Italian senate approves law banning sexist and discriminatory adverts - The Guardian

Italy’s senate has approved a law banning street adverts deemed sexist or discriminatory amid fury from far-right politicians and anti-abortion groups.

The law, which forms part of a transport and infrastructure decree, bans adverts on streets and all forms of transport that are demeaning to women and perpetuate gender stereotypes as well as those considered harmful to civil and political rights or containing discriminatory messages against gay people, ethnic and religious groups or people with disabilities.

In addition, the measure bans adverts that discriminate against people based on their gender identity, an element described by Lucio Malan, a senator with the far-right Brothers of Italy, as “an ideological norm aimed at limiting freedom of expression”. Opponents are especially furious as it was the reference to gender identity that in effect led to the senate, or upper house of parliament, last week rejecting a bill aimed at fighting homophobia. “It’s a measure that was introduced treacherously,” said Malan.

Andrea Bertoli, another senator with Brothers of Italy, said the “shameful” anti-homophobia law had been “reproduced in a transport decree”.

The measure also provoked a chorus of complaints from anti-abortion groups, as, by extension, it will prevent them from plastering the streets with billboards that are offensive to women who have had abortions. The ProVita association regularly rolls out aggressive anti-abortion campaigns across the country, placing huge posters on walls featuring foetuses in the womb or those which have equated taking the abortion pill to consuming poison.

“The law doesn’t specifically refer to abortion but it widens the measure in a very intelligent way, meaning there will be action taken to block this kind of publicity,” said Luisa Rizzitelli, a women’s rights activist.

Abortion has been legal in Italy since 1978 and so the law will ban advertisements that infringe upon this right and attack women for having an abortion, added Rizzitelli.

Antonio Brandi, the president of ProVita, also took aim at the gender identity element of the law. He said: “Will it still be possible to affirm in an advertisement that baby boys are male and baby girls are female? That a baby is born to a mother and father?”

Rizzitelli said the measure was “a great step forward” in banning sexist publicity “which is everywhere across Italy”.

“The big brands have become much more attentive but in smaller towns we still find adverts which are offensive to the dignity of women,” she added.

There was an outcry in January over a street billboard in Lizzanello, a town in Puglia, depicting a woman dressed as a French maid offering cleaning services “free for a month”. Food and beverage adverts have often featured women wearing only underwear, while in 2017 the jewellery chain Pandora was forced to scrap a pre-Christmas series of ads asking if women would prefer “an iron, pyjamas, an apron or a bracelet” as a gift.

“All the women’s associations have been trying for years to stop this,” said Rizzitelli. “This law could help to bring about a cultural change too.”

The amendment to the transport and infrastructure decree was introduced by Alessia Rotta, a deputy with the centre-left Democratic party, and Raffaella Paita from the centrist Italia Viva party. “The amendment is the result of a lot of hard work that allows us to give a social value to these issues,” she said.

Nadia Rossi, a politician with the Democratic party, said: “It’s a first step towards a definitive stop to hateful messages that are conveyed through advertising. It is not in any way about limiting communication, but of realising how much advertising can influence the thinking of young people, and affect minorities and the most vulnerable.”

The divisive anti-homophobia law was blocked by the senate after months of protests by far-right and Catholic groups, arguing it would have suppressed freedom of expression and promoted “homosexual propaganda” in schools.

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source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/05/italian-senate-approves-law-banning-sexist-and-discriminatory-adverts

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