Treated like prosciutto

Nonostante gli attacchi per i precedenti articoli sul problema delle donne del signor B., la giornalista Barbie Nadeau continua il suo racconto sulla situazione delle donne in Italia.
"We are Treated like prosciutto", l'articolo uscito sul Newsweek.

As it is, Italian media are saturated by female nudity. Giant advertising billboards show women in seductive, open-legged poses. Radio shows are peppered with orgasmic moans. And the television anchors have a skin-to-clothing ratio that would make Caligula blush. In his dual roles as media mogul and Italy’s head of state, Berlusconi has done more than anyone to shape the media landscape.

During the 1970s, he offered revolutionary programming, including a racy quiz show with housewives who stripped off an item of clothing—apron, kitchen glove, housedress, down to the garter belt—every time a male contestant answered a question correctly. The format for successful television shows hasn’t changed much since then: men are still at the forefront, participants and winners, while women are relegated to the background, silently taking off their clothes. “Women on television are treated like pieces of prosciutto,” says author Lorella Zanardo, whose popular documentary Il Corpo delle Donne, or Women’s Bodies, criticizes sexism on Italian TV.
“A woman is either a passive nothing or a blatant whore,” says Zanardo. “While the rest of the world is advancing towards gender equality, we women in Italy are stuck in time, living permanently in a subordinate role.” Certainly, the statistics are staggering. According to the 2010 Global Gender Gap report by the World Economic Forum, Italy ranks 74th in terms of women’s rights, behind Colombia, Peru, and Romania. Indicators include wage parity, labor-force participation, and domestic violence. Other statistics reveal 95 percent of Italian men have never used a washing machine, and that Italian women spend 21 hours a week on housework while Italian men spend only four.
“It’s the Latin tradition that a man is too macho for housework,” says Bellucci. “The idea was—and often still is—that women have to just be at home, to make babies, and that the father has to be a real man who is always in charge of the situation.”

Many have begun the countdown to the end of the bunga-bunga era when Berlusconi’s term finishes in 2013. “It’s time to take back the country and change the direction of history,” says Finocchiaro. “Women are the new protagonists and we must help them. We represent a great modern power.”