Episode 5 dives into two explosive Spanish documentaries - both on Netflix - shaking up the fight for gender justice, with special guest Dr. Abigail Loxham, Reader in Hispanic Film Studies at the University of Liverpool.
No estás sola: la lucha contra la Manada (Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar, 2024) - The harrowing story of the La Manada gang rape case and the feminist uprising that forced Spain to reckon with its sexual assault laws.
#SeAcabó: El diario de las campeonas (Joanna Pardos, 2024) - Inside the Spanish women’s football team’s World Cup triumph and their battle against the RFEF’s toxic misogyny - from Rubiales’ infamous kiss to systemic abuse.
We unpack:
- How these films expose institutional violence - from courtrooms to locker rooms.
- The activist power of documentary storytelling about, and as part of, Spain’s feminist movements.
- What’s still missing? Which voices remain sidelined?
Scholarship cited in the episode:
(For the books, ask your library - university and/or public - to buy a copy! Trust us: librarians are always eager for requests!)
Cabezas, Marta. 2022. “Silencing Feminism? Gender and the Rise of the Nationalist Far Right in Spain.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 47 (2): 319–345.
Fowler, Catherine, and Sergio Moro. 2024. “Introduction: #(No)SeAcabó/It Is (Not) Over: The Rubiales/Hermoso Non-Consensual Kiss and the Growth of a Culture of Concern.” European Journal of Cultural Studies 28 (1): 217–222.
Itoiz Rodrigo-Jusue, Katie Liston, Mark Doidge, Jack Black,Gary Sinclair, Thomas Fletcher, Colm Kearns, Daniel Kilvington, and Theo Lynn. 2025. “#SeAcabó: How a Mass-Mediated ‘Social Drama’ Made Visible and Confronted (Subjective and Objective) Violence in Women’s Football in Spain.” Feminist Media Studies.
Loxham, Abigail, and Anja Louis. 2024. Femininity and Feminism in Spanish TV Dramas. Cham: Springer.
Loxham, Abigail, and Deborah Shaw. 2024. “‘You Are Not Alone’: Powerful New Film Documents How Women’s Protest Against Misogyny Helped Change Spain’s Rape Laws.” The Conversation, April 4.