Storm on the words of the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordioat the International Conference Against Feminicide. “It’s in the human genetic code resistance to gender equality“, the words of the Keeper of the Seal. Also Minister of Equal Opportunities Eugenia Roccella he was criticized for his words. “There is no correlation – he said in his speech – betweensex education in schools and a decrease in violence against women”. The reaction of the opposition was immediately visible, defining the words of the two ministers as “deviant and outdated”. And that is precisely the theme that Nordio wants to raise in his reflection. “There is a sedimentation in the mentality of men, men, which is difficult to eliminate because it has been formed over thousands of years of oppression, superiority and therefore even if today men accept and must accept absolute formal and substantial equality towards women, in his subconscious his genetic code always finds definite resistance”, said the Keeper of the Seal, stating that “it is necessary to intervene in criminal law, with repression and prevention, but above all intervention in the field of education, to try to remove from the male mentality the sedimentation of superiority that has persisted for thousands of years which has been translated and continues to be translated into acts of violence”.
Soon afterwards Roccella stepped in and he also reignited the controversy, which has inflamed the House in recent days with Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara accusing the opposition of exploiting the topic. “We can talk about sexual affective education, but laterally – underlines Rocella – If we look at countries that have implemented this fact for many years, like Sweden for example, we see that there is no correlation with a decrease in cases of feminicide. There is no correlation between sexual education in schools and a decrease in violence against women.” One of the first to react was Italy’s deputy president Viva Maria Elena Boschi, who spoke of “shameful words”, recalling that “the Minister of Justice spoke of violence against women as a weakness of men, and the Minister of Equal Opportunities stated that education does not serve to combat femicide”. And IV leader himself, Matteo Rnezi, added: “Let’s form a committee to defend Nordio, let’s silence him, for the sake of his personal history.”
For MPs from the 5 Star Movement on the bicameral commission of inquiry into feminism, “to talk about a ‘masculine subconscious’ and a ‘genetic code’ that rejects equality is to divert attention from human, cultural and political responsibility to a kind of inevitable destiny”. Even the Democratic senator and vice president of the bicameral commission on feminization, Cecilia D’Elia, struck with a hint of irony: “Of course, if the problem is changing male DNA, it becomes difficult” and then continued: “Could it be that the minister of equal opportunities is not interested in supporting educational pathways to overcome stereotypes, education about consent, sexual affective education?”. Elisabetta Piccolotti, of the Avs, instead added: “Roccella made similar statements only to cover up an inappropriate agreement with an obscure group of League adherents.” The minister’s answer also came later: “We await communicated data showing the effectiveness of sexual education in reducing feminization and violence against women, based on evidence and correlation.”
However, to avoid controversy, the Minister of Institutional Reform and Regulatory Simplification, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, also intervened on the topic, by promulgating a single text on gender prevention and violence, to collect, in an immediately accessible document, all existing regulations for the protection of women.
