‘Any victim is a liar’: sexual violence scandals in Italy expose deep-seated sexism

Two high-profile cases underscore how sexual harassment and rape are downplayed, as women are disparaged

The news in Italy this week has been dominated by two sexual violence scandals. In one, the son of the speaker of the senate, the street-fighting politician Ignazio La Russa, is under investigation for rape. In another, a 66-year-old school caretaker who, from behind, inserted his hands inside the underwear of a 17-year-old student from Rome, was absolved because the assault only lasted “between five and 10 seconds”.

Both cases have revealed that Italy is incapable of taking the subject seriously. After it emerged that a 22-year-old woman had denounced his son, La Russa stated that she had taken cocaine before going to Milan’s Apophis club in May. The newspaper Libero then revealed the alleged victim’s prescription drugs. The insinuation was that if she remembered nothing between being offered a drink in the club and waking up in La Russa’s bed (at which point she was informed she had also had sex with someone else), it was her own fault.