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VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

French porn star piqued over Macron’s desire to crackdown on X-rated films

A star of French porn films has challenged President Emmanuel Macron to meet with him and female porn actresses after France's leader aroused his anger by linking the porn industry to violence against women and inequality.

Published: 27 November 2017 15:02 CET
French porn star piqued over Macron's desire to crackdown on X-rated films
Manuel Ferrara (right) wants to talk porn with Emmanuel Macron. AFP

Manuel Ferrara was furious over the president's speech at the weekend which outlined his plan to tackle violence against women and ensure equality between the sexes.

According to Macron pornography makes women “an object of humiliation” and that action needs to be taken because porn films are now so widely watched among school children.

Ferrara hit back on Twitter and invited the president to discuss the issue.

“I am involved in this industry that you are trying to demonize by making this kind of remark. I am ready to sit down with you and discuss a topic that by all accounts you know nothing about. I'm waiting for your call!”

 

(Manuel Ferrara. AFP)

In an interview with France Inter radio the porn star continued to criticize the president saying he found his remark “shocking”.

“He demonizes the porn industry and is jumping to conclusions (faire un amalgame). It's the same with video games. It's like saying 'a teenager who plays Call of Duty is going to pick up a gun and kill everyone in his school'.”

Ferrara wants Macron to also talk to women involved in the pornography industry, which he insists is entertainment above all, to ask them what they think.

“There is a huge part of the porn industry that doesn't humiliate women,” he said, pointing to “niche films” in which women dominate men.

The actor admits that there is a real problem that young people can access porn online without any difficulty.

On Saturday Macron announced his plan to extend the powers of France's broadcasting regulator CSA to cover X-rated films as well as launch an awareness campaign on pornography in secondary schools.

“The CSA plays an indispensable role in regulating audiovisual content everywhere and stopping the most undignified behavior becoming a form of tacit propaganda,” said the president.

“Today we do not regulate access to video games, internet content and pornographic content that is increasingly available.”

In 2018, under the authority of the Prime Minister and with the special commitment of the Minister of Justice, we will have to rethink the framework of our regulation,” Macron said vowing to tighten controls on all content “which can… lead to violence, in particular against the women.”

READ ALSO: France's Macron vows to combat shameful violence against women

France's Macron vows to combat 'shameful' violence against women

FEMICIDE

Salvini: ‘Code red’ needed for reports of violence against women

Reports of stalking and attacks must be treated as a priority, says interior minister, as figures show Italy has one femicide every two days.

Published: 19 November 2018 14:38 CET
Salvini: ‘Code red’ needed for reports of violence against women
Women carry a banner with the slogan 'No to violence against women'. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Legislative reform is needed to tackle violence against women in Italy, Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said today, announcing that he was proposing the introduction of a new warning system under which reports of stalking and violence on women would be given “code red” priority status.

“At the earliest cabinet meeting possible I will propose the introduction of a code red for the [investigation of] allegations of stalking and violence against women, so that these reports don’t end up at the bottom of the pile in the files of magistrates,” Salvini said.

There have been shockingly high numbers of reported attacks on women including femicides – cases in which women are murdered, usually by their current or former partners – in Italy in recent years.

READ ALSO: ANALYSIS: 'Violence against women conditions every aspect of our lives'

“If there are detailed, documented and in-depth reports, they have the highest priority, because we’ve counted too many women wounded, attacked with acid and even killed,” said Salvini.

“Just as there is the code red in the emergency room, there must be a signal on cases of domestic violence and violence against women to intervene before it is too late,” explained the minister, confirming that this “will be ond of the forthcoming initiatives that the government and parliament will bring forward.”

A poster from the 'this is not love' campaign against domestic violence. Image: Italian State Police

His words come days after figures released by Italian police showed there was one femicide every two days in Italy between 2006 and 2016, a total of 1,740 and an average of 174 a year.

In 2017 some 77% of all murdered women were killed by their partners or exes; 112 out of a total of 145.One in three women between the ages of 16 and 70 has experienced physical or sexual abuse according to the figures, released by Italian police as part of a campaign against domestic violence called questo non e amore or ‘this is not love.’

The Italian media is full of reports of attacks on women and murders committed by “jealous” husbands or boyfriends.

The most recent reports from the past week include a man in Caserta who shot his wife and sister-in-law, injured his in-laws and then took his own life after his wife told him she wanted a divorce, and a man who admitted suffocating his wife after she told him she had met someone else.

Campaigners say attitudes must change in Italy, where cases of violent crimes committed against women by their partners or ex-partners are often portrayed in the media as tragic stories of love gone sour.

Almost 3.5 million women in Italy have been victims of stalking, according to data from national statistics agency Istat, but only 22 percent of those report the act or seek help.

Around one in three Italian women suffer abuse at some point in their life.

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