12 Animal Metaphors and Gender Violence in Contemporary Spain: (Non)Fictional Narratives

On 6 October 2022, a student in the all-male college dorm Elías Ahúja yelled at those living in the all-female dorm, Santa Mónica, across the way at University Complutense of Madrid in Spain: “¡Putas! ¡Salid de vuestras madrigueras como conejas! ¡Sois unas putas ninfómanas! ¡Os prometo que vais a follar todas en la capea!” (Hedgecoe 2022: 2–5). The chant, part of a rite of passage for university newcomers, ignited a mass, choreographed catcalling, whereby fellow students across the men’s residence pulled open their blinds and started shouting and making animal noises. The scream, part and parcel of rape culture on university campuses, was rife with zoomorphic images that equated women with bunnies and their halls of residence with burrows (Anderson and Gonick 2021: 52–7; Muller 2015: 1–12). This imagery oozes sexuality, since furry animals are common euphemisms for female genitalia and for attractive women – as the Playboy Bunnies demonstrate (Chamizo and Sánchez 2000: 92–7; Hines 1999: 9–11; López-Rodríguez 2009: 88). Besides calling them whores and nymphomaniacs, the chant refers to their imminent sexual encounter at the school’s annual bullfight (capea), an event traditionally associated with masculinity and violence in Spanish culture (Brandes 2009: 779–86). In addition, the animal sounds made by the male students functioned as a sort of mating call that recreated a hunting scenario where the male acts as a sexual predator awaiting its female prey.