“I’m a Bitch”: Eurovision and the Anti-Gender Backlash – a Spanish Case Study

This article examines the controversy surrounding Spain’s 2024 Eurovision entry, “Zorra”, as a lens through which to explore contemporary debates over gender, feminism, and national representation. Drawing on close textual and contextual analysis, we situate “Zorra” within the broader history of Spain’s participation in Eurovision and the evolving role of the contest as a stage for negotiating political and cultural values. We show how the song’s explicit reclamation of gendered language and its subversive performance style sparked polarised reactions from across the Spanish political spectrum, including conservative, far-right, and so-called “classical” feminist actors. By tracing the media debates, political interventions, and cultural symbolism surrounding “Zorra”, we demonstrate how Eurovision functions as both a catalyst for social change and a battleground for competing visions of gender and nationhood. Our analysis offers a nuanced reading of how popular music becomes entangled in ideological disputes over feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, and the meaning of national representation.