There must be such a thing as a testosterone daze. It must ebb and flow. Last week was the ebb to the flow triggered by soccer chief Luis Rubiales’s actions after Spain’s first-ever win in the Women’s World Cup. Rubiales had expressed his euphoria on August 20 by first grabbing his crotch --- he couldn’t find his heart --- and then by putting his lips on footballer Jenni Hermoso’s. Last one heard, after days of crying “consensual kiss”, “false feminisim” and“social assassination”; refusing to resign and sharing with Fifa videos of Hermoso joking about the “kiss”, Rubiales issued a statement.
Testosterone Daze
From the wording of it, Rubiales seems to be emerging out of his testosterone daze --- reluctantly, petulantly, not a jot wiser, but forcedly. There is too much at stake, there is too much clamour. His statement goes thus, “I have learned that no matter how great the joy and deep the emotion, even when you win a WORLD CUP, sports leaders should be required to behave in an exemplary manner… Therefore, I repeat my apologies… (sic).” There are others coming around too. One such is coach of the Spanish national men’s team, Luis de la Fuente. He has apologised for being one of those who applauded Rubiales when the latter made the speech. He kept saying “no voy a dimitir, no voy a dimitir… I am not going to resign, I am not going to resign". Fuente kept clapping. Continents away, was Brij Bhushan Wrestling Singh making notes?
Changing gaze
Years ago, TV personality Rakhi Sawant had accused singer Mika Singh of kissing her forcibly at his birthday bash. Some months later, Singh and the Meet brothers released a brazen video with a Sawant look-alike titled Aye Bhai Tune Pappi Kyon Li. Just a little testosterone-laden fun. And that time when Hollywood actor Richard Gere grabbed and kissed Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS awareness event, it was Shetty who was charged with obscenity. Gere was only demonstrating that kissing was safe and did not lead to transmission of HIV. Times have changed. Protests are louder. There are platforms to amplify protests, have them reverberate the world over. On Friday, Fuente said, “Sometimes within the forest all you see is branches; when you step out, you see properly… After the assembly, my staff and I got together. [The realisation] was immediate. I didn’t recognise myself.” That’s what the daze can do.
