Gender, Discourse and Ideology in Italian Federica Formato Lancaster, UK

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN LANGUAGE, GENDER AND SEXUALITY

GENDER, DISCOURSE AND IDEOLOGY IN ITALIAN

FEDERICA FORMATO Palgrave Studies in Language, Gender and Sexuality

Series Editors Helen Sauntson York St John University York, UK

Allyson Jule School of Education Trinity Western University Langley, BC, Canada Language, Gender and Sexuality is a new series which highlights the role of language in understanding issues, identities and relationships in relation to genders and sexualities. Te series will comprise innovative, high quality research and provides a platform for the best contemporary scholarship in the feld of language, gender and sexuality. Te series is interdisciplinary but takes language as it central focus. Contributions will be inclusive of both leading and emerging scholars in the feld. Te series is international in its scope, authorship and readership and aims to draw together theoretical and empirical work from a range of countries and contexts.

More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15402 Federica Formato Gender, Discourse and Ideology in Italian Federica Formato Lancaster, UK

Palgrave Studies in Language, Gender and Sexuality ISBN 978-3-319-96555-0 ISBN 978-3-319-96556-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96556-7

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Tis Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG Te registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To Marisa Acknowledgements

Writing this frst monograph had its ups and downs. Sexist episodes narrated in this book allowed me to criticize, and raise a voice against, an imbalanced society. However, these, at times, made me feel powerless. Because of this, I want to thank everyone who supported this project and reminded me of its importance. I owe my thanks to Palgrave for giving me a platform to discuss the relation between language and gender in Italian. I thank the editors of “Palgrave Studies in Language, Gender and Sexuality”, Helen Sauntson and Allyson Jule for considering this volume as part of a much needed and timely series. Since it started, the feld of language and gender has increasingly put women (and minority gender groups) at its centre, and I am delighted to ofer an overview of the situation in Italy. I will always be profoundly grateful to my Ph.D. supervisors Professor Elena Semino and Dr. Jane Sunderland. I started my academic path with them in 2011 and they have continued to generously ofer their precious help even after I fnished my Ph.D. in 2014. It was in a conversation with Jane that the name for this volume was chosen. Teir mentoring throughout these years has helped me to be consistent,

vii viii Acknowledgements dedicated and passionate. Teir professional qualities, competences and skills marry charismatic and formidable personalities. I want to thank the colleagues and the students I met and worked with during these years. Discussions on language and gender in several contexts have helped me to refect on how language is used to address, refer to and talk about gender and gendered identities. In particular, I want to thank Deborah Chirrey who gave me a chance to teach with her on the “Language and Gender” and “Communicating Sexuality” modules for several years at Edge Hill University. Colleagues at Shefeld University also deserve my thanks for the great experience in their department convening the module “Language and Gender” and their precious comments and feedback ofered when I presented the contents of this book in a staf gathering. Together with the academic institutions mentioned above, I ofer my thanks to IGALA (International Gender and Language Association) and its community. In coordinating its blog, I had a chance to meet and collaborate with fantastic academics. IGALA’s commitment to diversity and equality is a commendable example of activism towards parity. Among those who supported my voice against sexism and inequalities, there are those who engage with me on these topics on the Facebook page I created Lingua di genere (Gendered language) and on my twitter account. Tey give me courage and hope. Laura Boldrini, the Speaker of the Camera dei Deputati, has been of great inspiration. She never stepped back, she gracefully yet frmly faced the backlash of a society (and politics) that does not seem to be ready to give a chance to a brilliant feminist politician. I am indebted to the respondents of the survey conducted in 2015 who gave me permission to publish the results and their insights into gendered language (discussed in Chapter 3), those who provided help with translating a sentence into several languages (presented in Chapter 2) and colleagues whom I discussed sections of this book with or helped in other ways. I have a list of people that belong to my private life who were crucial to the production of this volume. Over time, I have come to realize that my mother’s way of raising me was, even if unconsciously and natural to her, a feminist one. She always valued my freedom and always insisted Acknowledgements ix that I should be and feel free, as well as be unafraid of what life could bring. As a single mother, she herself stood free against a fx gendered frame in Italy. As for all of the other fantastic people who fll my life with unconditional support and love, I thank them for sticking with me regardless of the corners of the world in which we each live. I learned that geographical distance and vicinity are inversely proportional to the willingness of building long-life relationships, full of love and trust. I wrote a part of this book in the beautiful island of Fuerteventura: in her sun, her people and her sceneries I found creative inspiration. A special mention goes to Julia Firmin who has proofread the chapters of this book. Her friendship, together with her precious help, is a gift. Contents

1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 1

2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 39

3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 81

4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 135

5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 199

6 Conclusions 273

Glossary 1 289

Glossary 2 293

Index 295

xi Abbreviations

ACC Accusative CA Chiara Appendino CADS Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies CAT Categorization CD Camera dei Deputati CofP Community of Practice CS Corriere della Sera DAT Dative, ablative, locative FDI Fratelli d’Italia FEM Feminine GEN Genitive, possessive GIV Given GM Giorgia Meloni IDV Italia dei Valori LS La Stampa M5S Movimento 5 Stelle MASC Masculine MD-CADS Modern Diachronic Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies NOM Nominative PD Partito Democratico PDL Partito delle Libertà

xiii xiv Abbreviations

POS Part of Speech PRO Pronoun RC Resto del Carlino SR Senato della Repubblica VOC Vocative VR Virginia Raggi List of Figures

Fig. 4.1 Analytical framework developed to investigate sexual terms used to attack or self-represent female politicians 164 Fig. 5.1 Sample of newspaper article before removing noise 226 Fig. 5.2 Sample of newspaper article included in the news corpus after noise has been removed 227 Fig. 5.3 Collocations of the node gelosia in the news corpus 231 Fig. 5.4 Collocations of the node raptus in the news corpus 234 Fig. 5.5 Percentages of the 6 ‘blame’ sub-categories used to cluster the headlines in the period 2013–2016 245 Fig. 5.6 Sample of text taken from the Sara corpus before adding the XML mark-up 253 Fig. 5.7 Sample of text from the Sara corpus after adding the XML mark-up 253

xv List of Tables

Table 1.1 Numbers and percentages of female and male ministers of 12 governments in Italy (1996–2018) 12 Table 1.2 Numbers and percentages of female and male deputies (CD) and senators (SR) in the last 5 parliaments (2001–present) 14 Table 2.1 Absolute frequencies and frequencies for million words of the semi-epicene masculine and feminine plural forms of pediatra in itTenTen 65 Table 2.2 Absolute frequencies and percentages of feminine and masculine articles preceding the semi-epicene pediatra 65 Table 2.3 Absolute frequencies and frequencies for million words comparing the use of article + surname and surname only 67 Table 3.1 Speakers’ reasons for rejecting feminine forms in commentaries on a Facebook post shared by Il Corriere della Sera 99 Table 3.2 Scenarios investigating forms used and perceived as used by the respondents of the survey 110 Table 3.3 Absolute frequencies and percentages of preference, use and, perceptions of feminine and masculine forms by respondents of the survey 111

xvii xviii List of Tables

Table 4.1 Number of words and newspaper articles divided into mayors, newspapers and pre- and post-election periods 146 Table 4.2 Gendered forms investigated in the corpus of three newspapers, three periods and three female mayors 148 Table 4.3 Results of gendered reference forms used to refer to Giorgia Meloni in the pre-election period in three newspapers 151 Table 4.4 Gendered forms used to refer to mayor Virginia Raggi in CS, LS and RC in one pre-election period and two post-election periods 154 Table 4.5 Gendered forms used to refer to mayor Chiara Appendino in CS, LS and RC in one pre-election period and two post-election periods 157 Table 4.6 Frequencies for thousand words of marked, unmarked and semi-marked forms in the three newspapers 159 Table 4.7 Frequencies per thousand words of marked and unmarked forms for Raggi and Appendino in the post-election periods in the three newspapers 160 Table 4.8 Episodes investigated in the article published in Gender and Language of sexual terms used to attack or self-represent female politicians 166 Table 4.9 Number of politicians with percentages, number of interventions and words in the corpus 176 Table 4.10 Corpus queries used to investigate noi forms 177 Table 4.11 Absolute frequencies and percentages of politicians’ afliations with political and gender groups through noi forms 178 Table 4.12 Absolute frequencies and percentages of gender groups of noi forms used by female and male MPs 179 Table 5.1 Number of femminicidi from 2005 to 2016 provided by Eures and Senato della Repubblica 208 Table 5.2 List of parliamentary mozioni on the topic of femminicidio in the 2013–2017 parliament divided into gender, political party and political orientation 213 Table 5.3 Number of words of mozioni divided into political orientation 215 List of Tables xix

Table 5.4 Absolute frequencies and frequencies per million words of salient words in the mozioni corpus 216 Table 5.5 Multi-words with keyness score above 100 in the mozioni corpus 217 Table 5.6 Number and absolute frequencies of multi-words and percentages of content categories in the mozioni corpus 218 Table 5.7 Number of articles and words in the news corpus (2013–2016) and sub-corpora divided by years 227 Table 5.8 Single words, ordered in descending order, grouped according to aspects of the femminicidio in the news corpus 230 Table 5.9 Concordances lines of the node per gelosia in the news corpus 232 Table 5.10 Concordance lines of the node gelosia in the news corpus 233 Table 5.11 Multi-words, ordered in descending order, grouped according to aspects of femminicidio in the news corpus 236 Table 5.12 Number of newspaper headlines divided by years 241 Table 5.13 Analytical framework used to investigate blame in the headlines with examples 242 Table 5.14 Raw frequencies and percentages of headlines divided into ‘blame’ categories divided by each year 244 Table 5.15 Number of femminicidi, absolute frequencies of the term femminicidio and keyness score divided by years 250 Table 5.16 Naming conventions in the XML mark-up annotation, classifed by grammatical elements and examples 252 Table 5.17 Case tags in the XML mark-up annotation with functions and explanations 253 Table 5.18 Absolute frequencies and percentages of naming conventions used in the Sara Corpus 255 Table 5.19 Absolute frequencies and percentages of the nominative case in the Sara corpus 256 Table 5.20 Concordance lines of the nominative case in the Sara corpus 256 Table 5.21 Absolute frequencies and percentages of terms used to describe the female victim in the Sara corpus divided into categories 257 xx List of Tables

Table 5.22 Absolute frequencies and percentages of XML mark-up cases in the Sara corpus 258 Table 5.23 Collocations of the nominative case in the Sara corpus, presented in absolute frequencies and MI score 259 Table 5.24 Collocations of the genitive case in the Sara corpus, presented in absolute frequencies and MI score 261 Table 5.25 List of single words in the news corpus, presented in keyness score (KS) and absolute frequency (AF) 263 Table 5.26 List of multi-words in the news corpus, presented in keyness score (KS) and absolute frequency (AF) 265 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian

Giulietta è una zoccola [Juliet is a whore]

Tis insult has become a famous joke among football fans originating from a quarrel between supporters of Verona against those of Naples in the 1980s.1 Verona supporters frst attacked those of Naples with geographical racist insults (for instance, by wishing the volcano Vesuvius to erupt) and the aforementioned rebuttal moved the slur from racism to include sexism towards the Shakespearian character whose story unfolded in the Veneto city.2 It is my argument that such verbal attacks on women in private and public spaces are not coincidental nor can they be dismissed as ‘banter’ (as widely justifed in Italy and other parts of the world) but that they form part of a cultural gendered arrangement which has developed over the centuries. As with other sites which have been investigated in terms of gender, I consider Italy as a “fruitful epistemological site” (emphasis in the original, Sunderland 2004, p. 73), that is a physical space that can provide interesting and investigation-worth data. With the term ‘epistemological site’, Sunderland intended a much more limited space than the one I am proposing here, e.g. a Starbucks cofee-house, or a set of material data, e.g. texts about

© Te Author(s) 2019 1 F. Formato, Gender, Discourse and Ideology in Italian, Palgrave Studies in Language, Gender and Sexuality, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96556-7_1 2 F. Formato fatherhood; however, I believe this term to be a relevant one as a means of describing a more extended context, i.e. Italy, as a place which constantly provides fruitful data to investigate women and men. Te pros of considering Italy as an epistemological site lie in the theoretical underpinning of the term, that is the relevance and the rationale of the data selected for this volume, as well as the discussion of expectations (that can be either met or not) of gender in such sites. From the perspective of the cons, seeing Italy as a site might risk disregarding the varieties of experiences of women and men in Italy, some more positive than others, with respect to a gender (im)balance. In order to tackle the cons, I discuss and explain the contradictions of Italy in relation to practices that aim to disrupt the common understanding of gender (imbalance between women and men) as well as those that continue to promote the divide between gender groups. I cannot do so without frst presenting Italy and justifying to the reader why it is a fruitful epistemological site.

Why Italy: The Cult of Beauty

Gundle (2000, 2007) argues that from mediaeval times until the present, poetry as well as the arts have focussed on the physical beauty of women in Italy.3 Tis cult developed to reach all historical and art-related periods starting from Dante, for instance, in the work of the poet Carducci and the writer (and controversial fgure) D’Annunzio who dedicated his artefacts to the Queen at the time, Margherita. Gundle (2007, p. xix) recognised that: “[w]hile feminine beauty occupies some place in national identities in every country, the very long-standing high cultural tradition of preoccupation with it provides a bolster and a platform that are unique in the peninsula”.4 History has left a legacy about women which is difcult to abandon. Gundle (2007) suggests that Italy itself ended up being represented as a woman, in order to boast men’s devotion to the country (specifcally during the World War II), being “at turns a protective mother, an erotic ideal, a fragile maiden and an ama- zon. Each of these grabbed the emotions and desires and encouraged men in a passionate attachment to Italy” (2007, p. xx). Amongst these 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 3 roles, the mother is certainly one which has historical roots, as further discussed by Gundle (2007); the mother fgure was portrayed as having large breasts with the aim of reproducing the attachment of the son to her and instilling in the culture both a beauty standard for, and emphasising the biological role of women. While the physical imaginary changed throughout the twentieth century, with American beauty imposing its models (a skinnier woman with blonde hair), the perception of women as representing the domestic sphere never really changed (this is also discussed in Chapter 5 on femminicidio). Advocating Gundle (2007), I suggest that this had an impact on the participation of women in the public sphere (see Chapter 4 on how language is related in this respect) and refects “a profound sexual asymmetry in Italian society” (Gundle 2007, p. 266). In his chronicle, Gundle (2000, 2007) reaches more modern times, collocating Miss Italia, the show that elects the most beautiful young woman, as one of the ways in which the cult of beauty is perpetuated in Italy. Initially called La Bella Italiana (the beautiful Italian), the context was based on an idealised beauty that also embedded virtues proper to the domestic sphere, that is “the jurors were advised not to evaluate beauty as such […] but to choose the ideal fancée for their son” (Gundle 2007, p. 118). In other words, Miss Italia had to be beautiful but also attached to family values, the two main traits attributed to women in the country throughout its history. Te show was aired by state TV from 1979 (previously it was aired on radio) until 2012 when the show received much criticism, mainly from the former Speaker of the Camera dei Deputati (one of the two chambers of the Italian parliament), for being sexist and solely relying on the physical and stereotyped appearance of women. It was moved to a corporate TV channel where it is currently shown every September. Italian national and commercial TV airs not only Miss Italia, but also plenty of other programmes where women’s bodies are exposed, where female roles are limited to silent fgures at the side of the main (male) hosts, particularly in game and comedy shows. An Italian-Hollywood director—Gabriele Muccino—included young women’s pursuit of such roles in one of his movies (Ricordati di me 2007, Remember me, My love). Tis shows how entrenched in Italian culture it is the mostly passive and beauty-based roles in the media relegated to women. In relation 4 F. Formato to ideas about Italian women and, more specifcally women on TV, Hipkins (2011) confdently states that “women on Italian television are objectifed more frequently than on other European television networks” (2011, p. 413) and further suggests “[an]equation between female beauty, stupidity and sexual incontinence” (2011, p. 413). Tis obsession for beauty and its public exposition means that “the increasing presence of women is concentrated in visibility rather than in power” (Gundle 2007, p. 266). Tese elements are cardinal to understanding the position and the attempted re-positioning of women in Italy and is the object of my attention later in this volume where I discuss how women in politics are represented. I suspect that the country for the most-part, unconsciously perpetuates this mainstream view of women. Feminist pockets of resistance are emerging with an aim to change these perceptions, the most famous being the documentary by Lorella Zanardo a women’s right activist, writer and documentarist. In 2009, she co-authored Il Corpo delle Donne5 (Te Body of Women) where she exposes the humiliating role of women on TV. In the years that followed this widely-seen documentary, she engaged in a difcult conversation with those who are still attached to traditional views of women, by participating in TV shows and documentaries, meeting with students in schools and organising plays in theatres. Zanardo also participated in the documentary Girlfriend in a coma (written and directed by Piras and Emmott in 2012), highlighting how women, possibly afraid of losing men’s approval, never challenged the seemingly only role available6 to them on TV—that of the beautiful yet silent woman. Te internalisation of this role seems to have governed women in the public sphere of the entertainment, viewed as being at the disposal of men in the institutional public sphere, and as an acceptable way to see women. Guaraldo (2011) focuses on the objectifcation of women’s bodies on Italian TV, detailing the striking degree of chauvinism in televised productions from the 1970s onwards “in which the female body was delib- erately proposed as a commodity” (Ginsborg 2001, p. xix). Guaraldo (2011) also argues that there is acceptance of an implicit ‘sexual contract’ in which men’s rights over women’s bodies, institutionalised in marriage, are at the base, not only of a woman’s private life, but also of women’s entry into the public sphere, labelling this as 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 5 la politica del sesso (the politics of sex, Guaraldo 2011, p. 99). Tis mainly refers to the political sexual scandals, erupted in 2011, which involved Silvio Berlusconi—the then Prime Minister. Te public learned that Berlusconi was organising and attending parties (referred to by himself as bunga bunga ) in his properties and in those belonging to the state with (underaged) prostitutes and women, some of whom were later candidates for local elections (e.g. Nicole Minetti in the Lombardy Regional Council). While this scandal brought some women out in pro- test to draw attention to the entrenched sexism of Berlusconi and, more broadly, Italian society, other segments of the population did not seem afected by this and, as Gundle (2015, p. 101) explains, this “had rami fcations in terms of the reinforcement of certain patriarchal prejudices and analytical modes” (see also Hipkins 2011, pp. 414–415, 420–421). In this volume, I extensively discuss this a gender(ed) historically-led arrangement in both private and public spaces and I consider the resisting and perpetuating voices of such an arrangement in relation to language use.

