Repression is not enough without a culture of respect

The last two pieces have been added to an already composite regulatory framework: the law recognising the crime of feminicide, approved by the Senate on 23 July 2025 and on 25 November to be examined by the Chamber of Deputies for final approval; and the law amending Article 609-bis of the penal code by explicitly introducing free and current consent as the central element for the crime of sexual violence, approved last week by the Chamber unanimously and to be passed again on 25 November to the Senate, barring unforeseen events. The Italian legal system is recognised as internationally advanced, yet violence against women shows no signs of abating and every 25 November we comment on figures that are, at best, stable.

The two legs on which the necessary cultural change can walk are investment and education. In the first case, there is a lack of capital allocated to support new legislation. New laws are not enough if there is no substantial investment in training for the police, social workers and magistrates who have to deal with cases of violence against women on a daily basis. In addition to the need to strengthen anti-violence centres. On the other hand, it will not be possible to reverse the trend if we do not focus on the training of tomorrow's citizens, with school curricula that include hours of sexual-affective education, which have nothing to do with the dreaded gender theories. Data on young people continue to paint a bleak picture: seven out of ten boys watch pornographic content online (89% among males) and two out of ten do so on a daily basis. Not only that. More than one in three have seen violent or non-consensual pornography and 19% have been asked about sexual behaviour seen in pornography. This is accompanied by an increase in code red offences among young people. Acting on the penalty front is not yielding obvious results. Working, on the other hand, on education in the school environment with qualified professionals (and here we come back to investment) can really make a difference. School, on the other hand, has always been a compensatory element in the education of children and young people, even in relation to complex or fragile family contexts. It is precisely for this reason that the assumption of parental consent with respect to teaching on these topics only risks creating further inequalities at the social level. After the Unification of Italy, the school was the institution identified for the formation of national identity and civic consciousness, starting with unifying the country linguistically. Today, it must rediscover that function to eradicate a problem that is now structural in Italy: violence against women. Only in this way can even the laws on feminicide and consent have an effective value and not be at the mercy of interpretations and distortions.