Not even the Coronavirus was able to curb sexism in 2020

2020 will be remembered mainly as the year in which the spread of a new and unknown lethal virus that literally turned our lives upside down. However, since well before 2020, an equally alarming virus has spread in Italy and in the rest of the world that knows no physical distancing of any kind: sexism. This social scourge has its roots in the substantially patriarchal foundations of our society and is expressed in many and dangerous facets. 2020, with the advent of the Coronavirus, has - hopefully temporarily - paused all the main activities that have always marked earthly life, but sexism has not. There is no DPCM that holds, discrimination, violence, offenses have continued undisturbed to pollute the existence of women and men who do not fit into a toxic and macho vision of the world.

The commodification of women

The good old Amadeus thought about opening the dance. As artistic director of the 70th edition of the Sanremo Festival, he gave his 10 traveling companions the same treatment that a merchant would reserve for the goods displayed in the window. Suffice it to say that "Bellissima" was the key word of the entire press conference. The conductor, in fact, presenting with extreme superficiality the 10 women who would have accompanied him on the stage of the Ariston, focused solely and exclusively on their physical skills, completely omitting the baggage of goals and skills carried out there by each of them.

But, in 2020, the commodification of the female body by society certainly does not end here. One of the best known victims is undoubtedly the dear and CHILD-AGED Greta Thunberg. I would like to underline the minor age of the young Swedish environmentalist to further emphasize the vulgarity and gravity of what she had to undergo. His image was in fact used to create the new corporate logo of a well-known Canadian oil company. In particular, the illustration portrayed Greta held for her unmistakable braids, while suffering violence from a man. The image, while causing a sensation in every corner of the globe, was - as usual - branded as a student and no legal measures were taken against the company.

But it is not surprising that episodes of this kind still occur in the world today if we consider the level of opinions expressed nationally by a well-known Italian psychiatrist. The esteemed Raffaele Morelli, in fact, had no qualms in upholding a more than archaic vision according to which a woman is such only when her femininity is officially recognized and approved by the male gaze. After uttering phrases such as "If a woman leaves the house and men do not put their eyes on her, she must worry because it means that her feminine is not in the foreground" and, to follow, "if the feminine is suffocated, a woman loses the possibility of realizing her identity ", Morelli has seen fit to increase the dose by attacking the writer Michela Murgia, who had previously criticized her releases, to the sound of" shut up, shut up and listen ". In short, a commendable example of how, in 2020, we should absolutely NOT address ourselves not so much to a woman as to any human being.

50 shades of body-shaming

Among the various facets of which the phenomenon of sexism is rich, there is undoubtedly also body-shaming. You may be wondering why this practice whereby a person's body, regardless of sex, is made the object of ridicule and offense appears in this digression, but the reason is soon evident. Looking back on the headlines of 2020, it is always and only women who are affected. Coincidences? I do not believe. It is the female gender, in fact, that has to submit to severe aesthetic diktats imposed by the media and society, without ever being able to claim the right to manage their own physicality in a free and autonomous way. Body-shaming, then, will not be for gender equality, but it is certainly a democratic attitude and women of all types and forms are indiscriminately victims of it.

In particular, in 2020, it is possible to highlight several sub-categories of the phenomenon: there is the post-partum body-shaming that particularly affected the actress Blake Lively and the Italian influencer Beatrice Valli. Both were harshly attacked on social media because they had the ardor not to get back into shape promptly a few months after giving birth. A truly unacceptable behavior, no doubt about it.

Then there is the anti-age body-shaming, of which it is possible to report the example that has become viral by Heather Parisi, The woman, a former dancer of the 60s and a 4-time mother, found herself having to face the comments of the most detractors. nostalgic, unable to accept the natural appearance of the signs of aging on the face of the woman who prefers to age naturally rather than show off a manipulated and stereotyped form of beauty.

Uninformed body-shaming is also added to my personal list, aimed, for example, at those who deal with information and not entertainment. To those who work with the head and not with the body. A clear example of this is Giovanna Botteri, committed journalist, commendable professional, tireless worker, but not cared enough not to end up in the clutches of satire and haters on social media due to misplaced hair during daily updates on Coronavirus as a foreign correspondent in China .

Finally, we have the more subtle variant of body-shaming, the "inverse" one. See the cases of Adele and Katia Follesa. Women known, loved and sometimes harshly criticized for their "buttery" shapes, attacked even when these shapes have passed from buttery to sinuous for reasons on which no one, except the directly concerned, has the right to sentence. So what does this digression teach us? Which, - to paraphrase Antoine's evergreen masterpiece - whatever you do, if you are a woman, you will always get stones in your face.