Why Italian/s

In the previous section, I briefy explained the gendered historical and social background of Italy, raising awareness of a specifc understanding of positions held by women and men in the imaginary of the country. It then goes without saying that language is used in a variety of ways to reinforce, perpetuate, and re-validate this known imaginary, as well as language being employed or speakers engaging in order to contest, disprove and challenge it. Tis volume concerns these two functions— reinforcing and contesting—with the aim of demonstrating how a re-evaluation of language used is to be seen in the tension between the reproduction of the imaginary and the production of a gendered fairer society. Scholars have devoted considerable eforts to explain how speakers’ beliefs, mainly considered as a given, have posed challenges in the investigation of language. In this volume, I make room for institutional and media language but also for speakers’ opinions, usages and beliefs with the aim to explore the roots of imbalanced and sexist use of Italian. 6 F. Formato

In the sections dedicated to those who challenge the status quo of sexist Italian, whether it is in academia or in political and cultural institutions, I demonstrate how feminisation in language is prescriptively advocated from top to down. Tis appeals to some speakers but scepticism remains for (many) others. Tis seems to be another strong reason to investigate Italian: its speakers. At conferences I am often asked why neutral forms cannot be introduced, solving the controversy, for instance, between the feminine and masculine forms used for women. My answer concerns both grammatical patterns (as explained in Chapter 2)—to keep a similar structure we would need more vowels, but four out of fve are already taken (-a and -e, feminine singular and plural, -o and -i, masculine singular and plural)— and, more importantly, the conservative attitude of native Italian speakers (as discussed in Chapter 3). Speakers’ attitudes—some of which are reported in this volume—show that feminisation is seen as something artifcial (see the grammar debate in Chapter 2), therefore, a third way might be seen as impractical and can fnd no room in the daily linguistic routine. Undoubtedly, this—speakers and attitudes—form part of the fruitful epistemological site discussed above. While sexist language as visible in the language is less of a concern for English, what is very puzzling about Italy is the ferce resistance to fairer forms, understandings and meanings, as well as the veiled attacks toward the re-ordering of gendered roles. Similarly, perplexing is how femminicidio (a gendered crime that sees men killing their partners) is not always recognised as stemming from a specifc culture of women’s subordination to men.

Italy and Patriarchy

What has been discussed so far suggests that Italy is a patriarchal society. But what is patriarchy and how can we adapt the term to the specifc situation in Italy? I remember discussing this controversial term with my supervisor during my doctoral studies and having to refect upon its harsher or softer meaning: the former, that of “a totalizing system of oppression in which all men dominate women” (Walsh 2001, p. 17); 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 7 and the latter, which is how I conceive it here, is the subtle but accepted and promoted way to institutionalise the inferiority of women and their subordination within a ‘male as a norm’ order (through several linguistics and non-linguistic practices). Te gap between the two meanings is a fundamental one to continue to approach the systematic subordination and subtle exclusion of women in societies, such as the Italian one. One cannot say that institutions have not acted to counter the gendered imbalance, for instance the parliament changed article 51 of the Costituzione Italiana (Italian constitution) with the aim to create a fairer society and to guarantee equal opportunities for both women and men.7 Tis formal action did not, however, eliminate the substantial inequality which has historically limited women in both the public and private sphere. Te substantial imbalance between women and men is arguably, fed by a feeble political awareness (mainly endorsed by women) and what can be called a social and cultural idleness (of some women and men), one which opposes a change of direction and fercely stands up for and continues to impose a normative and natural order (see the section below on discourse to see how language operates in it). For these reasons, I argue that the term patriarchy is still useful and paramount to investigate social and cultural relations, as well as linguistic practices, in Italy. I am particularly interested in the seminal work of Walby (1990) on patriarchy; while her work concerns the harsher meaning of the term, defning patriarchy as “a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women” (my emphasis 1990, p. 20), theoretical underpinnings of my volume can be useful to explain the social and cultural idleness which undermine a re-balancing towards gendered equality, reinforcing the existing one. Among the six structures discussed in Walby (1990), I draw on two that they are relevant to the linguistic investigations conducted in this volume: patriarchal relations in cultural institutions (e.g. the media) and male violence. I also revise Walby’s term ‘public patriarchy’—i.e. patriarchy “based principally in public sites” (1990, p. 24) where the linguistic strategies adopted seem to aim at shadowing and subordinating women. Te softer meaning attributed to patriarchy also embodies the idea that it is not men as a gendered fxed category to rule over women, but is a ‘male as a norm’ bound culture, which is embraced by both. 8 F. Formato

Te shadowing, the subordination and the oppression become metaphors of subtle behaviour which re-positions women in an inferior or ‘interloper’ (Cameron 2006) position. Tis behaviour is realised within public and private spaces—e.g. the parliament, the house—and artefacts—e.g. in the media. To conclude this section, I summarise why Italy (and Italians) is a fruitful epistemological site: the nature of the language as an easy way to box women (as opposed to men) in fxed categories, language ideology as a representation of a cultural system and this system as a patriarchal one. In further support Italy as a fruitful epistemological site, I introduce the sites and the speakers I investigate with an aim to show, in several ways, the country’s social and political strata and how they form part of the language investigations presented here.

Italian Politics and Its Arenas

As language does not happen in a vacuum, I aim to contextualise Italian language and its investigation and give readers who are not familiar with the Italian context, the opportunity to engage with characteristics of Broad (e.g. politics, media) and smaller (e.g. the parliament) settings. Te settings discussed below, and the speakers, who operate in them, are relevant to the examination of gendered language presented in this volume, thus the relation to gender is introduced at diferent levels, i.e. participation of women and men, gendered meanings, representation of a gendered culture and society, etc. Te connection between these sites and gender becomes clearer in the following chapters. Why is politics and gender interesting? If I had to give a quick answer I would certainly say that it is still ‘a man’s world’. Te frst noticeable diference between how the exclusion of women from politics is seen in English and Italian takes us to the walls erected to/that prevent women from entering it. In English, the common expression is glass ceiling (the term was frst coined in the United States in 1984), in Italian, softto di cristallo (crystal ceiling). I believe that what was is fxed the translation in both languages are the properties of the two materials. From a scientifc point of view, that is the chemical properties of the two materials, 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 9 the glass seems to have a less structured texture than crystal, which, on the contrary, possesses a solid scafolding conformation. It certainly is a speculation based on the translation, however, it led me to think about a stronger systematic exclusion for women to attend to, engage with, and operate within the public sphere. I am not suggesting that the geographical areas where ‘glass ceiling’ is used as a phrase are less sexist and more inclusive than ‘crystal ceiling’ ones except that the structure of the impediments to real and full parity is possibly more malleable in the former than in the latter. In further exploring the terminology, it is interesting to see that southern western European countries all use the term crystal, i.e. techo de cristal (Spanish), teto de cristal (Portuguese) while Germany and France use glass, i.e. plafond de verre and Gläserne Decke respectively, possibly degrees to which women are excluded from the political public sphere in these countries. At the time of writing, the US was close to electing its frst female President in history, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the frst woman to lead the presidential ticket for a major political party8; the UK has recently welcomed the second female Prime Minister of its history (after Margaret Tatcher), Teresa May, in power from August 2016. In Germany, Angela Merkel became the frst woman Chancellor of Germany upon her election in 2005, being re-elected in 2009, in 2013 and 2017. No Spanish woman has ever covered the role of prime minister and only one woman, Maria de Lourdes Ruivo da Silva Pintasilgo, covered the highest role in Portugal. Teir political paths (whether attempted or successful) were not easy or exempt from sexist media coverage. I compare this picture with the political history of Italy where no woman has ever been nominated Prime Minister,9 one woman has, and only recently, been elected to be the second highest-ranking ofce of the state—the Speaker of Senato della Repubblica (the Chambers of Senators, also known as Senato), Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati. Only 3 women have been elected to the third highest-ranking position—the Speaker of Camera dei Deputati (Chamber of Deputies,10 also known as Camera )—namely, Nilde Iotti (from 1979 to 1992), Irene Pivetti (1994–1996) and Laura Boldrini (2013–2018). As for other countries, the entrance of women in politics has sparked debates, positive and negative comments, stereotyping 10 F. Formato and judgements of their competences, being still seen as ‘interlopers’ (Cameron 2006) and therefore ‘newsworthy’. Te public controversy that is undoubtedly fuelled by the female gender of the political candidates (in diferent ofces such as regional and city councils) is deep- rooted in a ‘male as a norm’ society for which suitable politicians are, innately, men. When thinking about other examples of women ascend- ing to power, I refect on the political support that the female politicians received. To be clearer, on the one side there are doubts cast on them and, on the other, discussions about their political merits together with the consequent and automatic contribution to the equality cause. In other words, gender is made relevant by other politicians, by the media, by the language used, and by the women’s political performance. In this volume, I discuss extensively how gender is made relevant through and in language, also in relation to female politicians. But what happens when gender is not made relevant? Have we fnally reached neutrality and therefore gender (women’s) inclusiveness? While I would hope so, I am sceptical about this, as in the case of Chiara Appendino and Virginia Raggi, mayors of Turin and Rome respectively (in Chapter 4, I investigate language used to refer to them). Elected in 2016, they form part of Movimento 5 stelle (Five Star Movement, M5S henceforth), a political (populist) movement led by former comedian Beppe Grillo, one that fnds increasing support within Italian politics (reaching approx. 25% of the vote in 2013 and 32% in the 2018 elections). Te gender-bias element seemed to have been silenced when Appendino and Raggi ran for ofce, further disregarding the advocacy of some sections of public opinion on the gender contribution that the two mayors-to-be were making. Tere were no ofcial statements made on Grillo’s blog (considered as the movement’s manifesto) or public interventions about women in politics. Grillo and other M5S activists have, on several occasions, used sexist language to attack female political rivals (accounts of which are discussed in detail in Chapter 4), making gender relevant and, making a traditional representation of gender roles similarly relevant. I frmly believe that the silence around gender is as strategic as the loud voice used against women. Silence and voice are indeed employed and disregarded depending on whether it favours or not, a certain political stance, party/movement and ideology. In other 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 11 words, I am drawn to think that making women visible in those cases would have turned against the predicted victories; it would have exposed the weakness of choosing women over men. Possibly instructed by Grillo, who also regulates the dos and donts of those in ofce, Appendino and Raggi never publicly spoke out about their role in politics as being within a ‘man’s world’. Tis neutrality on the topic is unconvincing. when seen within the context of other eforts to promote a diferent view of women in politics. As an observer focused on gender (and as a linguist who systematically investigates traces of social inequality), I often notice a double-standard with which the media and politics deal with wrongdoings of male and female politicians. In the recent past, only female Ministers were successfully steered to resign (3 in the Letta government, 2013– 2014) with no male counterparts doing so when they were similarly accused of wrongdoings. Likewise, the former Speaker of the Lower Chamber Laura Boldrini, seems to be have been a targeted recipient of hate (as widely discussed later in this volume, see Spallaccia 2017) with respect to the Speaker of the Upper Chamber, Pietro Grasso. Tis can be viewed as coincidental, or can be seen as part of the understanding of gendered roles in a specifc society. Feminist activists (among whom the group Se Non Ora Quando If not now, when?) argued that Boldrini’s and Former Minister of Education Fedeli’s positive and loud attitude towards the inclusion of women and other gender identities played a clear role in the political and public attacks they received. In order to provide a systematic view of women’s (limited) participation in Italian governments, I list below the number of female and male Ministers11 of the last 20 years. Table 1.1 shows the imbalance in the choice of female ministers in recent decades, female representatives in government being as low as 5.6% in the Amato II government, reaching parity only once in Italian political history with the Renzi Government (2014–2016, that is until Federica Guidi resigned following a scandal, and Federica Mogherini became the Higher Representative for Foreign Afairs of the European Union). Te populist government formed in late May 2018 appointed 5 female ministers (and 13 male ones): Giulia Bongiorno (Public Administration), Erika Stefani (Regional Afairs 12 F. Formato

Table 1.1 Numbers and percentages of female and male ministers of 12 governments in Italy (1996–2018) Governments (years in Female ministers Male ministers Total charge/name of PM) N % N % N % 1996–1998 Prodi I 3 15 17 85 20 100 1998–1999 D’Alema I 6 24 19 76 25 100 1999–2000 D’Alema II 5 23.9 16 76.1 21 100 2000–2001 Amato II 1 5.6 17 94.4 18 100 2001–2005 Berlusconi II 2 8.2 21 91.3 23 100 2005–2006 Berlusconi III 2 8.4 22 91.6 24 100 2006–2008 Prodi II 6 24 19 76 25 100 2008–2011 Berlusconi IV 6 25 18 75 24 100 2011–2013 Monti 3 23.1 10 76.9 13 100 2013–2014 Letta 7 34.4 14 66.6 21 100 2014–2016 Renzi 7 50 7 50 14 100 2016–2018 Gentiloni 5 27.2 13 72.2 18 100 2018–present Conte 5 27.2 13 72.2 18 100 and Autonomous Regions), Barbara Lezzi (Mezzogiorno, a name used to mean Southern Italy), Elisabetta Trenta (Defence) and Giulia Grillo (Health). Moving to the Italian parliament, this is a specifc site within the broad public institutional sphere. I have chosen it as the site for my doctoral research in light of the (increasing) numbers of women elected and the underlying male-oriented linguistic and non-linguistic practices which contextualise this space as a gendered—masculine—Community of Practice (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet 1998, 2007). I extensively discuss the notion and application of the Community of Practice in Chapter 4 while here I present the parliament as an institutional site where female and male MPs operate. Italy is a parliamentary republic in that the parliament is the state organ that legislates the civic life of the Italian people. While there can be cases in which the government approves new laws, the parliament—composed by two chambers—is the designed institution where laws are discussed and voted for. Te two chambers are named Camera dei Deputati (Chambers of Deputies, also known Montecitorio, its location in Rome) and Senato della Repubblica (Senate of the Republic also known as Palazzo Madama due to where it is located in Rome), they are composed of 630 and 315 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 13

MPs respectively. In the latest elections (2018), the MPs were voted for according to a mixed system (majoritarian and proportional) based on party lists, where they can only enter the parliament if they reach a 3% threshold, replacing a two-round electoral system, based on a majority bonus given to the most voted party (or coalition). Tis is an oversimplifed view of the most recent electoral system (called Rosatellum) yet a sufcient explanation of how the Italian parliaments elects its MPs for both chambers. Tere is also an age threshold: MPs have to be 25 years old to be elected to the Camera dei Deputati and 40 years old to be elected in the Senato. Tis is relevant when we look at the gender ratio with many women being elected in the Chamber of Deputies (and into politics) for the frst time as, because of their age, they had no option but to run for one chamber only. Te Partito Democratico (Democratic Party) is the only party that has established quote rosa (literally pink quotas also known as gender quotas) in its party manifesto, as well as the candidate lists for the political elections. As explained before, the topic of gender is not raised by the other parties, arguably refecting their lack of interest in this issue. I have already outlined that only 4 women have held the third highest ranking role of Speaker of one or the other chambers, despite female MPs having participated in the Italian parliament since the frst legislatura (parliament) from 1948 to 1953 (1.8% in the Senato della Repubblica, 7% in the Camera dei Deputati). From the frst until the current legislatura (XVIII) there has been an increase in the participation of women in both chambers. With a more specifc focus on the last 20 years ca., i.e. parliaments XIV–XVIII, I present the data in Table 1.2.12 If we look at the table we can see a reassuring trend, i.e. the increase of female participation in both chambers, yet it is desirable that, in the future, equal participation is reached. In the last 15 years, the number of female MPs has surged from 12.53% in parliament XVI (under PM Silvio Berlusconi) to 30.95% (PMs Letta, Renzi and Gentiloni) in the Camera dei Deputati, and from 7.69 to 28.43% in the Camera del Senato. In the elections that took place in March 2018, 35% of electoral seat were flled by women in each of the two chambers. In relation to city councils, Ancitel (2017)13 counts 1107 (14.6%) female and 6676 (85.94%) male mayors in Italy. Te overall picture could be used 14 F. Formato

Table 1.2 Numbers and percentages of female and male deputies (CD) and senators (SR) in the last 5 parliaments (2001–present) Parliament Female MPs Male MPs Total Camera dei Senato della Camera dei Senato della Deputati Repubblica Deputati Repubblica (CD) (SR) (CD) (SR) N % N % N % N % N % XIV 71 12.53 26 7.69 541 87.47 312 92.30 950 100 (2001–2006) XV 109 17.30 45 13.43 521 82.70 290 86.56 965 100 (2006–2008) XVI 134 21.26 62 17.91 496 78.74 284 82.08 976 100 (2008–2013) XVII 195 30.95 91 28.43 435 69.04 229 71.56 950 100 (2013–2018) XVIII 225 35.71 111 34.69 405 64.28 209 65.31 950 100 (2018–present) to explain why people might be more inclined to think that these ofces are gendered with regards to ‘male as a norm’, becoming a gendered (and gendering) imaginary about who is more suitable and competent in specifc workplaces.

