Sarah Santaolalla stands up to Arantxa Sánchez in 'Malas Lenguas' over her discourse on feminism and Ceuta: "We don't buy racist campaigns"

Sarah Santaolalla returned this Tuesday to intervene live on Malas Lenguas to analyze current political affairs and, among other issues, the situation in Ceuta. Her connection ended up becoming one of the most tense moments of the broadcast after Arantxa Sánchez publicly questioned the feminist movement's response to the alleged rapes reported in the autonomous city.

During the debate, the panelist asked where the feminists linked to 8-M were in these cases and criticized that, in her opinion, they had not shown the same forcefulness as in other situations. Her words provoked an immediate reaction from Santaolalla, who rejected the approach and defended that the fight against sexual violence cannot depend on the origin of the victims or those who commit the aggressions.

The analyst responded harshly and accused the collaborator of reproducing far-right arguments. Santaolalla claimed that feminism has been denouncing aggressions against women for years and argued that there is a double standard when the debate focuses on the nationality of the alleged aggressor. In her intervention, she cited different cases of sexist violence and sexual assaults that occurred in Spain to argue that the problem must be addressed regardless of who is responsible.

The exchange did not end there. Sánchez reproached Santaolalla for diverting the conversation to issues that, in her opinion, did not answer the initial question about Ceuta. The analyst, for her part, insisted that feminists do not have to constantly demonstrate their commitment to victims and that their position is the same whether the affected women are Spanish or foreign. The tension even forced Gonzalo Miró to intervene to ask for the tone to be lowered and to allow Santaolalla to finish her intervention.

Once she had the floor again, Santaolalla once again vindicated the role of feminism in denouncing violence against women. The collaborator assured that her position is to support victims, believe their complaints, and condemn any aggression, regardless of the origin of both the victim and the aggressor. 

The analyst also directed her criticism towards certain sectors of the right and far-right, whom she accused of using certain cases of sexual violence to build a discourse against immigration. “Feminists do not buy into racist campaigns,” said Santaolalla, who questioned why some television spaces now demand the presence of feminism while, according to her argument, they give prominence to people related to controversies over sexual violence. 

At that point, her words included indirect allusions to other programs and communicators, among them En boca de todos and Antonio Naranjo, whom she reproached for their handling of certain cases. Santaolalla defended that she does not accept that feminism be used as a weapon depending on the political context of each case.

The confrontation once again raised tension when Sánchez accused her colleague of resorting to a recurring discourse and of not directly answering the question raised about Ceuta. Santaolalla replied that she was indeed talking about Ceuta and that the defense of women victims of violence cannot be limited to certain territories, groups, or circumstances.

The intervention ended with a forceful vindication by Santaolalla, who asked that women working in the denunciation and accompaniment of victims stop being questioned and demanded “respect for feminism and women.” The clash between the two collaborators thus became one of the most prominent moments of the day of Malas Lenguas.