Spain’s Left-wing government is facing a backlash for using funds reserved to tackle gender violence to pay for a feminist twerking festival in Tenerife.
The ‘Festival of Feminist Twerking’, billed as an effort to “reassign twerking from a feminist perspective”, was granted €105,000 by Spain’s equalities ministry.
The event, which took place in October 2022, angered traditional Spanish feminists, who have been at war with the ministry over its position on trans rights.
The Alliance Against the Erasure of Women demanded that the government claw back hundreds of thousands of euros from the national Pact Against Gender Violence fund spent on other “frivolous” events such as workshops teaching pastry-making and a chocolate-tasting session.
Held in the city of Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, the twerk fest claimed to be “a feminist event” aimed at “conveying a message that breaks gender stereotypes”.