The photos, provided with vulgar and sexist captions, were picked from the personal social media accounts of the women or public sources and were then processed and published on Phica, a pornographic platform with more than 700,000 subscribers.
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This includes photos of politicians, which were taken during meetings, TV interviews or while the women were dressed on vacation in Bikini. The images, which were published on the ‘VIP section’ of the site, were edited by, among other things, zooming in on body parts or by suggesting sexual poses.
Some of the well -known victims: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, her sister Arianna, opposition leader Elly Schlein, actress and director Paola Cortellesi and influencer Chiara Ferragni. Meloni was already approached by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, but did not want to comment for the time being.
The scandal, which has again fueled the debate on women’s hatred and gender -related violence in Italy, comes barely a week after Meta had closed an Italian Facebook account with the name ‘Mia Moglie’ (‘my wife’). In that account, thousands of men exchanged intimate photos of their wives (or unknown women) for years.
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The PHICA, founded in 2005 – a play on ‘Figa’, an Italian snake word for vagina – seemed to be getting away with it in the first instance, until a few politicians from the Centerlinkse Democratic Party (PD) announced that they had filed a complaint. In the meantime, the police have opened an investigation.
‘Could not remain quiet’
Valeria Campagna was one of the first to submit an official complaint. “This is disgusting. I am angry and disappointed,” she wrote on Facebook. “This is not just about photos in the bathing suit, but also about moments from my public and private life. There were sexist, vulgar and violent remarks below. I could not stay still about this. This story is not just about me. It’s all about us all. It’s about our right to be free, to be respected and live without fear.”
Source: Corriere Dela Sera, The Guardian