«VShattered yards surround the abandoned pool, along with crumbling benches, broken tiles and a single dirty mattress. Local police officers have identified the abandoned place as one of the places where, according to them, two young girls were reportedly raped repeatedly by a gang of their peers. They are all residents of the Italian town of Caivano, on the outskirts of Naples.” The murdered women, the violence and rapes that have taken place in recent months, from Palermo to Caivano, have struck Italian public opinion. But also the New York Times, which he dedicated a long article to this last summer of horrific crime .
In the New York Times the Italian summer of violence against women
The article is written by Gaia Pianigianicorrespondent of the newspaper in Italy, and underlines how the latest dramatic events “have reopened the debate on the most degraded areas of the country and on his chauvinistic attitudes towards women as well as the dangerous amplification role played by social media.
A tragic unsolved problem
These facts, the newspaper writes, “have also highlighted deep divisions on the persistence of the problem of violence against women and on how to deal with it”. The prime minister is called into question, Giorgia Meloni, who, having gone to visit Caivano to bring her support, allegedly neglected “the numerous issues relating to women” focusing instead “on law and order.”
Law and order, as Giorgia Meloni wants? We need more school and social workers
The premier reiterated that the working class town of 38,000 souls, “it will be cleaned up” always and only referring to the problems of “illegality and drugs”. However, many residents who were interviewed answered that «not needing more policemen, but more school, more social workers and more psychologists to help children who live in families who cannot take care of them”.
A “rooted cultural phenomenon”
The article focuses on the number of women, 27%, who in Italy claim to have suffered violence. And he points out that, more or less, data are in line with those of other European countries. The difference is that in our country violence against women is «a deeply rooted cultural phenomenon in a chauvinistic society”. She says it, interviewed by NYT, Antonella Veltri, president of the Women’s Network against Violence, which operates shelters across the country on a daily basis. A phenomenon thatit’s taking a new, even more horrific turn, with social media acting like a megaphone».
In Italy the victim of sexual violence is also guilty
The newspaper then sinks the blow: «The idea that women’s actions or clothing can trigger violence also permeates the Italian courts, where sexuality and sexual violence are still not always differentiated» writes Pianigiani, adding that «according to a recent report by the national statistical agency ISTAT, the idea is still widespread in Italy that women victims of abuse are somehow guilty of provoking the assault».
Finally, he writes again, «the European Court of Human Rights and the authorities of the United Nations have often condemned the Italian courts for the sentences of cases of rape in which the use of offensive language was transformed into “passionate” or where it was the victim who behaved in an “uninhibited” manner.
Women don’t even report anymore
The journalist concludes the article with the words of Ilaria Boiano, lawyer of the Differenza Donna women’s association, which manages the national emergency number for women victims of violence. Words that shed light on the implications of these attitudes: a similar treatment in the courts «effectively discourages women from coming forward». “If the latest cases are just the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately, many women don’t even report anymore».
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