Sexism and politics: an (im) perfect combination

Politics is also a treacherous terrain for women. Maybe more than the others. Always the prerogative of a male majority, it struggles to welcome and give credibility to those who, by tradition, have been mistakenly defined as the weaker sex. And so it happens that, in 2020 and in the middle of an intervention, a regional councilor, in this case Monia Monni, is silenced by a political opponent of the opposite sex to the sound of "you're good". Also in this case we are witnessing yet another aggressive attitude of a man who sees the patriarchal foundations on which he had comfortably laid his entire existence crumbling under his feet.

Toxic masculinity: when sexism also affects men

But sexism doesn't just kill women. Men too can fall into the net of this harmful and deeply wrong attitude. Fedez and Ghali know something about it. The first ended up in the viewfinder of social vultures after posting a photo of their manicure. The second, the subject of homophobic comments by his colleague Gue Pequeno, who even called him "a fake of music" for having sported a very elegant pink suit with great pride. Criticisms that, for the umpteenth time, place us in front of a problem as devious as it is ignored, harmful for men as well as for women: toxic masculinity, the primary cause of sexism. Although little is said about it, men too must submit to behavioral diktats that confirm their level of virility. Don't you like sports? You are not a real man. Do you happen to be moved? You are not a real man. Do you dress in pink or do you wear nail polish? Are you gay? And another 1,000 devilry with which men are pigeonholed according to their tastes and inclinations on an imaginary scale that goes from "effeminate" to "alpha man". A system that in 2020 not only makes no sense to exist, but must be unhinged from its foundations with a view to greater inclusiveness.

Revenge porn and the double standard of genre

But sexism is also witnessing the double standards that men and women are subjected to based on their biological sex. Let's take the case of a boy and a girl who, as a couple, decide to bounce back during a sexual act. They both decide and do it for reasons on which - again - it is not up to us to speculate or express judgments and with a tacit agreement of mutual trust. It happens, then, that the two break up and the boy decides "as a joke" to share the video on the soccer chat. But he, inside himself, knows that this is not a joke and is aware of the consequences that the girl will face. A man present in the conversation recognizes the young woman as his son's school teacher and, instead of scolding his teammate, forwards the material to his wife. The woman, in turn, does not take the side of the young woman, completely unaware of the fact that the video in which she is portrayed has been disclosed to third parties without her consent, but thinks well to threaten her and show everything to the principal. The young woman finds herself alone against everyone and, in addition to suffering humiliation and threats, she even loses her job, deprived of any form of empathy and female solidarity. He, on the other hand, can walk with his head held high. After all, he just did a stunt. A stunt better known as "revenge porn" which, since 2019, in Italy is a crime punishable with imprisonment from one to six years and a fine from 5,000 to 15,000 euros. And no, this story is not the fruit of my imagination, but a fact that really happened at the end of this year in the province of Turin. An emblematic fact to understand the substantial difference in treatment that is often reserved for men and women, to the great detriment of the latter, in all areas but especially when it comes to sex. After all, you know, men are Latin lovers, women, on the other hand, are bad.

Femicide: the last and terrible level of sexism

And finally, the most extreme and atrocious level of sexism. The one you should never get to. Femicide. In 2020, as the world seems to have stopped, gender-based violence continued undisturbed to claim victims within the walls of the home. That place that for many is a safe haven, for many others has turned into a prison from which it is difficult to escape unscathed, because it affects indiscriminately from social class, level of education or personal data and does not stop in front of any distancing rule. social. It is in this context that 81 women died in 2020 according to the latest data released by EURES. One name among all is that of Lorena Quaranta. 27-year-old medical student, strangled with her bare hands by the man she loved. Today Lorena has received an honorary degree, but no one will ever be able to give her life back to her. To her, as to the other women killed by those who, above all, should have protected them.

How far is there still to go?

So, what can be deduced from this reflection? It is clear that the way to go to obtain greater equity and eradicate the seeds of sexism is still long and uphill, but awareness is greater and episodes like those listed above no longer pass - fortunately - on the sly. In our own small way, here's what we can and must do to reach the goal as soon as possible: raise awareness, report, make our voices heard, demand the respect we deserve, instill the principles of gender equity in the new generations, from an early age. , to know the opinion of the people we surround ourselves with and to engage in discussions with them that are really constructive on the issue, to know our rights in terms of jurisprudence to learn how to assert ourselves beyond humiliations and baseless threats. In short, let's transform ourselves daily into our anti-patriarchy vaccine.