News Flash: Women vs. Berlusconi

News Flash: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/europe/14italy.html?src=me&ref=world

On February 13^th, the New York Times (online) printed an article about the Italian protests over Prime Minister Berlusconi’s sex scandals. In summary, Berlusconi has been under scrutiny for his alleged scandal with an underage girl, whom he is thought to have paid for sex (Donadio and Povoledo). Berlusconi, a 74 year-old Prime Minster, allegedly paid a 17 year-old young woman for sex, and over the next couple days a judge is expected to announce whether or not Berlusconi will go to trial for these charges, although both the Prime Minister and the young woman deny the claims (Donadio and Povoledo 1). This article is interesting to explore for many different reasons, and I will address a few different points in this news flash. First, the title of the article interests me. The article is called “Italians Protest Over Berlusconi Scandals”, however the article itself only mentions female protesters, suggesting that men continue to dominate the production of media. Secondly, an Italian couple quoted in the article suggests that a gender difference exist in the way Italians perceive Berlusconi’s actions. Finally, the article’s tone supports the idea that men continue to dominate the public sphere in Italy. Therefore, I argue that Berlusconi will not go to trial for his actions, because men continue to dominate Italian politics and until male attitudes towards Berlusconi change, he will remain in power because female demonstrations seem to be ineffective in Italy.

When I found this article, the link that I clicked on simply stated “Italians Protest Over Berlusconi Scandals”. When I studied abroad in Barcelona last semester, I learned a lot about Berlusconi in my Media and Politics of Europe course. This link about Berlusconi excited me, because I assumed that there were large Italian protests going on, including a large set of the population (both males and females). I thought this article would be perfect for my news flash, because it could illustrate the progress that society is making through male support for female rights. However, upon reading the article, I realized my hopes had been too high. Although the title of the article is about Italians in general, the subtitle that appears at the top of the page reads “Italian Women Take to Streets in Anger at Berlusconi”. Furthermore, the article includes multiple quotes from Italian females, such as Ms. Camusso, Mrs. Ginevra Coppotelli, and Ms. Livia Turco. All of these women voice their criticisms of Berlusconi. To my shock and disgust, the only man quoted in this article is Mr. Benedetto Bruno (who I will discuss later), and his voice is not one of female support, to say the least. I think it is extremely interesting that the title of this article leads one to believe that general protests are going on against Berlusconi, when in reality the protestors are almost exclusively women.

I believe that this misleading article title relates to Adrienne Rich’s 1977 Convocation Speech at Douglass College. Rich states that “When you read or hear about ‘great issues’, ‘major texts’, ‘the mainstream of Western thought’, you are hearing about what men, above all white men, in their male subjectivity, have decided is important” (Rich). This quote resonates with the article because I believe that the title does not include the word “women” because it could make the article less popular to the public. In light of our class discussion about marketing techniques, I argue that the article would have been less popular if the title included to world “women” or “females”. Furthermore, I believe that the higher-up male editors of the New York Times would not want the word “women” to be in the title, because people are generally dismissive of women’s issues in today’s society…we are “post-feminism”, remember? Therefore, a title that leads readers to believe that all Italians protested Berlusconi versus only women protested Berlusconi would “sell” more. This reminds me of the article we read about patriarchy, written by Allan Johnson. His article was powerful because he wrote about the system that we operate under and he mentioned flaws of his own gender (Johnson). Similarly, the title of the Berlusconi article suggests that both Italian men and women are criticizing and protesting Berlusconi’s actions. This title sells because as humans, we like to see people criticizing their own kind. Therefore, an article title that suggests that both men and women are criticizing Berlusconi gives the article more validity and makes it more popular. As humans, we want to read about men who are just as disgusted by Berlusconi as women are. Sadly, the article title is misleading.