The Italian Press: A Broad Perspective

Academic studies have paid little attention to the Italian press, while social media in respect of its relation to politics, have been widely explored (see Mazzoleni 2000; Vaccari 2011). Te Accertamenti Difusione Stampa, an institution that certifes the volume of newspapers sold, shows in its data for 201614 that, overall, the category of settimanali15 (weekly publications) sells more than that of quotidiani (daily press, the UK equivalent of broadsheets), with 25 (out of 43, i.e. 58%) of the former selling more than 100,000 copies in one year, while only 8 (out of 66, i.e. 12%) of the latter has exceeded this fgure. Tis is impressive if we think that quotidiani are sold daily and settimanali weekly. However, one has to take into consideration that some quotidiani remain geographically local and therefore have a more limited audience. Nine of the most widely-sold magazines seem to target women directly, as they talk about fashion and women’s issues and usually have the term donna (woman) in their titles (i.e. D la Repubblica 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 15 delle donne, Diva e Donna, Donna Moderna, F, Gioia, Grazia, Intimità, Io Donna, Tu Style ).16 Others possibly target women indirectly: these are magazines which contain either gossip and show-business news (Chi, Oggi, Settimanale di più, Settimanale di più e di più TV Cucina, Settimanale Nuovo, Sorrisi e Canzoni TV ), or TV guides (e.g. Telesette, Telepiù, TV mia, Dipiù TV ), the latter targeting those who remain at home, arguably housewives. ISTAT—the institutions for statistics in Italy—stated that in 2016 there were 7 million 338 housewives in Italy, however there is no data for casalinghi (househusbands), a term rarely used in the country.17 Having analysed the data for women and men who read newspapers (as a broad category) and the number who watch TV, I found that the picture portrayed by ISTAT18 shows that there is an almost equal number of people watching TV across the two gendered categories, that is men 90.4%, women 91.7%, (although there is no indication as to what time of day each group is watching) and a sharp diference with regards to those reading the press: 41.7% of women and 52.8% of men, although, again, there is no indication of what ‘type’ of press they each read. Tese statistics, and the speculations made on the gendered insights attached, could form part of how women and men in Italy are categorised socially and culturally. Te mere recognition that there are no weekly magazines that clearly and blatantly target men, contributes to my observation of a society that is based on a gendered divide (as discussed at the beginning of this chapter). In this volume, I interrogate the press in two areas, namely in the analysis of gendered language employed, and, when I explore how femminicidio is constructed. In other words, I aim to show how meaning-making is constructed within the relationship between the media and power, where the former—the media—can be seen as an institution of the latter—power. Here I use the work of Schiefelin et al. (1998), to contribute to my investigation of language as discourse, as discussed below.

Italy and the Gender Gap

Te World Economic Forum has published its latest Global Gender Gap Report in 2017.19 Te aim of this document is to assess “the progress towards gender parity across four thematic dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, education attainment, health and survival 16 F. Formato and political empowerment” together with new data about gender gaps in occupation. Italy ranks 82 (out of 144 countries, in 2006, Italy ranked 77) and while doing well in education and health, it seems to sufer on the side of economy and politics. Te data for labour force participation show that the ratio between women and men working stands at 54.3% for women and 73.7% for men. While there is no data that assesses the pay gap, the estimated earned income presents a further split with women earning on average 26,273 (US$) and men 50,682 (US$). Tis result has to be seen in relation to the sectors in which women and men work, for instance in the category ‘legislators, senior ofcials and managers’ women only reach 27.7% and men 72.3% (a smaller diference is presented in the category that groups ‘professional and technical workers’, 45.4 and 54.6% for women and men respectively). Specifc to political empowerment, the striking 0 for female head of state is accompanied with the 27.8% of female ministers. Te report suggests that there are no non-discrimination laws and there are more unemployed women (12.8%, while it’s 10.9% for men) and more female workers in part-time employment (40.3%; 16.2% for men). Women are also reported to work more (512.7 minutes per day; men 4531) and to do more unpaid work per day (61.5%; 22.9% for men). Te gender gap is also made evident in the number of days for parental leave, with women having 150 days allocated to them and men only one. However, I checked the website of the institution that deals with parental leave of those working in the private sector (IMPS) and it suggests that fathers (also of adopted children) can ask for a congedo obbligatorio (compulsory leave) of four days (even if not sequential, starting from 2018). Tere was also another option in 2016—congedo facolta- tivo (voluntary leave)—where the father could use the days of maternity leave which were not used by the mother (these do not apply to the private sector). Predictable stereotyping can be also seen in the data for graduates divided into academic areas, with women leading in the subjects ‘health and welfare’, ‘social science journalism and information’, ‘arts and humanities’ and ‘education’, and men leading in ‘business, admin and law’, ‘engineering, manufacturing and constructions’ and ‘information and communication technologies’. 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 17

Te scores for Italy (as well as the ranking) contributes to the exploration of a binary society, where history branching in society and culture has tended to assign role to women and men.

Gender (and/in Language)

Having presented Italy and Italians as the focus of this book (the Italian language is explored in detail in Chapter 2), I now proceed to de-construct the title of this volume with regards to the theories and notions which inform the linguistic analyses. I start by discussing gender, before approaching the feminist stance (and then, what is related to the study of gender and language), discourse and ideology in the following sections. While sociolinguistics initiated the tradition of investigating speakers based on their sex (the seminal study by Labov in the department stores of New York, 1966), it was not before the 1970s and, for its time, the ground-breaking work of Robin Lakof (1973, 1975), that the feld of language and gender was born. Since then, researchers worldwide— yet mainly focusing on English and English-speaking countries—have dedicated their eforts to the exploration of how language operates in relation to gender. Te 40 and more years that followed Lakof’s Language and Woman’s Place progressively raised awareness of the diference between the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’—the former linked to biology, the latter being “the social elaboration of biological sex” (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet 2003, p. 10). Te early paradigms—defcit (Lakof 1975), dominance (Zimmermann and West 1987) and diference (Tannen 1990)—primarily focused on the correlation between language and sex, as well as somewhat binary conceptualisations of women and men (see Litosseliti 2006 and Baker 2014 for a review of these paradigms). Today these paradigms are outdated, yet, in my experience, they still appeal to UK Under-Graduate students of the subject based on their ease of use when investigating gender (centred on a one-direc- tional link between the gender of the speakers and identifable linguistic features). Tis is not coincidental or unusual, and this volume demonstrates how language is still seen, and/or is used to categorise people 18 F. Formato into the two main gender groups. Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (2003, p. 15) argue that “diferences in what happens to women and to men derive in considerable measures from people’s beliefs about sexual dif- ference”. At that point in time—the early 2000s—research in the feld had already established a new direction for investigating gender and language; notions such as those of performativity (Butler 1990)—people enacting gendered roles within cultural frames, meaning that gender “identity is performatively constituted by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results” (1990, p. 25)—and social constructivism—the shift between what is thought to be biological to a less deterministic concept, formed, presented and promoted through history, societies and cultures, as well as institutions—became the foundations of the new dimension of the feld. In the years that followed until the present, gender was, and is, explored within the following areas: (1) Part of the multiple identity of a person (and therefore speaker) and linked to other identities; (2) Linked to other structural inequalities—based on, for instance, race—this defned as intersectionality20; and (3) Constructed by speakers or within specifc texts (e.g. the media, politics, etc.). Tese three advancements contributed to changing what seemed to be the only focus of early studies in language and gender—the who, men and women speaking diferently—to the how and what giving rise to studies which were interested in unravelling underexplored conceptions of gender, for instance, how a social category it is constructed, specifcally in legal, political and media texts. Generally known as the shift to discourse, studies in the feld started to employ a wealth of methodologies in order to investigate gender, among which conversational analysis, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, and theories such as Feminist Post-Structuralist Discourse Analysis, as postulated by Baxter (2003) and Lazar (2005), emerged. Nowadays, the feld of inquiry has joined forces with that of sexuality (indeed, the second text- book written on this topic is titled Handbook of Language, Gender and Sexuality, 2014, and the one now in preparation follows suit, with the title Routledge Handbook of Language, Gender and Sexuality ); both felds investigate and examine gender and sexuality from a diverse variety of angles, among which, language used by the speakers to construct themselves and others, grammatical and lexical patterns and, the category of 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 19 gender as constructed in specifc texts. My work attempts to provide an overview of how gender relates to these three areas, and how multi-lay- ered gendered and gender meanings are negotiated in daily language, both in the private and in the public spheres.

The Feminist Stance

It goes without saying that the aims of this volume are to provide a critical description and discussion of structural inequalities between men and women. Terefore, the theoretical underpinnings of feminist linguistics are here seen as paramount to explain how language operates and how it continues to re-establish the imbalance of gendered groups. Bucholtz emphasises that feminism entails “a diverse […] set of theoretical, methodological and political perspectives that have in common a commitment to understanding and challenging social inequalities related to gender and sexuality” (2014, p. 110, my emphasis). Tis commitment is foregrounded throughout this volume, via its diferent methodological tools, topics and discussion of the results. Starting from the excursus provided by Bucholtz (2014), I adopt and adapt the following strands of feminisms:

• Liberal Feminism, namely the eforts in establishing parity between men and women, granting full participation of women in all sections of society, mainly in the public sphere. While this was a concern in the 1970s and 1980s in the US, Italy still seems to struggle with women’s access, specifcally in roles traditionally associated with men, as shown above. Tis translates into the language with generic (and) sexist terms, e.g. freman in English (see Chapter 2 for the overview of grammar, Chapter 4 for the investigation of sexism in the media and politics). • Radical Feminism. Bucholtz (2014, p. 96) argues that, in this context, radical does not mean extreme but root, namely “the systematic and structural subordination of women or patriarchy”. Tis correlates with the study of the gendered crime femminicidio, as reported in the media (women killed by former or current partners) as an example of how messages that are reproduced, classify women as inferior to men. 20 F. Formato

• Material Feminism. Tis is the term that possibly needs more adaptation than the others. While Bucholtz (2014) emphasises the role of class and the Marxist infuences in explaining how this is connected to liberal and radical feminisms, I focus on “how ideological power is enacted, especially through institutional discourses such as the media, politics and education” (Bucholtz 2014, p. 98), more specifcally, concerning women in the domestic sphere, as well as their experience in a male-oriented public one.

Tese strands of feminisms are by no means the only methodological and theoretical ones that can be adopted when investigating language and gender (and sexuality). In respect of the diferent ‘waves’ of feminism, I faced a dilemma based upon the language phenomena that I investigate, as they pertain to the second wave of feminism, and the stance I take to discuss them. Mills (2008) explains that second wave feminism concerns the “language of women as a subordinated group” (2008, p. 22, my emphasis). In view of this, I change the preposition from of to for and about in relation to how speakers, the media and institutions attempt to, or divert from, creating an equal society between women and men, through language. Tis implies that the two categories—that of men and women—are somewhat fxed. While it is not my intention to adhere to this binarism, exploring language used to refer to women in the public, or to construct them within the private, sphere, seems to reinforce the boundary between the two gendered groups. Te adjective ‘gendered’ is here used to replace ‘gender’ with the aim of illustrating that, behind the former, there are widely accepted understandings about the roles, the functions, and the social positioning of men and of women. Tird wave feminism does not rule out the pre-constructed notions of men and women, as also argued by Meyerhof and Holmes (2003, p. 9), who support the idea that “no matter what we say about the inadequacy or invidiousness of essen- tialised, dichotomous conceptions of gender, no matter how justifable such comments may be, in everyday life, it really is often the case, that gender is ‘essential’”. However, the relevance of institutions (the view of the public sphere, specifcally politics) and institutionalised practices (deep-rooted language understanding and ideologies, see below) cannot be ignored in the study of Italian. Tis is how localised the study 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 21 of gendered Italian can be, which means that while third wave feminism deals with smaller locals (e.g. workplaces), I cannot disregard Italy as the epistemological site. Tis is not to say that there is no interactional power (Mills 2008, p. 26), as some speakers are able to voice the gendered subordination to which they are subject to in society, in the public sphere and through language. However, this interactional power is dispersed, disorganised and, at times, confusing, as my investigations show. Specifcally, third wave feminism sees “women and men jointly engag[ing] in the contestation and afrmation of particular types of practices and interpretations” (Mills 2008, p. 26) and, assumes that fairer language is the “results of the actions of all of the individual concerned” (Mills 2008, p. 26). In relation to the frst part of this book (grammatical gender), reforms in Italian in the 1980s, and a revival of these in more recent times, have not been able to target a wide audience and have experienced a backlash which, in my opinion, has harmed the cause (see Chapter 3 for a discussion on this). On this topic, Mills suggests that grammatical gendered languages are to be discussed and challenged using second wave feminist analysis (2008, p. 32), based on the widely accepted view that, in some of these languages, certainly Italian, “masculine nouns are highly visible […] and carry considerably more weight and emphasis than feminine nouns” (Hellinger and Bussmann 2002, p. 15). My feminist stance in this volume is also the commitment to use inclusive language in English, that is I avoid using masculine generics replacing them with split forms, when possible and mostly in female frstness. Te debate on discourse will clarify how gendered language re-constructs an imbalanced society.

Discourse

Discourse is a key term in linguistics and in other felds of inquiry. Tis renders it difcult to discuss under all of its theoretical and methodological underpinnings, some of which derive from philosophy. In this section, I try to review the main points that are useful to contextualise the work of this volume and to operationalise the linguistic analyses. Mills (2004) provides a comprehensive and in-depth review of the 22 F. Formato term discourse and of the history behind it. From this, I discuss the main points and expand on some concepts concerning how language can be seen as social action. Some defnitions tend to focus on discourse as the interaction between speaker and hearer (Leech and Short in Hawthorn 1992) or as an instrument of communication between the two (Benveniste 1971). Tis poses the frst challenge, namely, who do we consider to be the speaker in this communicative event? For this reason, my stance is to see discourse as identifying and making sense of the communicative event between the text and society. Before I return to the interaction between the two, I frst need to discuss the concept of text. Teorists have pinpointed the diference between text (e.g. oral or written mode, messages, utterances or sentences, see Mills 2004) and discourse; however, the understanding of linguistic units constituting texts needs to be revisited for the purpose of this volume. For instance, grammatical gender languages, as discussed in Chapters 2–4, can count, in most cases, on a morpheme to explain a wealth of social and cultural understandings about women’s and men’s positions. For this reason, my understanding of text goes from a small unit, as the one of gendered morphemes, to recurring words or meanings, as in the case of the investigations on sexist terms (Chapter 4) and femminicidio (Chapter 5), adopting MacDonell’s (1986, p. 4) stance, namely “whatever signi- fes or has meaning can be considered part of discourse”. Precisely, a text becomes discourse (on its own but also as identifed by linguistic analysis) and is social practice (Wodak 1997) when it reveals “meaning, force and efect within a social context” (Mills 2004, p. 11). In other words, discourse (formed by and within texts ) has an institutionalised nature, it is situated in the social, it is determined by it and contributes to validate its existence (Mills 2004, p. 10). Wodak (1997, p. 17) frmly contends that “discourse is socially constituted as well as socially condi- tioned—it constitutes situations, objects of knowledge, and the social identities of and relationships between people and groups of people”. From the same perspective, Fairclough (1989, 1992, 2001, 2003) agrees that language can be used to maintain the status quo. Discourse is the body of knowledge which is to be explored at the interaction between action (the text ) and convention (the social context); this emphasises the point that representations and constructions do not happen separately 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 23 from the ‘world’ that already exists (Foucault 1972). In this strict relation, the social (as the ‘given’ world in which texts appear) and visible discourses—namely the meanings, force and efects of the texts—are in dialogue, and in contrast, with, (possibly) less visible ones. Discourses construct and, with their re-occurrence, reproduce realities which are not to be seen as the only ones, but in opposition (to several degrees) to other possible realities, truths and authorities. Tese possible realities are discussed in this book, in terms of how using fairer, inclusive and balanced language could re-position women in an equal society; change the beliefs and the values of male-oriented language (and society), subvert the status quo (as discussed by Fairclough 2003), or, trans- form it (Wodak 1997). Borrowing from Foucault (1972, p. 49), I rely on the notion that discourses “systematically form the objects of which they speak” and, therefore, identifying these (through quantitative and linguistic methods) leads to detect ways of thinking of, and behaving in, specifc epistemological sites (as in the case of Italy, see above). Academic studies on discourse have taken into consideration the notion of power, as one of the ways in which language operates in constructing and reconstructing realities (as well as truth and authority). I do not wish to completely disregard this, however power is a concept that is difcult to operationalise and ‘dissect’ when investigating linguistic units. Tis is why in this volume, I constantly go back to a specifc form of power, the historical power (and its visible efects) assigned to men in the public and private spheres, and how this has generated a male-oriented institutionalised society. I return to discourse in the section on how this is linked to sexist language but now explain how I interact with the notion of discourse in this book. Following my Ph.D. studies, I have adopted strategies (derived from collaboration with my two supervisors) to systematically look at language and how it could they would construct realities; based on these approaches, I will now discuss how the discourses I investigate, consider the construction of realities from two points of view: discourses about who, and discourses about what. With the former, I am interested in how gendered groups of people are constructed through language (via investigations of forms of reference, job-titles, the second person plural pronoun) and, in the latter, how gender as an umbrella term for people, 24 F. Formato values and beliefs around it, is constructed (seen through an investigation of femminicidio, and indirect sexist terms). While there cannot be a clear demarcation between the who and the what, because both inter- textually re-defne each other, both explore imbalanced language (and solutions for it)—which could be addressed as the how—from these two main angles.

