Oppositions on the attack

Nordio: 'Man's genetic code does not accept equality'. Roccella: 'Sex education does not decrease feminicides'

The two executives said this at the international conference against feminicide in Rome. They attacked the opposition: 'Embarrassing and misleading words'

by Rome Editorial Staff

21 November 2025

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4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Nordio: against violence women need education in the family
"Problems on punishment avoided with feminicide as an autonomous crime"
Roccella: feminicide not a crime like any other, law is breakthrough
"No correlation between sex education and decreasing violence against women"
Gribaudo: Nordio and Roccella's words serious and false
Boschi: embarrassing words from Nordio and Roccella
Appendino: Roccella gives cultural alibi to violence

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

"There is also a sedimentation in the mentality of the man, of the male, that is difficult to remove because it is a sedimentation that has been formed over millennia of overpowering, of superiority, and therefore even if today the man accepts and must accept this absolute formal and substantial equality with the woman, in his subconscious his genetic code always finds a certain resistance". This was said by Justice Minister Carlo Nordio at the international conference against feminicide in Rome.

"If we go and look at the history of mankind, we see that unfortunately, with a few exceptions, it is a continuous male dominance," added Nordio, according to whom "it is necessary to intervene with criminal laws, with repression and with prevention, but above all it is necessary to intervene on education, to try to remove from the male mentality this millenary sedimentation of superiority that has translated and continues to translate into acts of violence"

Nordio: against violence women need education in the family

According to Nordio, preventing violence against women 'requires education in the family, by example, before fine words. If we want to eradicate this form of baleful abuse that continues to result in these criminal acts, laws are all very well, but above all we need an education that starts in childhood and in the family'.

"Problems on punishment avoided with feminicide as an autonomous crime"

As to why the majority decided to introduce the crime of feminicide into the penal code (the law is awaiting final approval in the House, ed.), the minister explained 'from the legal point of view' for 'especially aggravated murder in these cases there was already life imprisonment, but feminicide has this connotation that has already been defined: you kill a woman because she is a woman. As regards its legal regulation, the novelty is that it is punished with life imprisonment, and this avoids a whole series of problems that exist in Italy, not always in other countries, of balancing mitigating and aggravating circumstances. It is no longer a crime of aggravated murder, it is an offence that has its own structure, its own completely autonomous objective and subjective configuration'.

Roccella: feminicide not a crime like any other, law is a breakthrough

According to the Minister for the Family, Natality and Equal Opportunities, Eugenia Roccella, 'Femicide is not a crime like any other and therefore needed a special typification, it is a crime rooted in the inequality between men and women, in the denial of the very right to exist as a woman. It is the extreme manifestation of a cultural and social system that still today, in too many parts of the world, continues to consider women as inferior or as possessable'.

'This is why, faced with such a complex and devastating reality, Italy wanted to give a strong and clear signal,' she added. 'I believe that this law represents a turning point, a transformative law for society that will contribute to producing a profound cultural change in our country. It is a law that does not merely punish, but aims to raise awareness, that calls for collective responsibility, that urges us to build a future in which no woman ever again has to die for being a woman'.

At the root of feminicides 'there is a possessive and punitive attitude, the will to deny women their autonomy, their freedom, their dignity as persons. It is here that feminicide reveals its true nature: not a gesture of madness, but an act of power,' she stressed. 'An act that stems from the need to dominate, to control, and that for this reason represents a profound cultural and civil challenge for any society that really wants to call itself free and just.

"There is no correlation between sex education and decreasing violence against women"

"We can talk about sexual-affection education, but laterally," he added, "If we look at countries where it has been an established fact for many years, like Sweden for example, we see that there is no correlation with a decrease in feminicides. Sweden has more violence and more feminicides. I do not want to criminalise Sweden, but there is no correlation between sex education in schools and a decrease in violence against women'.

Gribaudo: Nordio and Roccella's words serious and false

However, the words of the two government representatives are criticised by the opposition. "Those pronounced by Ministers Nordio and Roccella are very serious words, even more serious because they were pronounced in that context, an international conference on feminicides, as well as false," attacks Chiara Gribaudo, vice-president of the Democratic Party. "There is no 'genetic code that resists': it is a matter of culture, of introjected values, of patriarchy,' continues the member of the Democratic Party. 'And yes, it can also be fought with sexual and affective education in schools, with education to equality and to recognise oneself in differences, precisely because if that thread of patriarchal culture is not broken, it will never be useful to just toughen up penalties

Boschi: embarrassing words from Nordio and Roccella

The president of the Italia Viva deputies Maria Elena Boschi is harsh: 'Embarrassing. This is the only way one can define the words of Nordio and Roccella. The Minister for Justice, who speaks of violence against women as a male 'tara', and the Minister for Equal Opportunities, who claims that education does not serve to fight feminicides, are insulting all women who every day ask for respect and equal opportunities'.

Appendino: Roccella gives cultural alibi to violence

"Minister Roccella's words hurt, because they do not explain violence: they give her a cultural alibi. To say that sex-affective education does not reduce it is to tell our children that there is no way to learn respect, consent, affectivity. It is obscurantism, and obscurantism generates violence,' said 5 Star Movement deputy Chiara Appendino in a note. She also attacked Nordio: '"Gender violence in the male genetic code": after demolishing justice, guaranteeing impunity to the usual known, freeing a child rapist and taking Gelli as a model, Nordio gives us another pearl. The next one will be to propagandise Lombroso? If this is a minister...'.