Mary

Dear All,

I live in Italy. Everyday sexism is a sort of cultural phenomenon here – a country that prides itself on being forward and always in. We are all familiar with the image of a ´made in Italy´ woman – a fashionable, always fabulously groomed lady with impeccable manicure and dyed hair, preferably blonde that will not move even if a tornado attacks it. There is a bipolar schematic idea of a woman. You can be either saint Maria or a prostitute – the best option would be both – a saint and a perfect mother during the day, a corporate lioness at work in high heels of course, and an escort in lingerie ready for her partner in the evening after having prepared tortellini or pizza from scratch for dinner. Some people would say that patriarchal cultural background and the fact that a woman is the actual winner in situations like divorce (alimony and kids with mamma), dating (men should pay for dinner, drinks etc.) it is not considered actual sexism. However, it is not the father who has to deal with bringing up their kids and statistically, as we know, it is the man who gets paid more for exactly the same job because he is not going to get pregnant or take a day off to stay with an ill kid. It all sounds like we are looping in a vicious circle of stereotypical images of genders and expectations that follow. An Italian male child has to wear blue and play with masculine toys, dolls and pink are left for a female child and for the love of god she cannot choose anything else or she will be considered problematic. There are too many striking examples of everyday sexism to describe here.All I can do is give you the big picture. How can you protest against everyday sexism that is a cultural norm in this country?