Discourse and the Media

A separate section is needed to explain how discourse is investigated in the media as it is the main type of data type used to analyse language. Parts of Chapter 4 and 5 are based on exploring the who and the what in media datasets. A lot of attention has been paid by linguists to the relation between the media and discourse, from the 1980s until recent times (Fairclough 1995, 2003; Fowler [1991] 2013). With the news being selected and then transformed (Fowler 2013, p. 2), edito- rial choices become practices and actions (which constitute discourse); News, undoubtedly, construct realities based on ideas and beliefs, some determined by the underlying views of the individual press outlet, and others conforming to existing stereotypes, in order to provide the reader with ways of understanding events and individuals in the world. In fact, “news is a representation of the world in language [and] it is not a value-free refection of facts” (Fowler 2013, p. 8). Tis is not to say that the news dictates the only way events in the world are told (to have happened), or exclusively provide ways in which people are described, but language already contains underlying values, and writers can, arguably, be considered as being “constituted by […] discourse” (Fowler 2013, p. 42). Keeping in mind the possible contestation of these meanings by some readers, and the un-coincidental re-occurrence of some linguistic patterns in the news, I conduct research using newspapers. Fowler (2013) also reviews the case of women in the news, suggesting that “gender is thoroughly encoded […] in the language used about women” (2013, p. 95, my emphasis) and lists a range of ways in which language about women has been investigated (generics, diminutives, titles and address forms, over-lexicalisation, among others). Fowler also suggests 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 25 that the persistence of some linguistic practices that he observed, did not seem to be attributable to coincidence but rather to a natural order of things that existed outside the news, namely society. To investigate how gender and gendered groups are constructed in the news, I am interested in grammatical analysis (mostly presented in Chapter 4) and in lexis (presented in Chapter 5), based on frequency (evaluated in quantities and observations) and systematic re-occurrence. For instance, I revisit the concept of grammatical analysis as discussed by Van Dijk (1988, p. 10), with the aim of investigating grammatical gender. In his book News Analysis, Van Dijk lists the ways in which discourse appears through language, explaining that the aim of grammar analysis “is focussed not merely on the possible but on the preferred or the typical grammar structures that characterise language use in such a form of discourse” (1988, p. 10). My investigation does not look at structures but at morphological choices, on the basis of those available in Italian grammar (see Chapter 2). To investigate femminicidio, on the contrary, I do not look at grammatical structures or smaller linguistic units, but focus on (re-occurring) lexis which are typical of the dataset chosen (identifed with corpus methods) or structures which are appropriate to a small dataset.

Discourse and Corpus Linguistics

In respect to the two main analysis Chapters 4 and 5, it is impossible not to mention the methods of investigations. While the analysis of sexual terms is based on a systematic qualitative analysis of episodes which have in common the semantic feld of the terms (precisely, sexuality), the other investigations utilise corpus linguistics. In brief, corpus linguistics is the investigation of collections of texts analysed through machine-readable software (McEnery and Wilson 2001). Scholars in corpus linguistics contend that this method provides a warranty for exploring, systematically, language in use, in representative, sampled and balanced corpora (McEnery and Baker 2015). Te choice of this method is to illustrate visible and less visible linguistic practices in use, and how these can explain Italian society, reproducing or subverting 26 F. Formato its status quo, institutional power and discourse. In his comprehensive book on the interaction between discourse and corpus linguistics, Baker (2006) discusses the advantages (and the possible issues) of exploring frequency of language patterns investigated, with the aim to expose discourses. He invites researchers to openly discuss their bias in relation to the investigations carried out and to explain how using corpus analysis, which is based on an arguably high number of examples and texts, can help to reduce these (2006, p. 10). Precisely, my attempt is to systematically provide analyses that discuss an observed and observable gendered arrangement in Italian society between women and men. I do not, disregard men, but focus instead on the gendered group which has suf- fered structural inequalities in both public and private spheres: women. Quantity of results, which tends to systematically hide or give specifc representations of women through language, is here used to prove that a “cumulative efect” (Baker 2006, p. 13) is a warranty for the discussion of that inequality and imbalance. On the same topic, Stubbs contends that the re-occurrence of patterns “are not merely personal and idiosyncratic but widely shared in a discourse community [and] may trigger a cultural stereotype” (2001, p. 215). I focus not only on quantity but, rather, use it as a catalyst with which to explore more language and cultural insights. Specifc corpus linguistics tools, methods, and the analytical frameworks built to investigate language patterns, are discussed and presented in the individual sections or chapters. Tere is also a glossary, at the end of the volume with a list of the terms, functions and tools used.

Ideology

To explain how I conceive the notion of language ideology and ideologies, I have to return to some of the concepts discussed in this chapter, starting from sociolinguistic accounts. In the section on the feminist stance, I argue that a third wave approach is problematic for this comprehensive study of how gender operates in Italy and within the Italian language. Tis is because an institutionalised and institutional patriarchy, where women are inferior (and reminded of this), 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 27 is still at the core of Italian society and culture. A country cannot be considered as a Community of Practice (CofP henceforth, Eckert and McConnell-Ginet 1998, 2007), i.e. a group of people who are together in order to achieve a common goal, and because of this goal, its members share several practices, among which are language styles and reper- toires. Likewise, a country cannot be considered a speech community, namely one that “comprises people who are in habitual contact with each other by means of speech which involves either a shared language variety or shared ways of interpreting the diferent language varieties commonly used in the area” (Mesthrie et al. 2000, p. 38). Both these terms—CofP and speech community—as well as what each term embodies, do not seem to explain gendered language. For this, I use and operationalise the terms ‘ideology’ and ‘ideologies’ to explain how Italian is used. Cameron and Shaw (2016) use ‘ideology’ to refer to folk and conventional ideas about language styles, perceived as being used (exclusively) by women and men and thus central to ideas of masculinity and femininity in specifc environments, in their case politics. Similarly, Cameron’s idea of language ideology concerns the problematisation of women’s and men’s language as being seen as separate to where these people operate, and separate to the norms of such operational spaces. Instead, I argue that the problematisation of gendered Italian lies in how language is used for and about women and men in relation to the given society. Research seems to agree that language ideology is positioned in the link between human beings and the social world (Schiefin et al. 1998; Johnson and Milani 2010). Milani (2010) argues that examining ideologies focuses on “show[ing] how linguistic phenomena are invested with meanings and values through the production, reproduction and/or contestation of conventional indexical ties between (i) perceived or presumed features, genres, styles or variety of language and (ii) broader cultural representations of their purported speakers in terms of nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, aesthetics, morality and so forth” (2010, p. 120). Tis applies to both areas of focus of this volume, and is refected in how the volume is divided: language for women and about gender. Te link between these is precisely ideology, practiced consciously and unconsciously by the speakers, who are able to justify their choices in relation to an ad personam sociolinguistic imagination 28 F. Formato

(visibile in ideological productions) in the case of grammatical gender (as discussed in the frst half of this volume), and by texts in relation to femminicidio (as investigated in the second half). Te production and, in some cases contestation, of ideologies have to be seen in the expression of a social experience by a group of speakers, as described by Heath (1989, p. 53). In this expression, the speakers (and the media) are argued to own self-evident ideas and objectives (Heath 1989, p. 53). In relation to this, Parson ([1959] 1970, pp. 294–295) argues that within ideology one can fnd links to “distortion, illusion, errors, mys- tifcation or rationalisation […] derive[d] from the defence of interest and power”. Tis point is paramount: by insisting upon using specifc variants of a language, or, by describing women and men in relation to gendered crime, the speakers (or journalists) are maintaining their interest and power or, as I argue, that of a loaded society, in this case a sexist and gender-imbalanced one. Philips (2014), in her account of power and ideology in discourse, argues that “the use of the term ‘ideology’ suggested that the dominant view was one that served male interests in keeping women subordinated, without women necessarily recognising that this was the case” (2014, p. 498). Similarly, Irvine (1989) con- nects ideology to moral and political interests. A reinforcement of moral and political interests seems to be at the core of the ideology adopted by speakers and the media who resist feminine forms, or, as in the case of the media and the crime of femminicidio, that reconstruct the divide between women and men in heterosexual relationships.

Organisation of the Book

I have already outlined that this book is divided into two parts, both illustrating how gender, discourse and ideology operate in Italian. Te two parts—grammatical gender and femminicidio—can be seen as com- pleting each other when unravelling the complex gender(ed) imbalanced culture of Italy. While there are diferences in what and who is constructed and how it is done, there are many similarities between the two, i.e. the hostile historical environment for women in both public and the private spheres. Both aspects have, in the past years, captured 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 29 my attention. Methodological and theoretical frameworks which I used in the past (Formato 2014, 2016, 2017) allowed me to explore language from these two cultural and societal angles. Tis being one of the frst volumes dedicated to gender and Italian from an applied linguistic perspective, I deemed it important to provide a critical and as comprehensive as possible overview of gendered language. Te grammar/grammatical section covers three chapters and the investigation of femminicidio is developed in one chapter only, shedding light on language used in diferent types of media or settings. Te arguments built in these chapters are based on previous studies and existing theories, some of which were adapted to explain the Italian language. Similarly, methodologies, quantitative and qualitative, inform the investigations. Te theoretical underpinnings discussed in this introductory chapter—feminism, discourse and ideology—are why I wished to write this book, as well as the reasons why I discuss grammatical gender and femminicidio. Trough these, a dominant discourse and ideology emerge and the need to revise them in light of feminism is made apparent. In Chapter 2, I provide an in-depth explanation of how gender operates and is visible in grammar. I also discuss two main distinctions: from the one side, the grammatical use of gendered morphemes and gendered forms and how they are motivated (Abbou 2011) in everyday language to favour a male-oriented society; and, from the other, a conceptual distinction between use—what forms are preferred—and availability— what forms are ofered by the language. Starting from an excursus of how gender appears (or does not) in a variety of languages, I move to discuss the many ways in which gendered sufxes are visible in Italian. Te novelty is in presenting a detailed overview of gendered patterns that are, to some extent, disregarded by the speakers (as discussed in the following chapters), e.g. epicene and semi-epicene. In this chapter, I also introduce the notion of markedness, based on the understanding that masculine forms used as generics, and feminine forms, only partially used when talking about and referring to women, are intrinsically linked to how gender is perceived in society. I also discuss other language phenomena which are socially gendered, as for instance, male and female frstness, the feminine article preceding names and surnames and 30 F. Formato the masculine indirect pronoun gli used as a generic. I have simplifed and exemplifed how grammatical gender is used in Italian for those readers who do not speak or know the language, and for those who are taught Italian yet with an oversimplifed vision of gender sufxes. In Chapter 3, I explore why grammatical gender is problematic. I chronicle some relevant documents, commissioned by political institutions, which represent attempted reforms into a non-sexist use of Italian (some, surprisingly, dating back to the late 1980s). I then move to the current state of afairs, ofering an overview of work done on the topic by linguists. Te third part of Chapter 3 is dedicated to language in action; precisely, I explain the point of view of the speakers on gendered language. I do so from the analysis of responses from a social media post as an example of observed speakers’ reactions; I then discuss a survey I conducted in 2015, outlining the intentions of the overall project (and whether they were fulflled), the methodology, and the results from a quantitative and qualitative point of view. In Chapter 4, I conduct investigations into how sexist and gendered language is used in the public sphere, that is how female politicians are referred to or talked about in the media and, more broadly, in their role as politicians. I explore the media, the parliament, and other sites where female politicians are constructed and represented, and/or when they construct and represent themselves. While the focus is on gendered language, each investigation presents a specifc aspect, from personal language ideologies to media and parliamentary language, based on a solid methodology (in relation to data collections and methods used). I explore a manipulation of the epicene term presidente, marked and unmarked language, sexual terms and second person plural forms. Tese contribute to build coherent arguments on how gendered language factually operates in society. In Chapter 5, I move to the second focus of this book, namely the investigation of femminicidio. To consistently investigate this social issue, I introduce gender in the private space. I explain how the term femminicidio has acquired a specifc meaning in Italy (and in some other parts of the world) and what this entails, starting from studies in soci- ology and law. Te study conducted on parliamentary acts intends to present yet another angle on how femminicidio is constructed. Tis is 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 31 particularly relevant in light of contextual information which informs the study of the media as well. Following on from this, I present the methods and the results of a single and multiword analyses (also keywords, Baker 2006, p. 128) in newspaper articles from 2013 to 2016. I dissect the news corpus in qualitative and quantitative investigations with the aim to systematically explore forensic narratives in the newspaper articles and in the headlines which explore upon whom the blame is laid. In the third investigation presented in Chapter 5, I explore language used in the media on a specifc instance of femminicidio, the murder of Sara Di Pietrantonio, one which arguably shook public opinion. I investigate the Sara Di Pietrantonio’s corpus with the aid of a XML annotation (Potts and Formato forthcoming) adapted to the Italian language. In Chapter 6, I draw conclusions based on the language investigated and discuss how more could be done to raise awareness of gendered language in Italy. I also revisit the crucial notions that have informed the analyses in relation to who, what and how, returning to discourse, ideology and feminism. In addition, I discuss the limitations of, and the contributions to, the felds of language and gender, sexist and gendered language, in Italian and media studies.

Notes

1. http://www.lundici.it/2011/05/giulietta-e-na-zoccola/. Accessed 4 May 2018. 2. While the rivalry (and the historical divide) between North and South still occupies the news, social media and everyday talk, gender (and its linguistic realisations) is a somehow niche topic which, as will be widely discussed in this volume, is mainly discussed by some of those afected (women) and which sparks resistance from other women and, broadly, men. 3. It is paramount to remember that here Italy is used as a construct because the unifcation of the country only came about in 1861. Terefore, Italy as we imagine it now has not always existed, except that visual arts and literary works which fourished in the geographical area of the country are attributed to its history and culture. 32 F. Formato

4. For an account of how the myth of beauty is meaningful world-wide, see Te beauty myth (Wolf 1990). 5. http://www.ilcorpodelledonne.net/english-version/. Accessed 2 May 2018. 6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v 5UZqT5aCY_E. Accessed 25 = October 2017. 7. Te original article 51 (as present in the ratifed Constitution of 1948) reads: Tutti i cittadini dell’uno o dell’altro sesso possono accedere agli ufci pubblici e alle cariche elettive in condizioni di eguaglianza, secondo i requisiti stabiliti dalla legge [All citizens of either sex can have access to public ofce and elective posts under equal conditions] Article 51 (pre-modifed), Italian Constitution. Te 2001 addition was promoted by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (at that time Governo Berlusconi II ) together with the Minister for Equal Opportunities Stefania Prestigiacomo and the Minister for Constitutional Reforms, Umberto Bossi. Tis referred explicitly to both men and women, that is A tale fne la Repubblica promuove con appositi provvedimenti le pari opportu- nità tra donne e uomini. [For this purpose, the Republic promotes, by means of special measures, equal opportunities for women and men.] Article 51 (addition), Italian constitution. 8. Other women in the history of the US since its independence have attempted to run for the role of President, including examples of female activists who ran or announced their intention to run at times when women did not have the right to vote, or the right to participate in the political life of the country (http://www.hufngtonpost.com/ rebecca-bohanan/12-women-who-ran-for-pres_b_11172668.html). 9. Prime Ministers in Italy are not directly elected by the voters, the party that obtains more votes, selects the person who starts the negotiations with the President of the Republic with the aim to form the new government. 10. Te frst high-ranking ofce is President of the Republic; and the second-highes is Speaker of the Senate of the Republic. 11. Te number of ministries is defned by the Prime Minister therefore there are roles in one government which do not appear in others. 12. Te number of female and male MPs have been taken from the ofcial websites of each parliament (http://leg16.camera.it/564?tiposezione C&- = sezione 1&tabella C_1_2, http://leg15.camera.it/deputatism/248/lista. = = asp, http://legxiv.camera.it/deputatism/248/lista.asp, http://www.camera. it/leg18/313, http://www.senato.it/leg/14/BGT/Schede/Attsen/Sena.html, 1 Introduction to the Study of Gender in Italian 33

http://www.senato.it/leg/16/BGT/Schede/Statistiche/Composizione/ SenatoriPerEta.html, http://www.senato.it/leg/17/BGT/Schede/Statistiche/ Composizione/SenatoriPerEta.html, http://www.senato.it/leg/18/BGT/ Schede/Statistiche/Composizione/SenatoriPerEta.html). Te numbers of senators change because the President of the Republic nominates senatori a vita (life-long senators). Accessed January 2017. 13. http://www.comuniverso.it/index.cfm?Sindaci_per_classi_di_eta_e_ per_genere&menu 243. Accessed 20 January 2017. = 14. http://www.adsnotizie.it/_dati.asp. Accessed 3 May 2018. 15. Weekly press, equivalent to UK magazines, some of which could be equated to UK tabloids. 16. Tere are no weekly magazines that seem to target men directly, i.e. in none there is the terms uomo or uomini (man/men). 17. https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/202202. Accessed 3 May 2018. 18. https://www.istat.it/it/fles/2014/11/C08.pdf. Accessed 3 May 2018. 19. https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-gender-gap-report-2017, http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2017/dataex- plorer/#economy ITA. Accessed 9 May 2018. = 20. Te term was frst used by an American Civil Rights Lawyer, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, who suggests that intersectionality is “[t]he view that women experience oppression in varying confgurations and in varying degrees of intensity. Cultural patterns of oppression are not only inter- related, but are bound together and infuenced by the intersectional systems of society. Examples of this include race, gender, class, ability, and ethnicity” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10572435/ Intersectional-feminism.-What-the-hell-is-it-And-why-you-should-care. html. Tis was then developed in studies in language, gender and sexuality. Accessed 5 May 2018.

