MAR–21–2025
Photos and words by: Anna Lupardo
Molinuevo was born just one year before the death of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco Bahamonde and has lived in Spain for the majority of her life. “Women didn’t have any rights when I was born,” she explained. As she grew up, she witnessed a shift in Spain. She watched as women earned the right to vote and saw how little by little, Spain’s attitude towards things like gender violence started to change. People started to question why they wouldn’t pick up the phone and call for help if they felt a woman was in danger; suddenly, it was not solely men who had a voice — but now women did too. However, despite this spread of liberalism throughout the country since the death of their dictator, Molinuevo still believes that the practice of acceptance is still something the people of Spain often struggle with.
“People have said to me proudly, when I tell them that I am a feminist, ‘but you look so nice!” Molinuevo said. She described how this reaction stems from the negative portrayal of feminism in Spain throughout the ‘80s, ‘90s, and the early 2000s. “They portrayed feminists in a way that was seen as radical, naked, and aggressive - always in negative terms,” she said. Regarding Spain’s portrayal of both feminists and the LGBTQ+ community in the news and online, Molinuevo pointed out a notable statistic: the Catholic Church still owns about 25% of Spanish media to this day.
The Catholic Church remains to have a strong “choke hold” upon Spain’s social practices. However, the church is only one of the agents responsible for reinforcing this kind of discriminatory outlook in Spain. Molinuevo says these prejudices towards women and the LGBTQ+ community are “part of the culture and the morality Spain has,” and, “it has a lot to do with patriarchy.” But Molinuevo feels that things like misogyny and sexism are so deeply rooted within Spain and society as a whole, so it doesn't matter where you are from or how you culturally or politically identify - this idea of patriarchy can be enforced by anyone.
One of the ways Molinuevo has combated ideas instilled by patriarchy is through education. Molinuevo originally started out her education in psychology but, as she puts it, “Psychology was too focused on the ego. Anthropology has a better philosophy surrounding the understanding of cultural diversity.” She believes that “anthropology somehow wants to make society better by understanding diversity.”
The reason she loves teaching the class Sexuality in Spain at Syracuse Madrid is because she doesn’t want anybody to grow up having the same kind of sheltered education or lack of awareness around sexuality that she had.
“I don’t want anybody to have to go through the kind of ignorance, mistreatment, and abuse you experience when you live in a very sexist country,” Molinuevo said. This is also why one of the biggest topics her class kept coming back to was the global institution of prostitution. She is amazed that the system is still functioning the way it is in both Spain and the US. She thinks the kind of objectification and violence that we exercise towards women alone as egalitarian societies is unacceptable.
Molinuevo believes that living in a world with this kind of double standard towards women — where we treat their bodies as commodities — needs to be talked about more. Further, if we are considering only binary identities, women and men are often caught between social extremes, depending on where they are from geographically and depending upon how they culturally identify. For example, as a woman, if you are not a virgin, some cultures and religions in both the U.S. and Spain would consider you to be “impure.” On the other end of the spectrum, if you are a virgin, some may consider you to be a puritan, and think “she’s just not willing to put out!” The same thing can go for men where society expects them to look and behave a certain way in order to portray “an appropriate level of masculinity.” But even for men, a key factor that is responsible for dictating their masculinity is their sexuality.
Our cultures, religious beliefs and the societal expectations dictated by our geographics are all contributing factors to the level of acceptance towards topics like feminism and the LGBTQ. One of my favorite things Molinuevo shared with me in her interview was that she considers herself to be “gender boring,” meaning the way she chooses to express her gender identity is very traditional. However, she still loves the way she presents herself, always wearing a dress or a skirt that contains a pop of color and cropped jackets with large fashionary buttons.
She loves seeing how her students choose to embrace diversity. As Molinuevo puts it, she’s “so tired of binary identities.” She is tired of society being forced to focus on one clear-cut perspective surrounding gender and sexuality. This is because the gray areas of society are where we tend to find a little bit more magic. The gray areas allow us the wiggle room to uncover how best to express ourselves and can help us to figure out where we truly belong. The gray areas are where the power of choice truly lies.