The three-digit counter is tired of growing. He remains motionless, stuck, the unit roll hovering between number 4 and 5. He waits for news, clings to a hope, would like to unbalance himself backwards but fails. Confirmation arrives of the discovery of the body of Giulia Cecchettin, 22 years: number 5 plummets on the counter, but the race does not stop at 105. 106: this is the number of feminicides in 2023, reported by the Ministry of the Interior.
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According to Istat data of the last twenty years, the murders in Italy are decreasing: a positive fact, if it were not that the trend is struggling to slow down if we talk about women. But it is only the tip of the iceberg of a much larger problem:
- 11771 access to the emergency room for violence (Source: Istat, 2021).
- 1083 hospital admissions for violence (Istat, 2021).
- 11632 victims of violence reported in 1522, Anti-Violence and Stalking (Istat, 2022).
And again: economic blackmail, harassment in the workplace, rape, revenge porn, obstructionism to sociality. A galaxy of internalized behavior, a symptom of a society in which men have the absurd privilege of owning women and deciding their fate.
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A few days after 25th November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the assassination of Giulia draws attention to a not inconsiderable aspect: the absence of immunity for the new generations of men from the dynamics of violence, all too often devalued, in fact, to a generational issue. It is the time of pain, of the anger and indignation of the people, who claim harsh and exemplary punishment. An emotional state and a language, that of public opinion, understandable; useless and impractical if we talk about the State.
The State: how does it respond to the prevention and fight against violence against women?
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Law No. 69 of 2019, known as the "Red Code", is the most recent legislative text on violence against women. In the penal code new crimes were introduced (deformation of appearance, revenge porn, forced marriage, violation of expulsion measures), tightened the penalties and streamlined the process of criminal procedure.
Measures that should stop violence: but do they really work? Is it necessary yet another tragic femicide to speed up the vote on new legislative proposals, to increase the funds for prevention? Measures for easy consensus, to tamponade the wound, which look, by italian style, the short term. Promoted, among other things, by parties opposed to sexual and affective education in schools, the only construction site that allows to see in the medium-long term, where to build generations of men immune to violence.
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There is the time of pain, to be respected in all its forms, but it must be followed by the time of discussion: to think that a torchlight procession, a bench painted red, a law magically changes and immediately society is utopian.
Professors, colleagues, classmates, magistrates, ministers, fathers, brothers, it’s up to us: for too long we have been absent in the debate, every story like that of Giulia underlines our lack.It’s time for courage, the real one. It is time to admit that we live in a world with a great gender problem, to unhinge it, even if this means to shake every certainty and normal aspect of our lives. 106 signals, 106 lives broken, too many to ignore.
Illustration by Gloria Dozio - Acrimònia Studios
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