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In recent years, scholars have begun to investigate romance languages, some examining them from a grammatical point of view, e.g. Italian (Fusco 2012; Cavagnoli 2013), French (Schafroth 2002; Burr 2002; Coady forthcoming), Spanish (Bengoechea 2006, 2008, 2015; Nissen 2002), while some others have focused on a more discursive perspective, for instance gender representation in job adverts and the media, e.g. French (Lipovsky 2014) Spanish (Bengoechea 2006, 2008, 2011b) and Italian (Formato 2017, see Chapter 4). Te most comprehensive work on gender and language is the three-volume collection edited by Hellinger and Bussmann (2002) which ofers discussions on and around grammar, perceptions and reforms in languages all over the world. Te concern of this chapter is grammar and its relation to gender in society; this overview acts as a base from which to discuss reforms and attitudes, as described in Chapter 3, and it informs the linguistic analysis undertaken in Chapter 4. Tis volume targets a world-wide readership, those who are speakers of a grammatical gender language and those who are speakers of a natural gender language. It is reductive to say that all languages can be inserted into either one or the other category, as there could be variations appropriate to each language.

Chinese, Hungarian and Korean are among the many languages that join English in the category of natural gender languages. In these languages gender is not made visible in the language through morphological infections but is indexical to the referents having diferent forms for men and women (Mills 2008, p. 32). In the examples below, I present a sentence as it is formed in natural gender languages and I indicate what elements are masculine, feminine or (possibly) neuter. English:

Female and male students were playing on the football pitch fem masc neuter while their male and female teachers were enjoying masc fem neuter the game from the terraces

In the sentence above—which I use as the sample sentence from which translations in other languages follow—students and teachers are neuter and, in order to mark them in relation to gender, the speaker has to add the adjectives ‘female’ and ‘male’. Similarly, as shown below, in other natural gendered languages, gender is specifed through adjectives: Chinese:

Hungarian:

Diákok [lányok és fúk] vegyesen együtt játszottak neuter fem masc a focipályán míg a tanárok a kilátóról neuter élvezték a meccset 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 41

Korean:

Tere are some considerations to make in regard to this sentence. While I present the versions of the sample sentence in these languages to show how gender would work in natural gender languages, speakers would have to have a reason to justify the use of the adjectives—in other words, why would unspecifed terms not be sufcient? Also, as I was informed by the native speakers who provided these sentences, some social constraints can make it impossible to see the translations as naturally occurring, e.g. in the case of sporting events or teaching staf where both women and men participate. Conversely, Spanish, French, and Portuguese (as well as other languages, e.g. Hebrew) keep company with Italian in having a grammatical system that allows the speakers to make gender visible in the language through lexis, morphological infections and syntactic changes. An example of this system is outlined below. One will notice that depending on the language, masculine and feminine are not marked exclusively in the nouns but also in the articles and/or possessive adjectives used; these will be referred to as satellite elements in this book. Italian:

Gli studenti e le studentesse giocavano sul campo masc masc fem fem di calcio mentre i loro professori e le loro masc masc fem le loro professoresse si divertivano a guardare la partita dagli spalti fem fem

Spanish:

L@s estudiantes jugaban sobre el campo de fútbol mientras double marking epicene los profesores y las profesoras masc masc fem fem disfrutaban del partido desde las gradas 42 F. Formato

As for Spanish, there are several possibilities, one of which is the method used above, namely conveying both gender with @ to avoid choosing either the masculine (los ) or the feminine (las ) when the noun is epicene (or double @ in the article and the noun for morphological gender, e.g. l@s chic@s, the young people). However, this strategy works in the written form but not in the spoken (Bengoechea 2011a, 2015). Another solution, which would sound natural to Spanish speakers would be to use the versatile masculine los (the same as in Italian, defned as versatile masculines below). Later in this chapter, I explain the solutions that the speakers could adopt to avoid ‘masculine as a norm’ (from within a ‘male as a norm’ society) and explain what other strategies Spanish speakers use, and whether such strategies could be a solution for Italian as well. French:

Les étudiants et étudiantes jouaient sur le terrain de masc fem football tandis que leurs professeurs et professeures masc fem jouissaient du jeu depuis les terrasses

In French, the satellite elements, the plural article les/the and the possessive leurs (their) in this example, do not have gender, while the nouns do. Portuguese:

Os estudantes e as estudantes jogavam no campo de masc masc fem fem futebol enquanto os professors e as professoras deles e delas masc masc fem fem masc fem estavam a gostar do jogo nas bancadas

In relation to the sample sentence and its translations, the Portuguese one is possibly the closest to the Italian version, having all gender-able elements as masculine or feminine. Tere are also other interesting cases, for instance, languages which had two grammatical genders in the past together with the neuter, then 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 43 evolved into having one common grammatical gender and the neuter, e.g. Swedish and Danish (see Pauwels 2003, p. 557). Danish:

Eleverne, spillede sammen på fodboldbanen mens deres neuter Lærere, nød kampen fra tribune neuter

Swedish:

Stundenter spelade tillsammans på fotbollsplanen medan deras, neuter Lärare, roade sig åt matchen från läktarna neuter

All the examples above in which I marked the gender diferences according to the nature of the language (with either natural gender or grammatical gender) show an interesting array of possibilities in making gender visible (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese), indexical (English) or invisible (Danish and Swedish). At this stage, I use these terms—visible, indexical and invisible—in relation to the grammatical form that gender is taking (or not) in language. I clarify that Italian (as well as other grammatical gender languages) has a gendered system for both people (and animals) and objects. I exclude the gendered system for objects as, while complex and mainly arbitrary (Corbet 19911), it does not pose any challenge in socially and culturally discriminating between the two grammatical genders. Abbou, in explaining French, asserts that “gender is arbitrary when it refers to inanimate nouns and motivated when it refers to animate nouns, especially to humans” (2011, p. 60, my emphasis). Te concept of motivation is an interesting one and is discussed in more detail later in this chapter, in the section dedicated to social gender. To anticipate, I will focus on nouns (and other forms) which refers to people, in order to discuss how they become problematic and, in some cases, sexist. Precisely, I widely discuss in this chapter how speakers can manipulate the Italian language with the (un)con- scious aim to produce or reproduce the social imbalance (as discussed in the introduction). 44 F. Formato

Grammatical Gender in Italian

Having shown the diference between natural gender languages and grammatical gender languages, I now give a detailed insight into Italian. Specifcally, the examples below, in singular and plural forms, show how the nature of Italian is central to the investigation of gender:

La mia amica si è trasferita a Roma fem fem fem fem Il mio amico si è trasferito a Roma masc masc masc masc My friend moved to Rome Le mie amiche si sono trasferite a Roma fem fem fem fem I miei amici si sono trasferiti a Roma masc masc masc masc My friends moved to Rome

As can be seen above, Italian as a grammatical gender language displays: (1) A visible reference to women and men using gendered morphemes attached to the root of the words (mi, amic, trasferit ) and (2) A complex matching of the satellite elements in the sentences.2 Te translation into English clearly shows the diferences between grammatical gender languages and natural gender ones: the former visibly specifying gender in the language and the satellite elements. Tese—i.e. articles, adjectives, past participles—contribute to indicate the gender of the people involved. At this point, we could assume that these languages being so gender-specifc might not be vehicles for sexism or for creating misunderstandings among speakers. It is though almost a paradox that Italian (and other grammatically gendered languages) are, in fact, highly problematic when seen through the lens of a masculine society. It is, precisely, central to this volume that the morphemes used to visibly express gender can be exploited and manipulated to convey a specifc idea about the gendered referents. In practice, while there would be no tolerance from hearers for an ungrammatical sentence—e.g. if the masculine noun would follow the feminine article (la [fem] amico [masc] )—a stubborn ostracism and resistance (as described in Chapter 3) is instead promoted in respect of job-titles, specifcally, those 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 45 used to refer to women in traditionally male professions where the masculine form is used (defned as a generic masculine, Mills 2008). Te sentence below, published in a daily newspaper, is an example:

L’ architetto britannico di orgine irachena masc masc masc è scomparsa lo scorso marzo fem The British architect of Iraqi origin died last Marchi iCorriere della Sera, Accessed 17/01/2017 Te gender matching of the elements in this sentence includes both masculine and feminine morphological infections to distinguish between aspects that are ideologically manipulated. For instance, the masculine is used to (re)establish the order of the social gender with regard to who is suitable to be a professional, specifcally an architect—i.e. men—seen through l’architetto britannico (the British architect[masc]); there is, however, no problematisation to use a feminine morphological infection, corresponding to the female referent, scomparsa (died). Te same, with a male architect referred to in feminine forms would not sound correct to any hearer, for instance:

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret è un' architetta svizzera fem fem fem morto nel 1965 masc Charles-Édouard Jeanneret is a swiss architect who died in 1965

Tis brief anticipation of what is thoroughly discussed later in this book is useful to link the idea of grammatical gender to what is here defned as ‘social gender’. Specifcally, social gender is a recurrent set of ideas governing the cultural arrangement of women and men, e.g. roles, functions within private and public life, stereotypes, etc. In other words, language needs to be discussed as an ideological representation of the world (see Cameron 2014) and as discourse (for a discussion of both these terms, see Chapter 1). In the following sections, I provide a comprehensive overview of how grammatical gender is visible in Italian. Similar to French (Abbou 2011) 46 F. Formato and other languages, Italian consists of three levels of grammatical gender: lexical, morphological and syntactic, together with categories that have no gender. I will use these three categories to illustrate the ways in which gender can appear in the language, before moving to social gender, as this pertains to how these categories (mainly morphological and syntactic) are mis/used.

Lexical Gender: Feminine and Masculine Terms

I start this excursus by explaining lexical gender, which can be defned as “the whole word has a semantic feature of gender” (Abbou 2011, p. 59). Similarly, Marcato and Tüne (2002) defne some words as pertaining to the category of lexical gender, for instance, kinship terms when seen in pairs (while they follow morphological infections as the ones described below for their singular and plural forms). Tese are gender-specifc terms—forms whose referents can only be male or female—the root of which is modifed exclusively in relation to singular and plural, for example: nuora/nuore (daughter/s-in law), genero/generi (son/s-in-law), sorella/sorelle (sister/s) and fratello/i (brother/s). Te terms donna (woman) and uomo (men) together with their plural donne (women) and uomini (men) also belong to this category.

Morphological Gender: Masculine and Feminine Infections

Violi (1986) and Marcato and Tüne (2002) explain that Italian specifes gender through a formal system of morphological infections, while Corbett reports that languages in which gender is visible from its form, are defned as having “overt gender” (1991, p. 10). Marcato and Tüne (2002, pp. 189–193) describe this type of gender formation—e.g. root + gendered morphemes—as nominal class with mobile gender, where precisely the masculine and feminine forms share the same root but have diferent sufxes, frequently ending in -a for feminine singular, -e for feminine plural, -o for masculine singular 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 47 and -i for masculine plural. An example of this is fglia/fglie (daughter/daughters), fglio/fgli (son/sons). In this type of gender formation, nouns with a masculine singular sufx -e can also be included, e.g. Signore/Signori (gentleman/gentlemen) and Signora/Signore (lady/ladies). Nominal derivation can also be found: 1. in agentive nouns with the same lexical root and sufxes (-al-, -aiol-, -an-, etc.) for both masculine and feminine forms (Marcato and Tüne 2002, p. 192), e.g. giornalaia/giornalaio (feminine/masculine, newsagent) derived from giornale (newspaper) plus agentive sufx—ai—and gender sufx (-a for females and -o for males); or 2. in nouns with gender sufxes -a and -e, e.g. la consigliera/il consigliere (feminine/masculine, the councillor), derived from consiglio, where the agentive sufx is -ier-. Other categories that do not follow the common morphological infections (-a/-e [feminine], -o/-i [masculine]) are nouns that have irreg- ular feminine and masculine sufxes, e.g. -trice and -tore as in senatrice (female senator) and senatore (male senator). In relation to feminine infections, in some specifc terms, the -a ending is replaced by -essa, for example, as related to royal titles, e.g. duch- essa (where duca is the masculine) and some job-titles, e.g. avvocatessa (lawyer). Te sufx -ess (duchess, actress, princess) in English and -essa in Italian, originate from Late Latin (-issa ) and were used as a derivative for female referents starting from the male noun.3 I problematise the use of this sufx in the following sections where linguistic gender is seen through the social lens.

Syntactic Gender: Epicene Terms

Epicene forms are those for which the sufxes are the same for both female and male referents, i.e. -e (singular masculine and feminine) and -i (plural masculine and feminine). Tey are described as having “nominal root with no gender-specifcation” by Marcato and Tüne (2002, p. 193) and as ‘gender-free’ by feminist linguist Sabatini author of the seminal leafets, commissioned by the government in the late 1980s (discussed in Chapter 3). Abbou (2011, p. 60) suggests 48 F. Formato that syntactic gender is, precisely, found in epicenes which establish gender marking in other elements, rather than the noun.4 While grammatically they do not seem to have the gender case (masculine and feminine), they do change the infections for singular and plural forms. Examples of epicene terms are insegnante/insegnanti (teacher/ teachers), presidente/presidenti (president/presidents). Semantically, they are similar to ‘common’ gender terms (as seen in Scandinavian languages above); they arbitrarily act as the gender of the referent is not meant to be foregrounded. In the sections on social gender, I discuss how these forms and those explained below can be manipulated by speakers.

Between Morphological and Syntactic: Semi-epicene Forms

In my journey to classify grammatical forms, I must also outline forms which are epicene when singular, and must be modifed according to morphological infections in their plural forms. I here defne these forms as ‘semi-epicene’ because of their nature of being in between syntactic gender and morphological gender. Tey end in -a in the singular form and, modify according to grammatical gender, ending in -i for masculine forms and -e for feminine forms. While feminine and masculine infections are possible for the plural, speakers tend to use the masculine to indicate mixed-gender groups (a phenomenon I defned as versatile masculines). Some examples of semi-epicene job-titles, mainly from the medical profession, are pediatra (paediatrician), dentista (dentist), anestesista (anaesthetist), while from other felds, we fnd artista (artist), giornalista (journalist) and the loaded masculine term camionista (lorry driver, see Chapter 3). Examples of semi-epicene modifcations in singular and plural are shown below: 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 49

Nello studio c’è un pediatra molto bravo masc semi-epicene masc Nello studio c’è una pediatra molto brava fem semi-epicene fem There is a good paediatrician in the clinic Nello studio ci sono dei pediatri molto bravi masc masc masc Nello studio ci sono delle pediatre molto brave fem fem fem There are good paediatricians in the clinic

Te examples above show the changes made for plural forms from unmodifed form for the singular. I explain how this is problematic in the section dedicated to social gender.

