ROME (AP) — Italian women, from ordinary workers and housewives to top politicians, are fighting back against a proliferation of websites displaying their photos without their consent, often accompanied by obscene language.
Their efforts gained national prominence when activists earlier this summer denounced a Facebook page dubbed “Mia Moglie” (My Wife), where men posted unauthorized photos of their spouses and succeeded in getting it taken down.
Now, another more prolific site has emerged that exposes prominent women, including Premier Giorgia Meloni and other female politicians, to obscene and explicit comments. Some posts idealize violence against women.
The site, which takes its name from slang for female genitalia, has been around for at least two decades. But it only drew national attention after a left-wing member of the European Parliament, Alessandra Moretti, formally lodged a complaint with police after finding her photo displayed without her permission.
“They have been stealing photos and clips from TV shows I’ve appeared on for years, then altering them and feeding them to thousands of users,” Moretti said.
Moretti said the site and others operate “with impunity” even though previous complaints have been filed against them.
“This type of site, which incites rape and violence, must be shut down and banned,’’ she said.
The forum displays unauthorized photos and videos of hundreds of public figures, along with unsuspecting actresses, influencers and ordinary women. The unauthorized images are often lifted from TV or social media profiles.
It currently counts 200,000 users and displays pictures identified by names or certain themes. It includes a page dedicated to influencers and TV journalists, along with national and local politicians, such as the leader of the center-left Democratic Party Elly Schlein.
The earlier forum, “Mia Moglie,” had around 32,000 members before it was shut down last week by Meta, which owns Facebook. Meta said it acted against the site “for violating our adult sexual exploitation policies.″
Feminist author and activist Carolina Capria, among those who have denounced the group, shared several screenshots of the often obscene and violent exchange of opinions about what users would do to the women depicted. Some men said their wives had agreed to their images being posted, but no female comments were visible on the site.
“Women have always been the arena on which men challenge each other and measure their virility,” Capria wrote. “It’s a game in which women are merely a commodity that adds value to the man who possesses them.”
Italy has been struggling with how to prevent and address gender-based violence, as femicides — the killing of women because of their gender — has emerged as a systemic problem deeply rooted in Italy’s patriarchal culture. A series of violent incidents has reignited national debate over how to confront these crimes.
The Meloni government approved a draft law in March that for the first time introduces the legal definition of femicide into the country’s criminal law and punishes it with life imprisonment. The bill still needs final approval in the lower house to become law.
While the center-left opposition welcomed the move, it stressed that the new law only tackles the criminal aspect of the problem, while leaving economic, educational and cultural sources of misogyny unaddressed.
