Italian women fight back against websites sharing unauthorized photos with obscene language

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 Certain 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 declared Moretti declared 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 commented The forum displays unauthorized photos and videos of hundreds of general figures along with unsuspecting actresses influencers and ordinary women The unauthorized images are often lifted from TV or social media profiles It as of now counts 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 members before it was shut down last week by Meta which owns Facebook Meta stated 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 Selected men declared their wives had agreed to their images being posted but no female comments were visible on the site Women have dependably been the arena on which men challenge each other and measure their virility Capria wrote It s a event 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 dilemma deeply rooted in Italy s patriarchal values A series of violent incidents has reignited national debate over how to confront these crimes The Meloni leadership 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 necessities 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 matter while leaving economic educational and cultural sources of misogyny unaddressed Source