Beyond the Lexical, Morphological and Syntactic: Nouns with No Gender

Tere are terms which can be grouped in a category that, arguably, has arbitrary gender, that is they are grammatically feminine or masculine but do not refect the gender of the referent and comprise of both. Among these, we fnd terms such as guida/e (guide/s), sentinella/e (sen- tinel/s), ostaggio/ostaggi (hostage/s), personaggio/personaggi (character/s) and membro/i (member/s). For instance:

La guida turistica italiana ci ha portato a visitare il colosseo The Italian tourist guide took us to visit the colosseum

Even with feminine satellite elements such as la (defnite article), turistica and italiana (adjectives), we cannot infer that the referent is a woman, it could also be a man. 50 F. Formato

Markedness: Social Gender in Action

Having started with grammatical gender, as discussed above, I now move on to social gender, here conceived as the extra-linguistic factors that speakers (and writers) generally associate with, and attribute to, language on the basis of gender, e.g. stereotypes, and, commonly held views of the societal and cultural arrangements of women and men. Tis refects what Abbou (2011) refers to as motivated gender. Here I leave behind the theorisation of grammatical gender and move the debate to how language can be manipulated in order to create gendered meanings and sexism. I start with the concept of markedness and then discuss, in some detail, marked, unmarked, semi-marked and other categories in relation to lexical, morphological and syntactic gender. Te concept of markedness is represented by the “contrast between the unmarked (general, usual, non-salient) and the marked (special, emphatic)” (Clyne et al. 2009, p. 125; see also Sahoo 2002; Tannen 1993). Tese concepts—unmarked and marked—not only refer to grammatical forms but are also linked to language use within a gendered social frame. More specifcally, the general, usual, non-salient, or the “socially more valued form” (Coady forthcoming) is represented by, and within, masculine grammatical forms that are used for both men and for women; these are referred to as unmarked. Unmarked forms also function as ‘the norm’, while, on the contrary, the special, emphatic, represented by feminine grammatical forms, are here referred to as marked (Pauwels 1998, 2003). In relation to masculine (in grammar) and male (in society) as the ‘norm’, here I introduce some linguistic insights that can be useful when thinking about the overall structure of grammatical and social gender. Masculine forms seem to have acquired sufcient power so as to be considered the forms from which the feminine originates. In this respect, and in relation to my career as a translator, I have found that online dictionaries (e.g. wordreference.com and oxfordparavia.com) provide a translation into Italian only when the masculine form is inserted into the search bar. Tis signals that it could be difcult for non-native speakers to use or learn gender-specifc forms. Relatedly, unsystematic analysis of Italian borrowings in other languages, those that are neutral in the meaning but masculine in the grammar, similarly portray the understanding 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 51 of masculine forms as the ‘norm’. An example is the exclamative bravo (the root of which, brav, could be made gender-specifc), that comes from praising male performers as, arguably, throughout history, there have been more male performers than female. Te etymology of the term suggests that it frst appeared in Italian and French to signify “brave”, another adjective that was plausibly used to describe men. Another example of ‘male as norm’ is Aspettano un fglio ma non ne conoscono il sesso (they are expecting a baby [masculine] but they don’t know the(ir) sex), the use of the masculine fglio, possibly expressing the cultural understanding that sons are preferred.5 It is likely that the majority of speakers (native Italian speakers, and non-native speakers alike) do not think about where these masculine forms come from, and/or, how they have acquired specifc meaning in relation to Italian culture. I tentatively defne these phenomena as ‘universal masculine’ where gender-specifc grammatical insights have their force lessened and are replaced by common ideas concerning language, as suggested by historical circumstances.

An Androcentric View of Language

In Chapter 1, I outline the conceptualisation of the relation between language and society; what is seen as ‘language as discourse’ (Mills 2004; Wodak 1997). I discussed how language used to describe men and women, talk about gender, and language used by speakers themselves, can shed light on the structural and systematic imbalance between men and women in society. Tis imbalance can be seen within a set of “ideas, opinions, concepts, ways of thinking and behaving which are formed within a particular context” (Mills 2004, p. 15). While Mills (2008) relates this to masculinity and femininity in a broad sense, and, to self-defnition of speakers as gendered subjects, I am interested into widening the discourse to the representation of gender through grammatical patterns, with the aim of demonstrating a powerful systematic willingness to “leave the world as it is” (Mills 2004, p. 16) that is, gender-imbalanced and unfavourable to women. In relation to Italian, Violi (1986) argued that language use has to be contextualised within a speaker’s symbolic understanding of gender in society and its institutional public spaces. More than once across these two chapters, I have used the expressions 52 F. Formato

‘male as a norm’ and ‘masculine as a norm’, as a refection of who comes frst in the language. Tese expressions are based on an androcentric view of the world (or society and culture, see Cameron 1995, p. 13; McConnell-Ginet 1984, p. 124) where an endemic masculine bias has developed through the centuries (not only through language). Tis volume does not consider cognitive linguistics; however, one of the central points made in the feld, and in relation to gender, can be very useful in understanding how androcentric language works. Martin and Papadelos suggest that the systematic use of imbalanced (sexist) language can be internalised by speakers and be “hidden to consciousness” (2017, p. 40). An interesting explanation provided by Martin and Papadelos (2017), and previously discussed by Alvanoudi (2014), is that of ‘masculine as a norm’ as a metonymy, where masculine unmarked forms stand for the speaker’s prototype of the category ‘human beings’. If one thinks of this fgure of speech, and more precisely, metonymy as a ‘part for the whole’ (Martin and Papadelos, 2017, p. 49), we can understand how speakers conceptualise, through a known frame of experience, their understanding of the world. Men, from their historical superior positioning, have become the ‘ideal’ and the ‘salient member’ of the category ‘human beings’ (this is particularly visible in expressions where masculine terms are used as generics, e.g. where ‘man’ or ‘men’ replace ‘human’ to include the whole population in English as well as in Italian, where uomo or uomini is used to mean umani ). Women are therefore hidden and inferior in this order and this is recon- structed in the language used by the speakers, consciously and unconsciously. Te relationship between language, discourse and society here is clear; starting from this, I now discuss sexism and its various forms, before proceeding to explain how this operates within the language used.

Sexism in Language

In brief, sexism is discriminating against someone on the grounds of their sex “based on assumptions that women are both diferent from and inferior to men” (Talbot 2010, p. 224). As shown above, this discrimination does not happen in a vacuum but “just like racism and other discriminatory forms of language, stems from larger societal forces, wider institutionalised inequalities of power and ultimately, 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 53 therefore, confict over who has the rights to certain positions and resources” (Mills 2008, p. 1). Tere is a distinction to make with regard to sexism, namely the diference between ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’. Direct (or overt) sexism (Mills 2008) is conceptualised as detrimental language that is visible in linguistic forms (in Italian also through morphological infections, in English through the lexis, e.g. chairman used for women). Indirect sexism (Mills 2008), also defned as ‘new sexism’ (Benwell 2007), ‘subtle sexism’ (Lazar 2005) and ‘retro-sexism’ (Williamson 2003), is more complex as it is not visible in the language but builds meanings that presuppose the diference between women and men, where the former is inferior to the latter. Mills (2008) convincingly shows that indirect sexism occurs through humour—e.g. jokes about women (see Tielemann 2011 for jokes in Russian)—presupposi- tions—e.g. so, have you women fnished gossiping? (Mills 2008, p. 145)— and conficting messages, scripts, metaphors and collocations (some of which are shown in Chapter 4). One main point to note is Mill’s argument about the relation between direct and indirect sexism. She explains that indirect sexism, in a way, replaces direct sexism in English- speaking countries where this is “seen as anachronistic” (Mills 2008, p. 135). She also admits that grammatical gender languages, however, are still battling direct sexism; this reproduces the struggles I faced when contexualising my work in the diferent waves of feminism. Studies on direct sexism in English were mainly carried out in the 1980s and early 90s (Hamilton 1991; Hamilton and Hanley 1982). Hamilton (1991) posits that generic masculines (what I here refer to as unmarked masculine), are the most blatant form of direct sexism in English because they “are ambiguous, exclusionary and even detrimental […], lead[ing] to male-biased mental imaginary in both the com- municator and the audience” (1991, p. 394). In investigating these, Pauwels (2003) shows that, in Australian English, their use declined and gender-inclusive strategies were adopted (e.g. chairperson replaced chairman ). Similarly, Earp (2012) investigated three datasets to explore whether generic masculine had increased or decreased. In the scholarly archive JStor (1970–2000), he found that, over time, the term mankind had decreased (in favour of humankind which increased) and the split form he or she sharply increased. In a corpus made of New York Times 54 F. Formato articles (covering the period 1970–2000) and in the replication of a previous study (Meyers 1990) on speaker’s use of generic masculines (this conducted in 2008), Earp found similar results. He concludes his paper by suggesting that seeing the disappearance of generics from language was long overdue (Earp 2012, p. 16). In English, it might be easier to erase such diferences but it is possibly more difcult in grammatical gender languages (as shown here), and specifcally in Italian, where society and speakers seem not to evaluate how sexist language can be (as discussed in Chapter 3). However, is English completely free from direct sexism? Baker (2010) suggests that neutral terms—e.g. fre brigade (replacing freman) and police ofcer (replacing policeman)—are mostly used in public institutions which have adopted guidelines for fairer language, while the private sector, in some instances, sees less neutral language (e.g. chairperson replacing chairman ). Some concerns are also raised as to the possibility that chairperson is used to refer to women and chairman to men. Similarly, Pauwels (2003) shows that Ms is used in Australian English, providing an alternative for Miss or Mrs, but speakers would tend to think that those who prefer this form are divorced, separated, widowed or in de facto (same-sex) relationships. Indeed, the term Ms can also lead to the (sometimes judgemental) assumption that the recipient of the term is a feminist. In Chapter 3, I provide a discussion on language reforms and explain how these were conducted in Italy, together with the efects they produced in the understanding and use of grammatical gender. In the following sub-sections, I investigate in more detail how language is used to mask and unmask social meanings embodied in grammatical choices.

Gendered Language Through the Social Gender Lens

As for the categorisation provided for grammatical gender, I here use an adapted one to explain how the manipulation of grammatical forms can occur in practice. I start by discussing semantic gendered pairs, I continue by discussing morphological gendered infections and then explain syntactic gender. Finally, I present some gendered linguistic 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 55 phenomena which occur in Italian. Tese gendered ways of using language have at their core the idea that gender is motivated (Abbou 2011) to oppose the arbitrary that is indeed used with inanimate objects. It is in this motivation that I intend to unfold social realities, truths and discourse. Te notions and contents discussed above (markedness, sexist language, androcentrism) form part of the conceptualisation of the gendered linguistic phenomena investigated below.

From Lexical to Semantic Gendered Terms

Lexical gender in grammatical gender originates from the etymology of the language; the gendered terms described here have visible diferent terms for women and men but more importantly, they have diferent meanings related to how gender is perceived in society. Tis is why I change the grammatical category of lexical gender into a society-based category of semantic gender. In this category, I include terms which are diferent for women and men (in the linguistic forms and their meanings), and terms which exist for women or for men but do not exist for the gender counterpart. Possibly, the most commonly used example of this would be zitella (spinster) and scapolo (bachelor). Similar to English, the word that refers to a woman indicates somebody who is old and has not found a partner, and thus has derogatory connotations. Te counterpart, scapolo, refers to a man who, regardless of his age, is not married. Te masculine term is not derogatory and is defned in the Treccani dictionary as “sciolto da ogni vincolo, da ogni rapporto di dipendenza”6 (free from any bond, any relationship of dependence). Other dictionaries present similar denotations. Baker (2008, 2014) investigated the collocations (terms which regularly accompany other words) of the English corre- spondences spinster and bachelor, and found similar social stereotypes (e.g. spinsters being older women). Other terms, more specifcally insults, have the feminine form but do not have ‘corresponding’ masculine forms, e.g. puttana, troia, mignotta (Italian, regional words for slut). Such insults all tend to foreground what is seen as the promiscuous private life of women, as will be discussed in Chapter 4. 56 F. Formato

Unmarked Masculines

Masculine forms used for women (and, not exclusively, for men) are labelled unmarked masculines as they reproduce the idea of what is perceived as ‘known’ (Pauwels 1998), and the metonymy ‘men as the ideal member’ of the category ‘human beings’ (Martin and Papadelos 2017). It goes without saying that if these forms are employed to refer to, talk about, and to address male referents, we do not discuss instances of sexist or unfair language. However, the problematisation of masculine forms comes into being when they are (either purposively or less consciously) used for women. When masculine forms are used to refer to, address, and talk about women, one can argue that (intentionally or not), they have the tendency to conceal the fact that it is a woman operating in what is deemed to be, and/or accepted as, a male role, thus diminishing their position and their contribution in the workplace, and refecting their lesser role in society or, more broadly speaking, their societal roles (Pauwels 1998, 2003; Sunderland 2004). For instance, the unmarked masculine term Ministro (Minister) is particularly interesting in relation to the increasing participation of women in government and is subject to further discussion later in this volume when, in Chapter 4, I review a systematic study of the term in a corpus of 32,000,000 words (Formato 2016). Te ofcial website of the Italian government7 still addresses female ofcers with the unmarked masculine Ministro. Interestingly, the same website used the feminine Sottosegretaria for Maria Elena Boschi, the under-secretary of the Gentiloni government (2016–2018), but not for the other female under-secretaries of specifc ministries. Tis is not the only example: unmarked masculines are widely used to talk about/refer to women. For instance, on the website of a weekly TV panel show, Che tempo che fa, the female army doctor being interviewed, Letizia Valentino, is announced with the unmarked form capitano (captain), and semi-marked form donna militare8 (lady military ofcer). Similarly, RAI (the Italian State TV) has recently advertised a TV series titled Il Capitano Maria (Te Captain [masc] Maria), likewise, referring to a main character who is a female captain. 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 57

Tere are many unmarked masculine forms that are constantly used in the media, as well as on institutional websites, to refer to women, and those discussed above are just a representative sample. It is easier to recognise whether a noun is used as an unmarked masculine when there is only one referent, i.e. in its singular version, as plural versions might be attributed to refer to mixed-gender groups (this described as versatile masculine). However, unmarked masculines seem also to be used to refer to a group of women, as in the case below:

Sarebbero state medici, ingegnieri, insegnanti. fem unmarked unmarked epicene masc masc They would have been doctors, engineers and teachers

In this example from the Hufngton Post,9 the job-titles (medici/doctors, ingegneri/engineers) are used in masculine plural forms to refer to 7 young women who died in an accident in Spain (insegnanti/teachers is an epicene). Interestingly, the sentence seems to be gender-specifc in the case of the past participle—state [fem] (been)—yet not in the aforementioned professional roles, as they subscribe to the notion of ‘masculine as a norm’. Unmarked masculine forms can be seen as a linguistic ‘habit’, one that speakers are not ready or willing to modify, possibly ignoring that these forms reproduce direct sexism (see the speaker’s perspective in Chapter 3). In fact, it cannot be a coincidence that unmarked masculines are used to refer to and address women only in traditionally male professions, while feminine terms are, unproblematically, used in traditionally feminine working environments (e.g. infermiera/nurse). Tus, unmarked masculines problematise the notion of ‘male as a norm’ through the use of ‘masculine as a norm’. Based on this account, in Chapter 4, I investigate sindaco/sindaca (mayor) when referring to female mayors. 58 F. Formato

Versatile Masculines

Another interesting case is when mixed-gender groups are referred to, addressed or talked about, with plural masculine infections, here referred as versatile masculines (I prefer this term to ‘inclusive’ used in Formato (2014); ‘inclusive’ would in fact express a sort of solidarity). For instance, professional titles, used for mixed-gender groups, carry the masculine plural infections, e.g. i consiglieri (the councillors). Similarly, the website of the Italian government introduces the list of ministers with versatile masculines i Ministri e i sottosegretari10 (the Ministers and the under-secretaries). Language used to describe mixed-gender groups is also problematic in relation to satellite elements. Sabatini (1986) suggests that we choose the infections which should include men and women in a mixed-gender group, in relation to the highest number of gender referents, as shown in this second sentence below (with the frst representing the more common and employed form):

Carla, Maria, Francesca, Giacomo e Sandra sono arrivati stamattina versatile masc Carla, Maria, Francesca, Giacomo e Sandra sono arrivate stamattina fem Carla, Maria, Francesca, Giacomo and Sandra have arrived today

Tis can be achieved if the gender of the referents is clear, but it is impossible to identify if both the nouns that collect the referents and the satellite elements are in the masculine versatile forms, as in this example taken from the newspaper Il Corriere della Sera11:

Sono 411 i docenti di Ingegneria, Architettura e Chimica versatile versatile masc masc fniti sotto inchiesta in tutta Italia versatile masc 411 lecturers of Engineering, Architecture and Chemistry across Italy are under investigation 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 59

Tere is no indication whether these lecturers are all men and we can only speculate about the gender of who is being referred to. Undeniably, this strategy fts within the economy of the language, where for instance, gender split forms (investigated below) could be seen as redundant and obsolete, as in Sono 411 i e le docenti di Ingegneria, Architettura e chimima fniti e fnite sotto inchiesta in italia, where both masculine and feminine forms are used.

