Sexism at Sanremo

( Una versione in italiano di questo articolo può essere trovata qui)

Sanremo, the most famous Italian festival that every year introduces new, upcoming artists on the stage of the renowned Ariston Theatre. This year, however, the popular show sent messages and images of masculine superiority, relegating to women the role of beautiful but silent accessories of men- owned either by the artistic director of the festival, Amadeus, or by their husbands, partners or colleagues- bringing under the limelight the grave issue of sexism.

Between comments that only seem to appreciate the women that co-presented the festival just by their physical appearance, because “they are all beautiful” and have to be admired due to their ability to “stay one step behind their man” (comments really made by Amadeus during a public press conference on national TV), during this edition of Sanremo, Amadeus found himself to be the (involuntary?) national catalyst of a problem that has invaded our society for far too long, in ways that are detrimental and frankly, embarrassing. Sanremo continues to facilitate the spread of images and messages in that are derogative, offensive and degrading to women in the homes and on the screens of the Italian population. The comments made by the presenter before and throughout the six nights in which the show unfolded, indicate that (apparently) women’s qualities are simply their beauty and their ability to achieve the status of “girlfriend of” or “wife of” and, of course, always letting their man take centre stage while they stay “a step behind”. Let’s not forget that Amadeus was the main presenter throughout the festival and the six women that accompanied him throughout the six evenings, were extras/complements of the male protagonist who and went on stage as “women” and not as “professionals”.

Shortly after Amadeus made his first false step at the press conference, it was announced that to the “rapper” Junior Cally had been invited to the Ariston stage- a choice that was highly criticised and honestly outrageous. The rapper’s songs and music videos are not only extremely vulgar, but also vividly they promote physical and verbal violence against women and inviting someone with that content to perform at such a popular festival continued to release messages of the objectification of female bodies and the use of violence for male pleasure.

Indeed, although the “rapper” did not perform with those particular songs during the festival, the messages which he personifies and spreads are still those of violence and sexism. Moreover, the comments that came out after the announcement of his participation at Sanremo do little to better the situation. Indeed, when speaking of sexism and gendered violence, we cannot ignore the comments made by Italy’s “favourite” sexist- Matteo Salvini. Of course Salvini could not lose out on the opportunity to spread even more ignorant and wrong messages. In fact, his tweet on the decision to invite Junior Cally to Sanremo left everyone speechless (and once again, shocked to have such a character anywhere near Italian politics). Indeed, Salvini decided to answer with: “I am embarrassed of that singer that talks about women as prostitutes, violated, kidnapped, raped and used like objects. Do that in your own home, not on live TV and in the name of Italian music”. With this, the leader of Lega clearly justifies violence against women within the private sphere, shocked only because this “rapper” promoted violence against women on TV and did not just keep it within the four walls of his home. So, apparently, violence against women is only shameful and wrong if it’s done in public, but if it’s in the privacy of your own house –and on social media (see violent and degrading comments made by Salvini directed towards his female opponents, like Carola Rackete, Laura Boldrini, etc) - it is acceptable??!

These continuous “steps backwards” have yet again branded Sanremo and Italian entertainment with sexist and painful themes and yet again failed to establish the name of an important festival that seeks to celebrate Italian art, culture and music.

This continued to get worse during the festival’s six endless evenings.

In fact, instead of apologising, Amadeus continued to introduce each of the co-presenters with comments on physical appearances and was particularly obsessed by Diletta Leotta’s beauty. The director made it clear that he was also very surprised to find out that the sports presenter also had a degree and confessed that he didn’t know this- it has to be said that it seemed here that the artistic director struggled to believe that a beautiful women could also be intelligent?!

But it turns out that Amadeus was not the only one to ask this question, so it would be unjust to scapegoat him as, after all his “misunderstanding”, he is clearly clueless on how to right his embarrassing wrongs. After all, he wasn’t the one that wrote Leotta’s awkward monologue, in which she declares that beauty is not a merit, it just happens, but when it happens it is a very big advantage in life. Just like it wasn’t Amadeus that zoomed onto Leotta’s brother –a plastic surgeon- while she was giving her speech…was this an attempt by Sanremo’s directors to put a women under the sexist spotlight for the night?

In any case, neither Amadeus, nor Sanremo, nor its authors, directors nor presenters seemed to understand the wrongness of the messages sent to the viewers- because these were not simple “misunderstandings” or “just” comments. These were not “just” songs or music videos, nor was it a “just” a monologue that “people did not understand” (as Leotta justified it). And unfortunately, it is not just one artistic director or just a music festival…!

Sanremo presented a great part of the reasons why sexism, misogyny and the objectification of women and their bodies are PERSISTENT issues that are constantly present. The events of the festival make it clear that there is fear -at all levels of society- that women could take over the space and protagonism that seem to have been conceded solely to men. There seems to be a form of masculine insecurity that feels the urge to “keep women at bay”, taking away from them any space or leading role, disempowering them by assigning them to passive roles (always staying a step behind men) and labelling or recognizing them solely by their physical appearances. This masculine weakness also presents women through punitive images which violate their dignity and punish them for not wanting to adhere to their assigned role- just like the songs and music videos of many “singers” such as Junior Cally portray.

The fact that Italy’s most famous festival was characterised by sexist rhetoric and blunder emphasises the severity of these issues in Italian society. Unfortunately, Sanremo is also one instance of many of how, in Italy, sexism has been “normalised” and integrated in society through politics, media and even by cultural institutions and that will only worsen with this wave of populism.

By Flavia Russo