The senselessness of body-shaming against Giovanna Botteri
In the last few hours there has been a lot of talk about the body-shaming case of which Giovanna Botteri was the victim. The journalist, in fact, was targeted for her 'careless' appearance not only on various social platforms, but also during a report broadcast by Striscia la Notizia. With Michelle Hunziker's narrative voice, it was noted that the reporter had finally made herself a shampoo. A truly elegant and refined form of satire, marked by a good dose of intellectual poverty. Botteri's response was not long in coming. The journalist, in fact, took the opportunity to engage in a constructive reflection on the absurdity of the aesthetic standards imposed on television journalists, especially in Italy.
Here's what the journalist has to tell us:
"I would like the whole story, completely apart from me, could be a moment of real discussion, allow me, even aggressive, on the relationship with the image that journalists, especially television ones, have or should have according to no one knows well who. Here in Beijing I am tuned to the BBC, considered one of the best and most reliable televisions in the world. Its journalists are young and old, white, brown, yellow and black. Beautiful and ugly, thin or fat. With wrinkles, butts, noses, big ears. There is one that makes predictions without a part of the arm. And no one breathes, no one says anything, at home they just listen to what they say. Because it is the only thing that matters, it matters, and is expected of a journalist ", to then conclude like this "I work like a damned woman, I run, I have no time or desire to think about the dress, I bought a stock of shirts in different colors, I wash them and put them back on. Don't worry because I change them every day. I wash my hair, I don't care about wasting time doing my styling or putting on make-up, I'm a normal woman. I do non-show journalism ".
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Giovanna Botteri: a reckless journalist
Perhaps, it would be appropriate to review and retrace the steps that have marked the extraordinary career of this journalist of which we Italians must be enormously proud. Giovanna graduated with honors in Philosophy from the University of Trieste, and then obtained a doctorate in History of Cinema at the Sorbonne, the most prestigious of universities in Paris and in the world. In 1985 he began working for Rai in Trieste and, as a special correspondent, documents some of the most significant events in contemporary history: the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the war in Yugoslavia with the Srebrenica massacre. It witnesses, among other things, the war in Kosovo and, in 2001, the dramatic events that marked the G8 in Genoa. Wars do not scare her, which is why she is sent to Iraq during the second Gulf War, where, on March 20, 2003, she reports, as a world exclusive, the beginning of the bombing of Baghdad. After conducting the 7pm edition of TG3, she was a correspondent from the United States between 2007 and 2019, while from 1 August 2019 she moved to China, where she currently provides us with daily updates on the Coronavirus situation right where it is. propagated.
Does it really make sense to do this kind of satire on a professional of the caliber of Giovanna Botteri?
In short, is it really appropriate to do some vulgar body-shaming on a commendable professional, a tireless worker who knows no schedules, a journalist who makes information, the one with a capital I, her daily mission? The answer is only one: absolutely not. Giovanna, we don't care how you comb your hair or how you dress, we only care - indeed, it MUST be - what you say and you, Giovanna, you say it well. Very good.