Marked Feminines

Following the discussion of masculine forms, I now discuss marked feminine terms. Feminine terms are seen as marked as they highlight ‘the unknown’ (Pauwels 1998, 2003) in the markedness model and, in some cases are thought to derive from masculine forms (rather than having their own originality). Sabatini (1986, 1987, 1993), Fusco (2012) and myself (2014, 2016), together with political fgures such as Parliamentary Speaker Laura Boldrini, advocate the use of feminine forms as a means to (re-)claim the new positioning of women in institutional public spaces. Here we all seem to agree that using feminine forms can contribute to a reorganisation of a masculine-exclusive society, and, hopefully, can lead to the acceptance of a new order, one which includes women in high-ranking jobs. From a diferent perspective, I cannot exclude that feminine forms can also be used to somehow mark the gender of the person while also entailing competences (specifcally, a lack thereof), professional stereotypes and the in/ability to operate in new spaces, e.g. politics (as discussed in Chapters 3 and 4). In my published work on the feminine Ministra (Formato 2016), I found that the term is used in a lesser proportion than the statistically signifcant unmarked masculine (Ministro) and is used less ‘ofcially’. Namely, it is used as a reference form that anaphorically refers back to unmarked masculines. Te collocations used with this term also con- strain it within a specifc understanding of women, i.e. physical, geographical and specifc competence adjectives are used with it (diferently from the unmarked masculine which, for the same ministers, is used with other specifc, and men-related, competence markers). I defne the possibility that marked feminine are used to undermine women (instead 60 F. Formato of giving them equality) as derogative re-semantisation (an explanation is provided in Chapter 4). In relation to specifc feminine forms, I previously introduced another category that is often disregarded, e.g. sufxes -a or -essa. I believe that this is one of those cases in which asymmetry is realised within the realm of marked forms. In the study by Merkel et al. (2012), while the speakers interviewed said they preferred the unmarked masculine—avvocato/lawyer—for female professionals, an interesting debate sparked around the two feminine forms, i.e. avvocatessa and avvocata. Te interviewees refer to avvocatessa as the ‘traditional’ and avvocata as the ‘modern’ form of feminisation. Furthermore, they deemed that the ending -essa is not as authoritative, carrying a loss of status, while the ‘modern’ form of feminisation (avvocata ) is seen as ungrammatical yet carrying a higher social status when compared to avvocatessa. Tere are other alternatives, one, for instance, cannot exclude that, even when feminine forms are used, they do not necessarily correspond to the meanings associated to the masculine ones. I include them here as the root of the words is the same; however, because of their asymmetry they could also be included in semantic gender. Among the examples discussed by Sabatini (1987), Signorina and signorino is an example. Te former is used to address an unmarried woman (in English, Miss) and the latter to describe someone (male) who acts in a snobbish manner. Asymmetry, in respect of gendered terms, is a signifcant example which lies between direct and indirect sexism and which transcends the language—grammatical gender—with the aim of reproducing and/or constructing an imbalanced society—social gender.

Semi-marked Forms

In this section, I deal with some specifc usages of gendered terms and satellite elements. Tese forms are rare, yet still used. Semi-marked forms appear in diferent forms and tend to describe a middle ground between marked feminine and the traditional use of unmarked masculines. I outline below the diferent options, bearing in mind that these forms are more likely to happen as unmarked masculines, in traditionally male working environments, 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 61 e.g. politics. Tey occur when the unmarked masculine is preceded by: (1) feminine grammatical satellite elements—articles, past participles—e.g. la Ministro; (2) feminine marital status—e.g. Signora [Mrs] Ministro (Formato 2014); and (3) adjacent feminine forms, e.g. candidata [feminine] sindaco (as discussed in Chapter 4). Tey can also occur in compound forms, as for instance, when the use of a masculine noun (or job-title) is followed by donna (woman), e.g. ministro donna (lady minister), sindaco donna (lady mayor), ingegnere donna (lady engineer). A third option is when an epicene job-title, which would not require a gender-specifcation other than in the satellite elements, is followed by donna, for instance, giudice donna (lady judge), vigile donna (lady trafc ofcer).12 Based on how male roles in society are seen, semi-marked forms do not occur for men, for instance speakers would not say giudice uomo (man judge) or ministra uomo (minister [fem] man). Among the reasons why semi-marked forms are sometimes used, I propose that: (1) it may show the speaker’s acknowledgment of the need for fairer forms, or (2) an indecisiveness to choose between unmarked masculine forms—grammatically problematic—and marked feminine forms—not widely accepted and seen as controversial. One cannot rule out that another option is the speaker’s lack of knowledge of feminine forms (as shown in Chapter 3).

Gender Split Forms

In Formato (2014), I defned split forms as those in which both feminine and masculine terms appear, as in the example below:

I lavoratori e le lavoratrici si sono masc masc fem fem riuniti nella hall dell’azienda Versatile masc The male and female employees have gathered in the foyer of the company

Gender split forms are one way in which versatile masculines could be avoided (at least at the level of the noun, while other satellite elements as 62 F. Formato in this case riuniti stay problematic). Teir use could solve the problem of shadowing women within versatile masculines; however, as yet, gender split forms are infrequently used and are not widely seen as an alternative, possibly due to the economy of the language. In my view, these forms have some advantages; while I do not agree that they should be intended as feminisation, I support Pauwels (2003, p. 555) when she suggests that they contribute to a symmetricalisation where the feminine (as this is usually the form that is added) explicitly acquires an equal status to the masculine counterpart. Te positive aspect—eliminating or rather diminishing sexism within language—is counterbalanced by the grammatical constraints that are contained within grammatical gender languages. For instance, the possibility discussed on the past participle used in the versatile masculine, i.e. riuniti (gathered), as seen in the example above. Similarly, other satellite elements could be problematic, for instance matching adjectives. While I believe that this method should be adopted by speakers and writers, I accept and acknowledge that resistance to this change may be stronger than for other changes. With the aid of Sketch Engine (Kilgarrif et al. 2014) and the corpus itTenTen (2,588,873,046 words), I searched for some superfcial evidence of split forms and found that the split form lavoratori e lavoratrici (male and female workers) appears 2018 times (0.70 per 1 million words), while the (likely) versatile masculine, lavoratori, appears 467,614 times (152 per 1 million words). A similar pattern occurs for the split form ministri e ministre (male and female ministers) which appears only 25 times (0.01 per 1 million words), while a higher frequency is found for ministri, that is 173,953 times (56.50 per 1 million words). It is possible that all pairings might reproduce this pattern, not only in traditionally male jobs but also in other domains, e.g. ragazzi and ragazze (boys and girls), where ragazzi could be a versatile masculine that describes a mixed-gender group.

Male and Female Firstness

While not focussing on gender split forms as such, Baker (2014, p. 103) discusses a phenomenon that tangentially concerns gender split forms, referred to as ‘male frstness’. In practice, this occurs when the masculine form (in its singular or plural form) appears in frst position in a 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 63 masculine–feminine pair. We are here assuming that split forms are used and that a subsequent step in avoiding sexism, or re-thinking the gender order in language, is taking place. Male frstness is widely thought of as unproblematic, however, I see it is as part of the ‘male as norm’ framework which, as evident within this chapter, governs the Italian language. Examples of male frstness in Italian are seen in the lexical gender fratelli e sorelle (brothers and sisters), uomini e donne (men and women) and, in job-related contexts, consiglieri e consigliere (male and female councillors). Starting from the results obtained through Sketchengine and the corpus itTenTen, I searched for the same pairs used above, in their male frstness formation, i.e. lavoratori e lavoratrici and ministri e ministre and in their female frstness formation, i.e. lavoratrici e lavoratori and ministre e ministri. Interestingly, lavoratrici e lavoratori appears 1967 times (0.60 per 1 million words) situating itself not very far from the pair with male frstness (0.70 per 1 million words), while, less surprisingly, ministre e ministri only occurs 9 times (0.00 per million). From this I can assume that some pairs might be motivated more than others with regards male or female frstness.

Syntactic Gender: Epicenes and Semi-epicenes

I have explained that epicene forms (and to some extent semi-epicene) should potentially be less problematic as they are non-specifc in relation to gender. However, speakers mostly treat them either as unproblematic or belonging to the category of morphological gender, for which sufxes for the masculine form, and others for the feminine, exist. In fact, it is not unusual to hear or read presidentessa (president) as the feminine form of presidente (a detailed analysis of how these terms are used in practice is provided in Chapter 4). Another similar case is vigile (trafc ofcer): speakers tend to believe that the feminine form is vigilessa. Some other epicenes are not challenged, plausibly because they are not loaded with additional power or social and cultural values, e.g. nipote (singular) and nipoti (plural) for niece and nephew, as well as granddaughter and grandson (and their plural correspondents). Other forms which are not challenged are: testimone (singular, witness) and testimoni (plural, witnesses), used for various occasions such as weddings and/or in court; 64 F. Formato insegnante (singular, teacher) and insegnanti (plural, teachers); and can- tante13 (singular, singer) and cantanti (plural, singers). Similarly, there are some other forms which are not problematised as these are only used in relation to male-inhabited spaces and, therefore, are considered as the only form possible. Perhaps speakers think that a feminine form could be possible but is perceived as not needed, as in the case of job-related terms such as onorevole/i (honourable/s, noun), rappresentante/i (representative/s, noun), responsabile/i (person/people in charge) dirigente/i (manager/s), and conducente/i (driver). Speakers’ beliefs about, as well as attitudes towards, these forms are explained in the following chapter. In relation to semi-epicene, the supposition and the speculation is that speakers are here confused, as such forms do not work in traditional terms, i.e. they have no gender in the singular (other than in the satellite elements) while they have gender in the plural. Tere are two observations here, one in respect of the singular and one to the plural (I return to this in Chapter 3, with relevant data from speakers). Te singular is often used to contrast the feminisation of titles and it is not unusual to hear when debate on gendered language occurs: if we accept ministra or sindaca, what about giornalisto (journalist)? Terms that end in -a for both women and men (such as giornalista ) are classifed by the speakers as belonging to the morphological gender category alongside the explanation that giornalisto as well as the marked sindaca or ministra should not exist either. Tis means that speakers miscategorise the terms, and, they use the notion that such forms should not exist as a justifcation for not having to accept feminine job-titles. Semi-epicenes can also be problematic in their plural, as they are employed as versatile masculines, regardless of the actual number of women and men that the plural refers to, (preferred over the gender quota of referents to which the plural address or refer to), for example, pediatri (paediatricians), as discussed below. I consulted the corpus itTenTen and searched the terms pediatre (feminine) and pediatri (masculine and versatile masculine). I outline the fndings of this small corpus investigation in Table 2.1, which examines absolute frequency (AF) and frequency per 1 million words (PMW). It is evident that the feminine is much less used than the masculine. Tis is interesting as the Ministero della Salute (Ministry of Health) suggests that the percentage of male paediatricians in Italy (37% in 2012 and 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 65

Table 2.1 Absolute frequencies and frequencies for million words of the semi-epicene masculine and feminine plural forms of pediatra in itTenTen AF PMW Pediatri 9515 3.10 Pediatre 61 0.02

Table 2.2 Absolute frequencies and percentages of feminine and masculine articles preceding the semi-epicene pediatra Feminine elements Masculine elements AF % AF % Pediatra 685 13.81 4335 86.1

37.3% in 201314) is lower than that of their female counterparts (63% in 2012 and 62.7% in 2013). Starting from this, I conducted collocational analysis (words that most frequently accompany the searched terms) of the singular pediatra (both feminine and masculine) to check articles (il/ masc and la/fem; the) and articulated prepositions (del/masc and della/ fem; of the). Te results show that the term—which occurs 11,698 times—has masculine satellite elements in most of the cases, as presented in Table 2.2, calculated in absolute frequencies (AF) and percentages (%). Tis shows that semi-epicenes are manipulated in relation to a gender order as much as morphological gender terms, e.g. ministro and ministra. Te analysis above is only partial and more solid research on semi-epicene forms is required. Te analysis also has many limitations among which are the consultation of a general corpus, and, a limited investigation of masculine and feminine collocations (e.g. the indefnite article una/un or the frst person possessive mio/mia ). Furthermore, one would need to investigate if il pediatra always refers to men or to women as well.

Other Gendered Uses: Defnite Articles Preceding Proper Names and Surnames

Tere are some gendered language phenomena that cannot be categorised as above, namely in the three categories: lexical, morphological and syntactic. For instance, some speakers—depending on their 66 F. Formato geographical area—tend to use the feminine singular article when describing women, e.g. Ho parlato con la Francesca (I have spoken with the [fem/sing] Francesca). I have not found any academic work on this practice, but I can speculate that it is generally used in spoken register and, mainly, in informal contexts. Te encyclopaedia Treccani15 argues that, in the Italian region Emilia Romagna, and in some other areas, the article preceding the proper noun is “quasi obbligatorio con i nomi femminili e quasi inaccettabile con nomi maschili” (almost compulsory with feminine nouns and almost intolerable with masculine names), while in Lombardy it seems to be the opposite (yet some speakers I con- tacted agreed that both feminine and masculine names are preceded by the article).16 Te Accademia della Crusca (an Italian society for scholars and linguists) suggests that the use of the feminine article is “sconsigli- ato con i nomi di persona in quanto toglie in parte il senso dell’unic- ità e dell’inconfondibilità dell’individuo”17 (not advisable with people’s proper names as it removes the sense of unicity and unmistakability of the individual). With these contrasting accounts, it seems difcult to argue to what extent this refects an imbalanced society. Te picture is diferent with articles preceding surnames, when talking about or referring to (some) women and men, and here I investigate how this occurs in politics. It is common to hear (or to see in writing) the article being used with women’s surnames—e.g. La Boldrini (Te Boldrini)—while it is less common with men’s—e.g. Il Renzi (Te Renzi). To support my observation, the Minister of Welfare, Elsa Fornero (in the Technocrat government that followed the resignation of Berlusconi in 2011), explicitly said she did not want to be addressed with the article la (as in La Fornero) as no man would be addressed in a similar fashion.18 To investigate my observation and Fornero’s claim, I interrogated the itTenTen16 corpus and compared frequencies and collocations (categorised by grammatical tags based on right plus 1) of two politicians, precisely, Laura Boldrini (Speaker of the Lower Chamber in 2013–2018) and Matteo Renzi (Prime Minister from 2014 to 2016). In Table 2.3, I present the absolute frequencies and those per 1 million words of the use of the surname, preceded by the article and on their own. While I am not interested in the amount of times that Boldrini and Renzi are mentioned in the corpus, it is interesting to see that, on the 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 67

Table 2.3 Absolute frequencies and frequencies for million words comparing the use of article + surname and surname only AF PMW La Boldrini 1398 0.24 Boldrini 12,675 2.16 Il Renzi 603 0.10 Renzi 170,310 29.04 basis of 1 million words, La Boldrini is used more than Il Renzi. What is more interesting is that by investigating tag collocations—that is the part of speech (POS, henceforth) following the surnames—one can gain two diferent pictures. In the case of Boldrini, the article plus surname is used with: (1) fnite form of modal/causal verb with clitic; (2) non-sentence-fnal punctuation; and (3) fnal form of auxiliary. Te article plus surname of Renzi is, instead, used with: (1) noun; (2) non-sentence-fnal punctuation mark; and (3) prepositions. In other words, the verbs occurring after the surname of the female politician indicate that La Boldrini mostly appears as a subject, while the tags concerning the male politician indicate that it is used within the sentence or in fnal position (and, it also seems, in relation to humorous and ironic ways of describing Renzi). Starting from this picture, one can discuss the implications of this in relation to agency (with La Boldrini being the subject of some actions) and how readers might perceive these two politicians.

Other Gendered Uses: The Object Pronoun Gli

Tere are other language phenomena which are motivated by social gender. While available grammar seems to provide clear indication of the use of feminine and masculine satellite elements, usage has remodelled how these are employed in everyday language. One of the phenomena for which an unmarked masculine is used is the indirect object pronoun gli (to/at him or unmarked) which replaces the feminine form le (also discussed in Marcato and Tüne 2002). One cannot exclude that the confusion is also generated by gli being third person plural regardless of the gender referents it addresses. I show an example of the two options gli and le below, with a female referent: 68 F. Formato

Ho comprato il regalo a Maria; gli ho regalato un viaggio a Londra masc Ho comprato il regalo a Maria; le ho regalato un viaggio a Londra fem I bought the present for Maria; I gifted her with a trip to London

Both sentences seem to be perceived as correct by speakers. Gli could be said to be more often used in spoken (or spoken-like, e.g. online chats) language rather than in formal register (e.g. documents). Te same does not occur with the direct object pronoun lo (him) that does not replace the feminine la (her).

