For days, many Italians have been flooding social media with two unusual calls of outrage: “#10secondi” and “#palpatabreve” or “10 seconds” and “short touch”.
The hashtags relate to a court ruling released in Rome this week that acquitted a 66-year-old janitor who was accused of unlawfully touching a 17-year-old schoolgirl, including putting his hands down her pants and touching them Bottom.
In court, the janitor admitted touching her and said the teenager pulled up her pants and – mimicking her gesture – jokingly reached out and lifted her pants, but denied putting his hands down her pants. The student testified in court last February that the entire episode lasted between five and 10 seconds.
In its decision last week, a court in Rome ruled that the caretaker’s behavior could not be construed as lecherous or lustful because it took place in the school, a public place in front of other students; because it had only lasted “a few seconds”; and because the janitor apologized immediately afterwards and downplayed the episode. Prosecutors have until July 21 to appeal the verdict.
The release of the verdict was followed by an uproar — along with renewed talk of sexual harassment and abuse in Italy, where human rights activists have long criticized a culture of entrenched sexism. The ruling also sparked a spate of videos of women and men touching their own breasts while a timer counts down ten seconds: some stare silently at the camera, others perform skits mocking the decision, others sing jingles they have written themselves.
In the video that started the trend, actor and comedian Paolo Camilli stares into the distance and violently smacks his chest. “It’s been less than 10 seconds, if that’s not harassment then I don’t know,” he says in the video, which has been viewed thousands of times on TikTok and Instagram.
In a telephone interview, Mr. Camilli, who gained international fame through his appearance in the television series The White Lotus, described the court’s verdict as absurd.
“My first thought was: How can a human measure 10 seconds” while being harassed, he said. “And then,” he said, he realized that “10 seconds can be an infinity” for someone in a painful situation.
As part of the #MeToo movement, many Italians dismissive attitude to allegations of sexual harassment distinguishes the country from the United States and other European countries where many authorities as well as businesses and prominent members of the public denounced abuse and targeted the perpetrators.
However, there have been several court cases in recent years provoked trouble in Italy about entrenched gender stereotypes and the difficulty of legal cases around allegations of abuse. Last week’s ruling sparked a new round of debate involving everyone from lawyers to influencers.
“A woman’s body does not belong to men. It does not belong to anyone but the women themselves,” wrote Francesco Cicconetti, an Italian influencer with more than 200,000 followers on Instagram. “You have no right to touch her, not even for a second, let alone five or ten.”
The incident at the school happened in April 2022 and the case went to court late last year; The student and the janitor were only identified by their initials in the court verdict. The three judges of the presiding court – all women – agreed with the defense that the caretaker’s actions were not lustful because of the public atmosphere in the school’s atrium with dozens of students present. The judges concluded that he had committed no crime.
The caretaker’s attorney, Claudia Pirolli, said articles and videos protesting the verdict did not adequately portray the public context in which the incident took place, which she said ruled out blatant sexual assault.
“It’s not what it seems,” she said, adding that her client has a clean record and will be retiring in a year. “A conviction would have destroyed him,” she said.
A lawyer for the now-adult student could not be reached for comment.
Some legal observers said the ruling contradicts previous rulings by Italy’s highest court.
“The Supreme Court in Italy had already made it clear that the perpetrator’s intent – whether libidinal or otherwise – is not relevant in determining whether he or she is guilty of sexual harassment,” said Marco Bellandi Giuffrida, a court clerk in Cremona , who wrote about the scheme.
The court in Rome argued wrongly, he said in an interview, both because the intent was “difficult to assess” and because it “puts a very heavy burden of proof on the abused person.” He expects that the public prosecutor’s office in Rome, which had asked for the accused to be sentenced to 42 months in prison, will appeal.
The case may have touched a sensitive nerve in Italy, where the record of violence, abuse and sexual harassment against women is mixed and public opinion on these issues is mixed.
This was announced by the national statistics institute ISTAT a report from 2019 that nearly a quarter of the population believed women could provoke sexual assault through their clothing, while nearly 40 percent believed women could avoid intercourse if they really didn’t want to.
Still, many court cases have sparked outrage, including one infamous 1999 verdict This suggested that a woman could not be sexually abused if she was wearing jeans, as the court ruled that the pants could not be removed without her help – what became known as the “jeans alibi”. A court in Turin last year acquitted a man of sexual assault because the woman left the bathroom door open, which the court said was “an invitation”.
But Italy’s top court often overturns such decisions, said Elena Biaggioni, attorney and vice president of DiRe, a National Anti-Violence Network operated by women’s organizations. “His judgments are very elaborate in reasoning, especially when it comes to sexual violence,” she said.
International institutions have repeatedly reproached Italy in this regard. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that seven men were acquitted of sexually assaulting a woman sentenced An Italian court said it perpetuates assumptions and stereotypes about female sexuality, essentially blaming the victims. The European Court wrote that the Italian court’s reasoning “incited guilt, was preachy and conveyed sexist stereotypes”.
A Group of the Council of Europe The company, which monitors violence against women, has found that there are very few sexual assault convictions in Italy. And last year the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, a United Nations-affiliated group, said an Italian woman who accused a man of assaulting her had been discriminated against because of “ingrained stereotypes that Italian courts favor over the male accused.” her.
“It’s a cultural issue,” Ms. Biaggioni said, adding that in the Rome court’s verdict, the man’s portrayal seemed to have convinced the judges more than the minor’s version.
“But if you decide it’s okay for an older man to touch a 17-year-old’s butt at school, minimize those actions,” she said.
