Semenzato, the power of words: they condition our actions, we need respect, education and confrontation

Inclusive language aims to avoid prejudices and stereotypes related to gender or sex and to function as a deterrent against violence. We talked about language with the Honourable Martina Semenzato, of Noi moderati, president of the parliamentary enquiry commission on feminicide. Words shape thought, convey knowledge, but they can also hurt, offend, slander, deceive, destroy.

Gianni Rodari to explain the power of words said in his Grammatica that words are stones. And he compared a word thrown into the mind to a stone thrown into the pond. A pebble that generates waves and concentric circles capable of influencing its surroundings. Words can trigger chain reactions, emotions, pain, but they can also stimulate new thinking.

'Words are heavy,' emphasises President Martina Semenzato, 'they condition and influence our lives. They are for young people, but they are also for us adults. And Rodari's metaphor is beautiful, even if exhausting, of a stone that actually in the water then expands these concentric circles and contaminates us. Because the word then remains inside us even though we may say it does not interest us, it does not. It conditions our actions and so it is important in the good because it makes us happy, but it is just as heavy when it becomes criticism, when it becomes bullying, when it becomes offence. And Rodari also expressed it with the gesture, that of throwing a stone into the water and stirring it up'.

To raise awareness on the topic of gender-based violence, President Semenzato has been organising initiatives on new inclusive languages for some time now. "Right from the start I wanted to create a notebook, 'New languages against gender violence'. It is a notebook that talks about books, but also talks about cinema, talks about music, talks about sport, talks about dance, that is, all those languages where perhaps gender violence has been spoken little or differently. And instead, giving life to this column means reaching not only the very young, but also adults like us. It means giving different tools, it means embracing the community through our hobbies, our passions, our real life'. The latest in order of time is the presentation at the Chamber of Deputies of the book '80 passi in rete - Vite oltre gli ostacoli' (80 steps on the web - Lives beyond obstacles) by Aldo Balestra, an intense journey through events, themes and faces that have marked our collective memory: from the country's identity to the lives broken by violence, from examples of courage to faith, from social to school, from war to family, and even sport.

From social media to school, from war to family to sport, it is essential to use the right words. But how are they taught and what are the right words. "I always talk about a great pact of co-responsibility in the fight against violence, not just gender violence, the many forms of violence. A pact of co-responsibility that must be born in the family. The culture of respect. The word respect must be taught first of all in the family, it must be embraced by the school, by civil society, that is, by all of us, and be taken up by politics. What are the words to be taught? First of all respect, education, and then I would put confrontation and not confrontation as the third.