word into something beautiful,” lead singer Maria Blas, 55, told TVE.

Other female artists in Spain’s music industry have also defended the song, saying it’s an opportunity to reshape the meaning zorra currently has and that it’s incomprehensible that a word that’s used so often in Spain has caused such an uproar. 

“Zorra now has another meaning, thanks for this Nebulossa,” tweeted Angy Fernández, one of the Benidorm Fest’s other contestants.

Interestingly, the masculine version of zorra – zorro (fox) – can also be used to refer to men, but in this case the connotation isn’t derogatory and rather denotes that a guy is cheeky or sly.

It’s a clear example of sexist language in Spanish and double standards that often arise. 

READ ALSO: What you need to know about the Spanish word zorra

However, many feminist groups have disagreed with this take, with some calling for Spain to pick another song to represent the country at Eurovision, which will be held in Sweden in May.

The song “insults women in a sexist way”, the Feminist Movement of Madrid collective said in a statement, adding it was “absurd” to argue that “insistently repeating” the word could “empower” women.

But Equality Minister Ana Redondo García called it a “fun song, which breaks stereotypes”.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a self-declared feminist, also weighed in, telling private television La Sexta he liked the song.

“Feminism is not only fair, it can be fun, and this type of provocation must come from culture,” he added.

The European Broadcasting Union, which organises Eurovision, said it had concluded that “Zorra” would not have to undergo any lyric changes and was eligible to participate in the contest since “there are many interpretations of the title of the song”.

What has been decided is that the song’s title and usage of zorra will be translated as vixen, not bitch or slut.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

POLITICS

Which Catalans want independence from Spain?

Catalan separatist politicians have taken on kingmaker roles in Spanish politics in recent months, but Catalans themselves increasingly see independence as unlikely. Which Catalans still support independence and which don't?

Published: 10 May 2024 11:39 CEST
Which Catalans want independence from Spain?

Catalan separatists are playing an increasingly crucial role in politics at the national level in Spain, but the vast majority of Catalans themselves see the prospect of independence as increasingly unlikely.

This is according to annual survey data released by the Institute of Political and Social Sciences (ICPS) in Catalonia, which revealed that just 5 percent of Catalans polled believe that an independent Catalonia will ever become a reality. In 2015 that figure was 17 percent.

The survey also confirmed that support for independence (39.5 percent) remains well below support for staying within Spain (52.5 percent). Catalans will go to the polls in regional elections on May 12th in a vote many view as crucial for the stability of the national government.

Catalan pro-independence parties, namely Junts per Cataluyna and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, have essentially become kingmakers in Spanish politics following July 2023’s general election result and subsequent amnesty deal offered by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to cling onto power.

READ ALSO:

Often when the Catalan question is discussed, particularly in the context of national politics, broad strokes statements are made about the people and politics in the region. Catalans are all separatists, some say. Some even say they are terrorists, or that only far-left radicals want independence.

But who really still wants independence? What are the demographics behind Catalan separatism, and what does it tell us about the future of the movement?

Age breakdown

A study by the Generalitat revealed that younger voters, between 16- 42, generally show less enthusiasm for independence than older voters. Young people are more likely to show preference for the current model (of Catalonia as a region within Spain) rather than full independence, according to a survey by the Catalan Centre for Opinion Studies (CEO) cited by El País.

CEO polling groups respondents by age, the ‘silent generation’ (over 78); ‘baby boomers’ (between 59 and 77); ‘generation X’ (between 43 and 58); ‘millennials’ (between 27 and 42) and ‘generation Z’ (between 16 and 26).

The results were stark. When asked “what should be the relationship between Catalonia and Spain” the preference for independence only exceeded 30 percent among baby boomers (34 percent) and generation X (32 percent). But even within these age groups, the most pro-independence, a fully-independent Catalonia barely convinced more than a quarter to a third of respondents.

Among younger people, however, regional autonomy was the preferred option for millennials (28 percent) and generation Z (29 percent), ahead of an independent Catalonia, which appealed to 26 percent and 23 percent respectively. Interestingly, in this sense young people are closer to their grandparents’ views than to their parents’ generation on the question of independence. Among the silent generation, regional autonomy within Spain had 33 percent support, and 27 percent supported an independent Catalonia.

A demonstrator waves a half-Spanish and half-Senyera flag during a protest by far-right party Vox against the government in Barcelona in 2020. (Photo by Pau Barrena / AFP)

Young men

Furthermore, delving further into the graphics, it becomes clear that young men are some of the least likely people to support Catalan independence. A survey published by Òmnium points to “a marked conservative movement and a move away from the fundamental values of sovereignty among the country’s youth” more generally but specifically among young men.

Young men, the study demonstrates, are the most ‘espanyolistas’ in the region, in other words, the least favourable towards Catalan independence and most likely to be pro-centralisation and Spanish. They are also the ones who view using the Catalan language as a lesser priority. However, this isn’t an isolated policy issue, and young men in the region are also more likely to be sceptical about climate change, the least in favour of paying taxes, the least feminist, and those who perceive the threat of the extreme right as the least relevant.

The study termed this the ‘derechización‘ (what we might call the ‘right-wingisation’ in English) of young men, a trend across the rest of the country and the world in recent years.

Class and income

Income and social class also play a role in pro-separatist politics, and the data suggests that separatism is more popular among people self-describing as ‘comfortably off’.

According to data from the CEO cited by El País in 2017, the real flashpoint of separatist politics in Catalonia, around a third (32 percent) of Catalans earning less than €900 were in favour of independence. However, over half (53 percent) of respondents earning €1,800 or more per month were pro-independence, while 54 percent of the wealthy (monthly income of €4,000 or more per month) wanted to see an independent Catalonia.

This also ties into educational level and class. Data compiled by the London School of Economics shows that independence is most popular among the highly educated (secondary and university levels), something that makes higher incomes levels more attainable and upward social mobility more likely.

Catalan origins

Interestingly, it seems that Catalans born outside Catalonia are more likely to be on lower incomes and therefore less likely to hold pro-separatist views. There also seems to be evidence that having a multi-generational Catalan background makes you more likely to be pro-independence.

As El País states, “even more glaring is the relationship between background and pro-independence sentiment. Among third generation Catalans – those with both parents and all four grandparents born in Catalonia – support for independence rises to 75 percent.”

“But this figure drops drastically when it comes to families with more varied backgrounds. Support for independence stands at 49 percent among those with one parent from outside the region and drops to 29 percent among children of immigrants.”

Geography

Geography also plays a role. As these municipality map breakdowns by RTVE show, if the population living in each area is taken into account, as in the second map, you can see that in the largest municipalities, such as Barcelona and its surrounding metropolitan area, the non-nationalist bloc holds the greatest electoral weight.

The maps are stark, but population even things even out: in municipalities where there was a nationalist or pro-independence majority in 2021, found largely in the country and smaller towns, slightly over 3 million Catalans live; but in the big cities, where people are more likely to be sceptical, that figure is almost 5 million.

As the Royal Elcano Institute put it in its analysis of the post-2017 political chaos, Catalan independence bucks the traditional rural/urban split: “While Scottish independence is viewed more favourably in big cities, in Catalonia the territorial divide is the reverse: rural areas register a majority in favour of independence, with urban areas having a majority against.”

SHOW COMMENTS