New Delhi: Public outrage is mounting in Italy over a pornographic website posting doctored images of prominent Italian women, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and opposition leader Elly Schlein, according to a report in The Guardian.
The images had vulgar captions. They were sourced from social media platforms and other public platforms, altered and published on the Italian site Phica, which brags of more than 700,000 subscribers. The photos included women politicians at rallies, TV appearances, or on holiday in bikinis. These were featured on the platform’s “VIP section”.
This follows Meta’s recent shutdown of an Italian Facebook account, Mia Moglie (My Wife), where men had shared intimate photos of their wives or other unknown women, The Guardian report said.
Phica, an intentionally misspelled play on an Italian slang term for vagina, was started in 2005 and operated without much monitoring until centre-left Democratic Party (PD) politicians brought legal complaints against it. The site is being probed by Italian authorities now.
‘Enough is enough’
Meloni declined from making a comment when she was asked by reporters about the photos, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said.
In a Facebook post, Valeria Campagna, a PD politician, said: “Not just photos in a swimsuit but moments from my public and private life. Beneath them there were sexist, vulgar and violent comments. I can’t stay silent because this story isn’t just about me. It’s about all of us. It’s about our right to be free, respected and to live without fear.”
Several other PD politicians like Alessia Morani, Alessandra Moretti, and Lia Quartapelle, have also filed complaints against it. Taking to Instagram, Morani wrote: “The comments beneath photos of me were unacceptable and obscene and offend my dignity as a woman. Unfortunately, I’m not alone. These sites must be shut down and banned. Enough is enough!”
Quartapelle said: “Like many other women, I was a victim of online abuse through unauthorised posting on a porn forum. I decided to fight back by filing a complaint. Not only for myself but, above all, for all the other women who have been victims of this violence.”
It was last month that for the first time, Italy’s Senate passed a bill which legally defines femicide and imposes life imprisonment, while also slapping tougher penalties for stalking, sexual violence, and revenge porn.