If you were wondering why a million Italian women took to the streets to protest the shape of their male dominated culture, it was about a whole lot more than their sexist Playboy Prime Minister. Scroll down for the English version of a disturbing documentary capturing the grossly demeaning and misogynistic portrayal of women on Italian TV. I watched all of the documentary; it makes me want to riot in the effing streets.Speaking of TV, did anyone see any TV coverage in the U.S. of Italy's awesome and astounding million women demonstration? I didn't either. But how about all that great sisterly support coming from American feminist groups? Oh, wait. Oh well, at least the feminist movement is making a comeback in Italy. Maybe it will eventually come back in the U.S. too.
The feminist movement has come back into the open. Zanardo produced a documentary of images of women on Italian TV. The visual essay, Women's Bodies, shows what she calls grotesque, vulgar and humiliating creatures, with inflated silicone bodies, oozing out of plunging necklines, tottering on stiletto heels. Zanardo is proud to say that more than 800,000 women have already watched her film on the Internet, which she believes is where the new Italian women's movement is coming to life.
By the way, Prime Minister "Berlusconi owns the leading private television networks."
WOMEN BODIES. This project took off as a matter of urgency. It all started with the observation that women–real women–are an endangered species on television, one that is being replaced by a grotesque, vulgar and humiliating representation. We sensed the enormity of this loss: the erasure of women’s identity is happening right before our eyes, but without a proper reaction, not even from women themselves. . . Our project grants special attention to the erasure of adult faces on television, to the use of plastic surgery to erase any sign of the passage of time, and to the social consequences of this erasure.
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