Franco and the 'Two Slaps' Myth: Anatomy of a Recurring Lie

Franco and the 'Two Slaps' Myth: Anatomy of a Recurring Lie

A viral tweet attributes to Franco's regime a supposed law authorizing two annual beatings of wives. The claim circulates without verifiable source, but the actual documented data in the Penal Code was different: the crime of adultery, which punished married women who slept with men other than their husbands and the men who slept with them knowing they were married, according to Article 449. This norm was not an invention of the regime, but a legacy of a much older legal tradition.

What the Law Actually Said About Domestic Violence

The Spanish Penal Code considered spousal altercations as minor offenses, unless there were injuries with danger of death. This legal framework did not originate in 1939: it had been carried over from Roman law and remained in force until the 1995 Penal Code. With Felipe González in government, hitting a woman was still, in practice, a minor offense. And with the Second Republic, the same.

The difference between what the law allowed and what peine in homes is another matter. According to an account from a participant in the discussion, domestic violence was a normality in post-war Spain: children were beaten, sometimes daily, and it was seen as normal that in couple fights, a slap would calm the hysterical woman. They did not go to the Civil Guard because the consequences could be disastrous: without means to earn a living and with the husband as the sole support, respecting him was a matter of survival. When someone did report, the officers themselves told them to go home and make peace.

Adultery, the Marital Permit, and Who Repealed Them

The crime of adultery was in the Spanish Penal Code since the Roman Empire. The marital permit for women, also. Franco repealed the marital permit in 1975. Adultery was removed from the Penal Code in 1977, already without Franco. The 'two slaps' law, however, does not appear in any known legal text. Some argue it is an exaggeration circulating on social media without documentary basis, and the documented data is indeed Article 449.

Why the Myth Persists and Who Benefits

The invented figure is so blunt that it is counterproductive. One part of the analysis suggests that exaggerating Francoism serves to make the current regime look bad in comparison: if that era is explained with its laws and daily life, both good and bad, the result leaves the 1978 system poorly in economic, social, cultural, and political terms. Another part points to the opposite: that the insistence on reopening historical wounds is what keeps the topic alive.

The surprising data: at the dictator's death in 1975, there were seven times fewer prisoners than currently, according to a source cited in the discussion. The increase in the immigrant population explains a small part of the rise; the main cause would be the incivil of everyday acts that were not crimes before.

---

How much of the black legend against Franco survives an archive? Less than some think. And how much of the pink legend? Also not much. The open question is why the false figure circulates more than Article 449.