I have established the fact that the article only quotes female protesters. Furthermore, the article illustrates the differences between male and female opinions of Berlusconi in Italy, and the male attitudes seem to perpetuate female oppression. The most blaring example of this can be seen through the words of an Italian couple, Ginevra Coppotelli and her husband, Benedetto Bruno. Coppotelli attended protests in one of the Piazzas in Rome, where she said that “Berlusconi has insulted women, and even worse, he’s given political positions to his whores” (Donadio and Povoledo 2). Coppotelli has joined women in Rome to voice their opinions about the Prime Minister. Not only have his actions insulted women, but he has also undermined females who hold legitimate positions of political office. Berlusconi has allegedly appointed his “whores” (Coppotelli’s term) to office. By appointing these women who do not have any political credentials, Berlusconi is supporting the idea of unearned privilege. Peggy McIntosh described this idea in her article “White Privilege and Male Privilege”, explaining how certain people have privileges that are not based on meritocracy, but based on situations that we have no control over. Berlusconi appointed certain women to office because he enjoyed their company, and his actions undermine other Italian women who want to run for office. Perhaps, in the future, Berlusconi will actually work with women who are highly educated and prepared for the political sphere. However, now there will always be a stigma attached to women who work with Berlusconi because he has a history of appointing women who do not deserve the position. This is Coppotelli’s main point when she suggests that Berlusconi has given “positions to his whores”.

Although Coppotelli is highly opposed to Berlusconi, her husband has a very different view. In light of Berlusconi’s sex scandals, Benedetto Bruno suggests that “when you hear about what he does, 80 percent of men think, ‘I wish I were in his place’…I hate to say this, but Italians don’t want to respect laws, they don’t want to pay taxes, they want to do as they like, and he personifies this” (Donadio and Provoledo 2). This is the only quote from an Italian male included in the article, and the quote disgusts me. It embodies the idea that Adrienne Rich brought up in her Convocation speech. Bruno is speaking from a strictly male point of view when he says that Italians want to “do as they like”, implying that Italians want to be like Berlusconi. I highly doubt that any Italian women want to embody Berlusconi’s ideals. However, Bruno is speaking from a male perspective and he is unaware that his generalization about Italians does not apply to Italian women. Women have made their opinions on Berlusconi quite clear through their protests across Italy. Bruno’s quote raises a second point of concern: the idea that women live in close proximity to their oppressors (Class Lecture 1/25). This is an idea that Simone de Beauvoir brought up in her article The Second Sex. I think that Bruno is a prime example of how women live very close to (and sometimes with!) their oppressors. Bruno’s wife participated in protests against Berlusconi, and Bruno himself admits that Italian men wish that they could basically be Berlusconi. Bruno does not seem to support his wife in her protests against Berlusconi, and his comment makes the women’s protests seem trivial. In order to be more effective, Simone de Beauvoir would argue that women must begin working outside of the established system in order to obtain a leader who will respect women.

Finally, this article has a tone that suggests that females are completely dominated by males in the Italian political sphere, and I believe that this male domination will cause Berlusconi to remain in power. Upon hearing about the protests, Berlusconi “dismissed the demonstrations as purely political, calling his critics ‘moralists’ and ‘puritans’” (Donadio and Povoledo 2). As we discussed in one of our first class lectures, some people in society dismiss feminists or women involved in movements as “man-haters” or extremely abrasive and overly proactive individuals. Berlusconi perpetuates this idea by making a public statement about the female demonstrators. He diminishes and belittles their messages by simply writing them off as “puritans”. The tone of the article supports the idea that many Italians will not take the women’s demonstrations seriously, and one woman, Livia Turco, hopelessly states “nothing will change” (Donadio and Povoledo 2). Another women shares her opinion that “if we go to elections, things will probably stay the same. Berlusconi has touched the bottom, and dragged Italy with it” (Donadio and Povoledo 3). In other words, these women are realizing that their demonstrations are not going to affect the majority of the Italian population. The demonstrations are not enough to dismantle the political system that is dominated by males who support to acts of the misogynistic Berlusconi. Because Berlusconi is a powerful man who already has a number of supporters, it is highly unlikely that women’s movements will succeed in dethroning him. Berlusconi has the privilege of being a man in a male-dominated society. He has the power to belittle women’s movements by making harsh statements that his supporters will recycle throughout society. Therefore, I predict that Berlusconi will remain in power.

My prediction is the same as many Italian women’s predictions, since they are realizing that Berlusconi has the support of many: “People have been anesthetized by this man”, states an Italian woman in the article. People are under Berlusconi’s spell, and no amount of protesting from women’s groups will break this spell. The process must start at the top and work down (Lecture 2/8). If one of Berlusconi’s important male advisors can make him realize how demeaning his actions are towards women, then perhaps change will be seen in Italy.