Women protest in Italy

[gorionine]

Sorry have not got much time to post but have just heard that on the news and was quite impressed by this protest From another article it appears that Berlusconi does not care much but I think it is a big step!

What do you think

How lovely, I'd have loved to be there.

Ooh this is the thread for me! I'm an Italian woman and have studied some Italian politics at university :)

My highly condensed and massively generalized opinion is that I'd say about half of Italians actually like Berlusconi and that is why they keep voting him back in and won't get rid of him. Plus the massive corruption
:(

Re: Italian women, yes in many ways the situation there is much worse but there are others in which I think it tends to be better than in England. There's much better maternity leave, people in general tend to have more family support, and this is gunna sound a bit strange but you know when men shout rude stuff at you in the street? In England I tend to find it threatening, in Italy I find it merely annoying.

bucaneve wrote - "you know when men shout rude stuff at you in the street? In England I tend to find it threatening, in Italy I find it merely annoying."

Have you come to any conclusions about why you think of it differently in each country?

Did you hear what Gino D'campo said this morning?

I'm still slightly in the dark as what they are protesting for exactly, is it objecting to the whole 'bunga,bunga' thing?? I had subtitles on and missed it lol

Ignore me I just read the other article much clearer

Isn't it the case that Italian men are Mediterranean/hot blooded and passionate....ie sex pests?

about bloody time in Italy!!

I am Italian, and the protest was fuelled by Berlusconi (and his croonies) sexual scandal, mostly because one of the women he allegedly shagged got a job in Lombardy administration, but it is mainly about the huge gap in income between men and women, lack of career opportunities for women, the right wing constant attack of the abortion law etc etc etc.

FYI Italy had one of the strongest feminist movement in Europe in the 1970s.

He should be deposed via the means of democracy but if he has committed a crime he should be questioned and charged if it warrants it.
Everyone seems to be marching for something these days.

about time too ,gorinine. PS He owns much of the media "Gabby"

Whilst women taking to the streets in Italy and telling ol'slimeball to do one is Undoubtedly A Good Thing, not much is going to change at grass roots level in Italy until anodyne chat show hosts (which are wall to wall 24/7) making leery "complimentary" comments about their female contestants while a half nekkid woman with tassles on her nips dances on nearby tables are also protested against.

What Berlusconi does behind closed doors actually concerns me far less than the fact that every time I turn on the tv I get a facelifted woman in a bikini writhing around, whether it be a sports chat show, a quiz show, or a satirical programme, (unless it's Miss Italia week (yes, week) when I get about 250 of them)

Italy may well once have had a strong feminist movement, but I'm guessing they're all either dead, jumped ship, or are, in fact Franca

I couldn't care less of what B. does in his bedroom (or bunga bunga room?), but I find it appalling to have a PM who pays for having sex and who helps the "career" of women he has some kind of sex with.
The barely dressed women in tv show have mostly been an invention of bloody Berlusconi and his private tv channels. Honestly, it is one of the reasons that bothers me the less (or least?)

I am more concerned by the fact that women in their 30s struggle to get a permanent contract, that there are some areas with no state funded childcare, that women are paid less than men, that they struggled to get the morning after pill in many hospital, and I could get on and on and on.

I have no idea of what happened to the 1970s feminists. Yes, they are old, and the movement lost momentum in the 1980s, when new values started to become important to Italian society, bringing Berlusconi and his friends in the spotlight.

Sorry, lots of mistakes, children are distracting me!

His hair bothers me too, bloody spray can job.

Apparently he's had an implant... about the time when he was visited by Tony and Chery, <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.it/imgres?imgurl=www.wumingfoundation.com/images/blair_berlusconi.jpg&imgrefurl=vistidalontano.blogosfere.it/2008/06/berlusconi-supportera-lamico-blair-come-presidente-dellunione-europea.html&h=276&w=400&sz=35&tbnid=nDXtnEgooj2avM:&tbnh=86&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dimmagini%2Bdi%2Bberlusconi%2Bcon%2Btony%2Bblair%2Be%2Bchery%2Bblair&zoom=1&q=immagini+di+berlusconi+con+tony+blair+e+chery+blair&usg=__fO13sDzi7ZqokG2S-JDpojBTWek=&sa=X&ei=XllZTafgAcHtOby79YoF&ved=0CB4Q9QEwAg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here

Hi I am back! Glad I am not the only one finding it a good thing. WRT more family support, I have not been in Italy for the last 15 years but the family support my aunty got was actally scary. All my Dad's sisters live with their ILS and are (were at the time)treated as domestic help, and had little imput in their Dcs upbringing as the grandma got the upper hand usually. I still remember finding one of my aunties in tears because her MIL had once again let her know that the way she was hanging the laundry was not as good as hers.

On the other hand on my Italian passport my name has not been changed when I got married while on my Swiss one my name has been changed without me even being given the option to keep my maiden name.

Family support is a double edged sword in Italy.
It can be great, and a total life saver or it can create dependency and infantilise and entire generation.

Also, the underlying reason for the huge importance of family in Italy is that the state, that should provide support and services is not delivering them.

Makes you appreciate that being female in the UK is in the main a great experience

I went to the demo in Turin on Sunday, it was massive. They estimated 100,000 people turned out in Turin alone. There was a great atmosphere, all age groups, loads of families and even dogs wearing placards.

I do however agree with the poster who wondered how the whole tv culture will ever change in Italy. You honestly can't turn on any kind of programme here without half naked women prancing around.
It is a sad indictment for the whole of society here that shagging this ancient mafioso is seen as a valid career option for a young woman. In tapped phone conversations, THE PARENTS of the girls were encouraging them to work it as much as possible.

I was doing some work on an exhibition by VALIE EXPORT, an artist who did some radical feminist performance art in the 60s and 70s and just thought how saddening it is that manipulation of the female image has actually got worse since then (here at least)

Yes, over all, I'd say it is better in the UK.

Mind you, we aren't entirely surrounded by cave men or over sexed bald men here.
I grew up in Milan, which is a big city, with a high rate of women in full time jobs, a very high rate of women with a university education, a decent network of council funded nurseries and great nursery schools, and where men , or at least those in my circle of friends, take very seriously their active role in childcare etc etc.

Sooner or later Italian tv will get swallowed up by Murdoch, and we'll all be watching MTV Jersey shore or such like, which is as bad as veline shaking their stuff.

Or I will rule the world and we'll all watch HBO and the wire

Sex charge to start on the 6th April!

Oh 6th of April... I wonder what he'll come up with in the meantime ...

I am so happy about this thread, it is heartening to see there are people abroad who follow what happens here!

Prolesworth, we'll commission another 20 series of the wire, yo!