In recent days we have all become aware of the terrible events of November 11th, the day of the death of Giulia Cecchettin, the 105th woman killed in Italy in 2023. Less has been said about the other 104, yet they all shared the same fate . Giulia’s case caused a particular sensation due to the mystery of the first days, when the news was still not certain, and due to the extremely lucid interviews given by her sister Elena.
Over the last month, Elena Cecchettin’s words have been commented on by everyone, including countless newspapers, and they have certainly warmed hearts.
Elena describes Filippo Turetta as “a healthy son of the patriarchy” but not everyone agrees. This statement goes directly in contrast with the increasingly popular slogan of “Not all men”, which was born from a criticism of indifference but soon degenerated into a simplification of extremely complex dynamics.
“Not all men” is immediate: it is a clear fact that not all of the 4 billion men in this world are possessive and violent madmen, even just because of the simple statistical improbability.
By “all” we must obviously mean a general majority, not only from a numerical point of view but above all with regards to cultural hegemony. All men (and all women) have received extremely personalized education based on their birth gender: an education that usually leads men to manage their emotions with more difficulty and women to show a certain passivity in social relationships. That these differences go beyond the simple biological sphere and that they depend on the cultural influences that individuals internalize is a truth that, nowadays, we take as universally accepted.
The trigger for many feminicides is the refusal on the part of the woman and the inability of the partner to manage the refusal except through that violent and definitive gesture that is murder.
In light of this, the phrase “not all men” seems to lose its descriptive effectiveness: although it is obvious that not all men are guilty of a crime committed by Filippo Turetta alone, all men – and all women – carry on their shoulders the heavy burden of that sexist education which is the cause of the phenomenon.
We all, as a society, have the moral obligation to question ourselves about how much of our way of life and our personality has been shaped in the image and likeness of the sexist superstructure in which we were formed.
Silvia De Nardis
We are hosting on Papillon the article by editor Silvia De Nardis published in La ZANZARA, the newspaper of the G B Grassi scientific high school in Latina, as part of a collaborative project with the editorial team.
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