MILAN/ROME Supplier Maria Cuffaro started his working career at the Italian broadcasting company in Rai more than thirty years ago. She says that she felt that as a woman she would have two chances to succeed on television.
– Either I would have high-heeled shoes, long eyelashes and appear pretty, so to speak, or I would have to work twice as much as men.
Cuffaro says he chose the latter. He started doing news reports wearing a long coat. Often he didn’t show his face to the camera at all.
In the editorial, he got the nickname Big coat.
– That jacket was my protector, I hid behind it from people’s eyes. I didn’t want to put myself on display like that, Cuffaro tells .
Many other women on Italian television at that time and for a long time afterwards did otherwise.
The country’s television field was in transition. Alongside the public broadcasting company’s serious offer were the entertaining programs of commercial channels that came in the 1980s.
The commercial television channels were owned by a wealthy businessman Silvio Berlusconiwho a decade later became the father of Italy’s political right and prime minister.
Berlusconi’s social legacy has become a topic of conversation in Italy since Berlusconi died in June at the age of 86.
According to Maria Cuffaro, commercial television in particular conveyed an objectifying image of women, which also spread to other media.
– The woman was some kind of work. She had to represent and behave in a way that would please a man’s eye.
Berlusconi’s television raised an entire generation
Silvio Berlusconi was a major entrepreneur in the media and culture industry. He owned not only the country’s most popular commercial television channels, but also, for example, a large film production company, a newspaper and a publishing house.
Many women writers and influencers, as well as political opponents, accuse Berlusconi of instilling a backward image of women in Italian society.
Writer and equality activist from Milan Lorella Zanardo says that an entire generation of Italians has grown up watching mostly objectifying images of women on television.
Zanardo made a portrait of a woman from Berlusconi’s time The documentary that shook Italy already in 2009.
– On television, the woman always appeared smiling, scantily clad, ready to serve, Zanardo says in an interview with .
Italians remember, for example, the familiar tunes from the Striscia La Notizia entertainment program on Canale 5 owned by Berlusconi.
The term established in the Italian language literally means a scantily clad woman who appeared in the program dancing and skating on roller skates, among other things.
Countless young women dreamed of a career as a velina, and the TV company organized auditions for them well into the 2010s. It broadcast a program separate from the competitions on the channel.
According to Zanardo, there was not enough resistance to objectifying culture in Italy at the time.
Berlusconi was considered by many Italians to be a funny man of the people – an idol whose inappropriate jokes made people laugh.
According to the author, there are several reasons for this.
The Italian women’s movement lived its golden age in the 1970s, but it did not become influential enough. In addition, the conservative influence of the Catholic Church is more visible in Italy than in many other European countries, says Zanardo.
According to him, those who support liberal values also need to look in the mirror.
– Even many leftists did not realize that half-naked women jumping on TV were not a sign of women’s emancipation, but something else.
Berlusconi’s political allies and family have not accepted the critical debate that began after Berlusconi’s death. In recent weeks, Italian prosecutors have brought to the fore also new accusations About Berlusconi’s alleged connections to the Sicilian mafia.
– My father has always been the target of persecution, and it doesn’t end even after he dies, Berlusconi’s daughter Marina commented on the discussion.
The Berlusconi family’s television company Mediaset refused when asked for permission to show video clips from the channels’ programs in this story.
After his father’s death, Silvio Berlusconi’s son has taken over the leadership of Mediaset Pier Silvio Berlusconi.
Prime Minister commenting on appearance
Berlusconi served as Prime Minister of Italy since 1994 four times, for more than 10 years. The last time he resigned as prime minister was in 2011.
During his political career, Berlusconi was known even abroad for inappropriate comments and behavior towards women.
For example, when meeting the President of the United States Barack Obama’s the wife Michelle Obama’s Berlusconi stopped in front of himlooked towards his chest and spread his arms excitedly.
– That gesture screamed, wow, what a woman, says Lorella Zanardo.
In Finland, we remember how Berlusconi claimed to have used his “playboy skills” as president Tarja Halonenin order to get the EU Food Agency to Italy.
Berlusconi has also been accused in dozens of trials of, among other things, buying sex from a minor and corruption.
Only one of the trials resulted in a conviction for tax fraud.
According to Zanardo, the prime minister’s responsibility is great, and Berlusconi set an example for the entire Italian people.
– While visiting schools, I have heard countless times students asking why they couldn’t say or do something, when the Prime Minister said and did it.
In recent years, television has lost its influence as a means of communication, and the representation of women on Italian television has changed in a more matter-of-fact direction.
Lorella Zanardo believes that the Berlusconi era has left its mark on how women are viewed and treated in Italy even today.
– When you see objectifying imagery and listen to objectifying talk about women for 30 years, it is also more likely that you will treat women this way in your own life.
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