Between the 11th and 12th of this month, Giulia Cecchettin, a 22-year-old Italian girl, disappeared alongside her ex boyfriend, Filippo Turetta. Today, 18th November, her body was found in a lake 140km from where I live.
For six days, we were told that they ran away together, despite the fact Giulia was supposed to graduate from university on the 16th. That we shouldn’t jump to conclusions, that there wasn’t any proof he had killed her, that we were crazy for even thinking it. When a video of him beating Giulia up until she was bleeding came out, newspapers were filled with declarations from his family saying he loved her, he would never do anything to hurt her, he was just a little possessive and jealous.
We all knew. We all fucking knew since we read the words “ex boyfriend”.
Giulia is the 103rd woman victim of feminicide in Italy in 2023. 103.
Meanwhile, Giulia’s sister Elena, who has had to spend the last week making as much noise as possible because that was her only hope of finding her sister, was asked if the family was ready to forgive him. Newspapers talk about how good of a guy he was, they carefully avoid saying he murdered her, they refer to them as a couple. I’ve lost track of how many men have taken time to comment “not all men” under posts about Giulia.
Not all men, but all women.
If you live outside of Italy, you probably won’t hear of this news. You probably don’t know how pervasive victim blaming is in Italian news stations, how bad the statistics of feminicide are. So, please, reblog this post. Demand justice. Say Giulia Cecchettin’s name.
I have to add that currently all news outlets and politicians and voters of the extreme right wing party are now arttacking and insulting Giulia’s sister Elena, for calling out the society as a patriarchy and saying that the murderer was the product of this society who treats women and girls as objects, dehumanizes them and tries to slways paint the woman in a bad light while the man is always the good one. They are attacking this young, brave woman, who lost her mother last year, and this year her sister, by saying she is not grieving enough, she wears dark clothes, they are calling her satanist, they are calling out her black eyeliner…this is 2023 Italy. Us girls and young women are tired, feel not safe and want to live peacefully. We want to help Elena in her battle to give justice to Giulia.
Elena recently appeared on TV for what was probably the billionth interview, and sent an extremely lucid message on patriarchal society and rape culture. Let me repeat: this young woman who just lost her sister to a brutal murder (Giulia’s killer stabbed her repeatedly in the face, then threw her down a ravine and into a lake) and she used her limited space on TV to talk about all women who suffer patriarchal abuse.
Sadly, Italian talk shows have a disturbing level of ignorance and bigotry, so the male hosts decided to make a speech full of paternalism and victim blaming. Meanwhile, right-wing politician Salvini doubts Turetta is guilty. News stations are saying it wasn’t premeditated, despite clear evidence, and that it was “a fight that ended badly”* just like they used to say he didn’t kidnap her.
*This is a recurring expression in narrations of feminicides in Italian newspapers. So many journalists describe the act as an unexpected violent outburst, often subtly (or not-so-subtly) blaming the victim.
The reason I made this post in English was to shed light not only on what happened to Giulia, but on all the other women who are murdered in Italy, one every 72 hours, and the violence patriarchy exerts on them even after their deaths.
I wanted to add what Elena said, because it was so powerful and poignant:
“These days I have heard a lot of talks about Turetta, many people have pointed to him as a monster. But he is not a monster, a monster is the one who goes outside the normal canons of our society, but he is a healthy son of the patriarchal society which is full of rape culture. Rape culture is that set of actions that are aimed at limiting women’s freedom. Like checking a phone, being possessive, catcalling and it’s a structure that all men benefit from. Not all men are bad I am told, yes that is true, but all men benefit. So all men must be careful, perhaps calling out a friend who is catcalling a passerby or a colleague who checks his girlfriends phone, you must be hostile to these behaviors which may seem banal, but are the prelude to feminicide. Femicide is not a crime of passion, it is a crime of power, it is a state murder because the state does not protect us. Sexual and emotional education must be provided in order to prevent these things. We need to finance anti-violence centers, so that if people need to ask for help they are able to do so. For Giulia, don’t keep a minute of silence, for Giulia, burn everything"
“In questi giorni ho sentito parlare di Turetta, molte persone lo hanno additato come un mostro. Ma lui mostro non è, mostro è colui che esce dai canoni normali della nostra società, ma lui è un figlio sano della della società patriarcale che è pregna della cultura dello stupro. La cultura dello stupro è quell’insieme di azioni che sono volte a limitare la libertà della donna. Come controllare un telefono, essere possessivi, fare catcalling ed è una struttura di cui beneficiano tutti gli uomini. Non tutti gli uomini sono cattivi mi viene detto, si è vero, ma tutti gli uomini ne beneficiano. Quindi tutti gli uomini devono essere attenti, magari richiamando un amico che fa catcalling a una passante o il collega che controlla la ragazza, dovete essere ostili a questi comportamento che possono sembrare banali, ma sono il preludio del femminicidio. Il femminicidio non è un delitto passionale, è un delitto di potere, è un omicidio di Stato perché lo stato non ci tutela e non ci protegge. Bisogna prevedere un’educazione sessuale e affettiva, in modo da prevenire queste cose. Bisogna finanziare i centri antiviolenza, in modo tale che se le persone devono chiedere aiuto siano in grado di farlo. Per Giulia non fate un minuto di silenzio, per Giulia bruciate tutto”
I love ending e-mails with “thank you in advance”. Like what are you going to now? Not do the thing I already thanked you for? Bring dishonor on yourself like that? No? I didn’t think so. Check mate you have been played by the master of manipulation.
Slutshaming women is not ok
Slutshaming Alexander Hamilton is totally ok
Tumblr logic
he cheated. on his wife.
he’s also been dead for several hundred years this is the funniest post ive ever read in my life
fave things about this post:
the idea that thousands of people are calling alexander hamilton a slut
calling any founding father a slut
the idea that people are SHAMING Alexander Hamilton for being Such A Slut he is being SHAMED for being such a naughty little tart, SPREADING HIS LEGS FOR EVERYONE IN CONGRESS
that this was probably prompted by people expression dissaproval for Alexander Hamilton cheating on his wife - that the OP thinks “slut shaming” and “Isnt it gross that he cheated on his wife” are the same thing
Alexander Hamilton has been dead for 210
210 slutty, slutty years
the way that this is presented in such a CHECKMATE SJWS way when they’re talking about a founding father who cheated on his wife and has been DEAD FOR 210 YEARS
the fact that the words “Slutshaming” and “Alexander Hamilton” have been used in the same sentence
i mean just apply what we’d traditionally think of as “slut shaming” to Alexander Hamilton.
His frock coat is too tight, his breaches are so short, have you SEEN how often he powders his wig??? I heard he gave Thomas Jefferson a handy behind the stables AND that he got fingered by John Hancock