Impersonal and Personalised Masculines

Indefnite pronouns are also used in the masculine forms with the intent to describe a category, group of people, or in an impersonal use. Possibly related to the idea put forward by Bem and Bem (1973) on the notion of people male, male people, which gave rise to the discus- = = sion I put forward above (androcentric language, male as ideal member of the human being category), these pronouns are used in masculine forms for the unknown gender reference to those who they refer, or to indicate a general person/group of people. For instance, Marcato and Tüne (2002, p. 199) discuss the use of nessuno (no one) in:

Non è venuto nessuno impersonal impersonal masc masc No one came

Nessuno is here used to suggest that no men or no women, or no men nor women, turned up to an event. Referential ambiguity could be solved by the speakers adding information about the gender of the referent, although we must still bear in mind that masculine plurals, e.g. nessuno dei ragazzi (no one of the boys), possibly inclusive of both women 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 69 and men. Similarly, impersonal experiences are seen through the lens of masculine forms, as in:

Uno dovrebbe saper curare il pianeta impersonal masc One should know how to look after the planet

Te feminine in both cases would be marked, it would clearly state that we are referring to women while these grammatical impersonal masculines—nessuno and uno—are indicating a sort of gender-neutral semantic meaning (similar to versatile masculines). Similarly, personal experiences are seen through the grammatically masculine form. Tis is also used by the speaker to suggest that a feminine form does not exist (as discussed in Chapters 3 and 4). In the analysis of sindaco and sindaca, I exclude those instances that are here defned as personalised masculines, as in:

Un sindaco ama la sua città masc personalised masc A mayor loves their city

Un sindaco is here intended as whoever would be in this role, therefore regardless of gender, and focusses on a gender-neutral personal experience (what Bengoechea labels as the YO, 2015). Undoubtedly, it refers to the long history of having male mayors governing Italian cities. I translated the possessive as their in English (intended as a neutral singular); in Italian, possessives are not related to the gender of the person who possesses that something but to what is possessed, in this case città is feminine and so it is the possessive sua. In all efects, these forms are unmarked masculines, however, because they do not have specifc referents, are here included in the category impersonal and personal masculines. 70 F. Formato

Availability and Use

Te gendered categories and phenomena discussed above, at the intersection between grammar and society, show that there is a fundamental distinction to make. Tis distinction is the one between ‘language availability’ and ‘language use’. Te former refers to the entire gender-informed repertoire from which speakers could make their linguistic choices, while the latter focuses on the linguistic choices made in relation to social gender, i.e. what, among the options available, speakers select (and in what specifc contexts). Language use, as widely discussed in the introduction and in this chapter, has to be seen in relation to forms (and meanings) that have been institutionalised and accepted as natural. I question whether the distinction between ‘availability’ and ‘use’ could, with its due diferences, somewhat be linked to Saussure’s work on langue and parole. His original defnitions (as cited in Harris 2001, pp. 15–17) describe langue as “tous ce qui est contenu dans le cerveau de l’individu, le depot de forms < entendues et > pratiquées et de leurs sens” (“all that is contained in the brain of the individual, the depot of the forms [understood and] used and their meanings”) and parole as “tous ce qui est amené sur les lévres par le besoin du discour et par un operation particulaire” (all that is brought on the lips for the need of discourse and for a particular operation). If we accept this, some speakers might have a limited langue and availability (supported by how society and culture has developed), afecting what language (parole ) is used. My terms and Saussure’s originate from two diferent points of view, with mine stressing social and cultural habits—what has been defned as ‘social gender’—as well as ‘established’ ways of thinking about the world, rather than grammatical correctness. ‘Availability’ and ‘use’ are not separate from each other, they are indeed connected by societal and cultural meanings. Tese are the links that speakers consciously and unconsciously employ based on (a limited and faulty, in some cases) knowledge of grammatical rules. It is peculiar, though, that successful grammatical mis-matchings seem to have the approval and permission of some speakers and, arguably, of a (sexist) society. 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 71

Solutions: Is a Gender Fairer Language Possible?

Having shown how gendered language is used or misused by the speakers to achieve specifc views of the world, the question is: Are there via- ble solutions? My answer is that some solutions, whether adopted by the speakers at present or to be introduced in the future, could re-balance the fairness of grammatical gender. In the late 1980s, early 90s, as briefy mentioned above (and developed in the next chapter), Alma Sabatini was commissioned by the Italian government to publish work on sexism in Italian, with the task of providing adoptable solutions so as to avoid it. Te documents—titled Il sessismo nella lingua italiana (Sexism in the Italian Language 1986), Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua italiana (Recommendations for non-sexist use of the Italian language, 1987)—ofer a long list of si (yeses ) and no (nos ) on how to use fair language and avoid sexism. In brief, her recommendations are in favour of, feminisation of titles, symmetricalisation of forms, and the avoidance of generic terms and neutralisation where possible (e.g. il personale medico/the health professionals). Te reasons that led to the production of these leafets, and the work on the topic that followed, is my concern in Chapter 3, where I discuss language development in Italy over the past 30 years. Suggesting similar strategies for Spanish (feminisation of titles, symmetricalisation, and avoidance of generic terms), Bengoechea (2011a, 2015) raises an interesting point which concerns fair use of grammatical gender, namely masculine forms for men and feminine forms for women. Specifcally, the relation between grammatical gender and the gender of the referents seems to re-produce essentialism and binarism—terms which scholars of language and gender tend to dismiss as problematic and reproducing two separate groups in society. On this topic, queer linguistics exacerbates what is discussed by Bengoechea; for instance, Motschenbacher (2014, p. 250) explains that using “binarily gendered forms […] re-instanti- ate the discursive formation of the heteronormative system”, possibly disregarding that grammatical gender languages have a specifc system through which gender is made visible. However, Abbou (2011) contends that it is possible to avoid the binarism of feminine or masculine 72 F. Formato forms, showing that Marxist and anarchist texts use the double-marking (having both feminine and masculine sufxes in the word, e.g. in French, ennemiEs [ennemis—masc, ennemies-fem], signalled with the capital E, meaning enemies in English). Bengoechea (2015), on the contrary, does not oppose the idea of feminine and masculine forms and supports the view that misuse of these forms re-creates what she refers to as gramática patriarcal (patriarchal grammar). Based on the concept of performativity (Butler 1990), Bengoechea believes that new gender identities can re-frame what we think about gender and this, in turn, can have an impact on linguistic practices. Te solutions that she proposes are related to an adaptation of the gender frame. Spanish being a grammatical gender language, the same as Italian, means that some of these solutions can be proposed to Italian speakers as well. It goes without saying, however, that these solutions are wishful thinking in respect of Italian, because, as shown above (and in speakers’ practices discussed in Chapters 3 and 4), a resistance to diferent or fairer forms, and/or to a change in linguistic habits, hold strong. Bengoechea (2015, pp. 6–11) observed and then commented upon the following solutions: (1) Femenino universal (translatable as versatile feminine) where the feminine form is inclusive of both female and male referents19 (in opposition to versatile masculine); (2) Femenino universal absoluto (personalised feminine), for instance, the use of the feminine forms to indicate the experience of a group, e.g. para una arquitecta, como lec- tora (which would be translated in English into “for an architect”, “as a reader”—see section ‘impersonal and personalised masculines’); and (3) (Femenino) universal compartido o solitario (shared or stand-alone (feminine)), i.e. the use of strategies which support both grammatical genders, namely the @, the introduction of a neutral vowel -e and gender split forms (e.g. nosotr@s, nosotrEs or nosotros y nosotras, in English we ). Tis view is diferent from the one of Abbou (2011) who saw these strategies as avoiding the feminisation (using the feminine forms), perceived as negatively prescriptive (see a discussion about prescriptivism in Chapter 3). With these strategies in mind, Bengoechea (2015) asks: How can we be sure that by using these forms the (female) speaker is embodying the experience of a universal “I” (referred in the paper as YO) rather 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 73 than their feminine one (as separated by the masculine)? Tis question is difcult to answer and to relate to individuals, to accepted views of the world, or to a willingness to subvert it. However, knowing that (more) inclusive forms can form part of the availability of the language could be a step forward in how language can reshape fxed practices. According to Bengoechea’s account, the intersex20 community has adopted the asterisk (o x ) to avoid having to choose between masculine or feminine morphological gender. Te problem with these—* or x—is that they cannot be pronounced. Similarly, adopting the strategy of replacing the feminine or masculine infections with @ (as used in the Spanish translation of the sample sentence) is proven to be problematic in speaking. In Italian, some speakers use * in a similar fashion of Spanish speakers using @, as in tutt* devono avere le stesse possibilità (all must have the same opportunities). Tese forms do not eliminate the complex gender matching among the elements and cannot be used in speech. It would also be impossible for Italian to have -e as a neutral vowel, as it exists as already gendered (for feminine plural or singular epicene forms). Italian counts 5 vowels (a, e, i, o and u ) and -u would be the only one that could be introduced as neutral. As discussed in the following chapter, I see problems with this being accepted, as there is still resistance to having feminine forms used for some female referents. Depending on the gendered referents, simple solutions would be to: use the feminine for women, regardless of whether they are holding traditionally male ofces or not; use gender split forms, that is the use of feminine and masculine forms together; and, more generally, use a language that is symmetric or replaces gendered loaded terms with other nouns, e.g. il popolo italiano (the Italian people) instead of the versatile masculine gli italiani (the Italians).

Conclusions

In this section, I draw some conclusions based on what has been discussed in this chapter. In relation to the grammatical class of gender in Italian, this chapter has provided a taxonomy based on the lexical, morphological and syntactic gender, as well as non-gendered terms. As 74 F. Formato demonstrated by observed or corpus-based examples, however, speakers’ usage of feminine and masculine forms (grammatical gender) present a far more complex picture in which cultural and societal values and stereotypes are intertwined with language (social gender). To conclude, speakers seem to choose forms (referred to here as ‘language use’) from a variety of options (referred to here to as ‘availability’) that reproduce the common understanding of the social arrangement: that is an imbalanced society that manipulates so to maintain the unequal social positioning of women and men (specifcally, in workplaces where women are attempting to break through the ‘glass ceiling’). Te concept of ‘male as norm’ translates into ‘masculine as norm’ where gender choices in language are motivated (Abbou 2011). To challenge this, I also ofer an overview of solutions that could be used to create a fairer gendered language. In the next chapter, I investigate guidelines and recommendations on the use of a non-sexist language and review studies conducted on the gender and Italian.

Notes

1. Te grammatical gender attached to an object is arbitrary (Corbett 1991) therefore treno (train) is masculine (and there is no feminine) and fnestra (window) is feminine. 2. Te past participles that have morphological infections for gender are only those who have essere (to be) as an auxiliary, the ones with avere (to have) do not change, e.g. Le mie amiche [fem] hanno ricevuto un regalo, I miei amici [masc] hanno ricevuto un regalo (my friends have received a gift). 3. Te term campionessa used to denote a woman winning a sport com- petition or someone excelling at something is possibly less controversial as no debate has been sparked on this. Similarly, dottoressa (doctor referred to both the medical profession and the title for graduates) and professoressa (teacher in high school or lecturer/professor in university) are deemed less problematic by those who are interested in gender in Italian. However, Sabatini proposes dottora and professora, respectively. 4. Tere are also epicene adjectives—e.g. grande/grandi (big, singular and plural) and felice/felici (happy, singular and plural). Tey are never challenged or considered as problematic because they do not have a symbolic meaning related to one gendered group or the other. 2 An Overview of Grammatical Gender in Italian 75

5. Tis might be linked to the Fascist Era where women were pressured over the delivery of baby boys who would then become soldiers. A popular saying for newly-weds states: Auguri e fgli maschi (All the best and [may you have] sons). 6. Interestingly, scapolo is also used in the language variety of Abruzzo (a region in the centre of Italy), where shepherds are labelled as such if they are free from the obligation of the custody of animals, http://www. treccani.it/vocabolario/scapolo/. Accessed 07 May 2018. 7. www.governo.it. Accessed 04 July 2017. 8. Interestingly, another female guest is announced with feminine terms, reproducing a level of acceptability for those roles, e.g. bal- lerina (dancer), conduttrice (radio and TV host), http://www.rai. it/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-1b50ff3a-a61a- 43ac-9462-269158369881.html. Accessed 25 March 2017. 9. http://www.huffingtonpost.it/franco-ferraro/avrebbero-potuto-essere-tutto-con-quei-sorrisi_b_9515776.html. Accessed 25 March 2017. 10. http://www.governo.it/il-governo. Accessed 30 August 2017. 11. http://roma.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/18_maggio_06/devono-milio- ni-all-erario-8492dbac-5161-11e8-b393-1dfa8344f8a7.shtml. Accessed 07 May 2018. 12. Interestingly, this similarly works for borrowings from English, where what would be neutral (in the grammar of the specifc language) becomes gendered in Italian, through semi-marked forms e.g. manager donna (lady manager) or, as observed recently, pusher donna (lady pusher) to refer to somebody who sells drugs. Te presupposition is that these borrowed terms are grammatically masculine in the source language. 13. A female singer, Carmen Consoli, refers to herself as la cantantessa. She explained that a foreign sound engineer addressed her with this term starting from the understanding that cantante was the masculine. She continues to use it to refer to herself. http://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2015/03/09/news/carmen_consoli_ritorno_in_sicilia_e_tempo_di_ dire_grazie_alla_mia_terra_-109127700/?ref twhl&utm_source dlvr. = = it&utm_medium twitter. Accessed 07 May 2018. = 14. http://www.salute.gov.it/imgs/C_17_pubblicazioni_2370_allegato.pdf (2012), http://www.salute.gov.it/imgs/C_17_pubblicazioni_2536_alle- gato.pdf (2013). Accessed 02 March 2017. It is interesting to see that the table of the number of paediatricians in Italy specifes the percentage of male ones but does not include a column with the female counterparts (p. 24 in both documents). 76 F. Formato

15. http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/articolo_(Enciclopedia- dell’Italiano). Accessed 09 April 2018. 16. Tere is also evidence from a region in the south of Italy—Salento—of the use of articles for both men and women. However, reported examples seem to suggest that this is the specifc dialect of the area (known as Salentino), rather than a regional variety of standard Italian (i.e. Italian from Apulia). 17. http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/en/italian-language/language-con- sulting/questions-answers/larticolo-prima-prenome. Accessed 09 April 2018. 18. http://www.corriere.it/politica/12_gennaio_15/non-chiamatemi-la- fornero_c5198b30-3f70-11e1-8779-a112fb36ee96.shtml. Accessed 09 April 2018. 19. A versatile feminine Ministras (female ministers) was proposed to refer to the Sanchéz government (in Spain, 2018–present) composed of 11 female ministers (and 5 male ministers); however, the RAE suggested that this form would be imprecise as it fails to make the male counterpart visible (this being a paradox as versatile masculines are the RAE preferred form for mixed-gender groups, regardless of the quantity of male and female referents). Female ministers from the Sanchéz government adopted the gender split form in its female frstness version ministras y ministros during the appointment ceremony (this approved by the RAE), https://www.eldiario.es/zonacritica/consejo-ministras-RAE_6_781181906.html, http://www.europapress.es/cultura/ exposiciones-00131/noticia-rae-cataloga-correcta-formula-consejo-ministras-ministros-20180607151618.html. Accessed 12 June 2018. 20. Relating to or denoting a person or animal that has both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics (OED), https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/defnition/intersex. Accessed 08 May 2018.

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In this chapter, I discuss attempted, successful and (un)successful recommendations for a non-sexist use of Italian. I cannot address these as language planning or policies, and possibly not as reforms. While, in fact, recommendation about using the language fairly in relation to (grammatical and social) gender seems to come from the top—namely, institutions—there is no enforcement and no systematicity as they seem to be mainly personal initiatives. Like policies and planning, recommendations, on a gendered inclusive and fair language, are ideological (Savski 2017). Tey introduce actions to take (or that could be taken), legitimise those actions and are aimed at constructing a diferent social reality than the one of the status-quo. I discuss recommendations, from several points of view: (1) Te legacy left by Alma Sabatini; (2) Te work undertaken by linguists and activists in more recent times; and (3) Speakers’ beliefs of and attitudes towards gendered language. Te aim of this chapter is to further conceptualise what was discussed in Chapter 2—the grammatical and social overview of gender in Italian. Moreover, the discussion on language ideology initiated in Chapter 1 fnds more room in this chapter where a collection of documents commissioned by city councils, government and other institutions are reviewed and public opinions presented.

In the past few years, I embarked on a linguistic adventure with the aim of shortening the gap between the ‘ivory tower’ of academia and ‘everyday’ speakers of Italian, writing a weekly column, called Lingua di Genere for a local news portal1 (before continuing on a Facebook page). Te column focused on a term used in the news or in politics, or which I had come across during the week, re-read in the context of my knowledge of existing academic studies of language and gender. Matters covered included, for example: discussion on surnames, use of pronouns, stereotypical terms appearing in crosswords and refections on the Italian national anthem (using the versatile masculine fratelli, brothers), and commentary on how to vote for women and men in local elections. In that adventure, I learned to discuss the topic with a non-academic audience in mind. Although I met with some initial resistance when starting my work on gender and Italian, I convinced people to discuss and think about linguistic instances which tend to either hide women in language, to trivialise them, or constructs stereotypical, obsolete fgures to depict them. One example comes from my mother, who would be addressed Il (masc) Responsabile instead of La (fem) Responsabile in documents during her time in the institution where she worked. Her request to change this was frst ignored but then taken into consideration. Tis shows that, while a range of documents exist with the aim of regulating administrative language, changes have never been popular enough to attract a wide audience and, thus, have rarely been implemented. While I return to the success or failure of these reforms and the accompanying strategic language recommendations, I start by presenting the documents written by Alma Sabatini (1986, 1987, 1993), as they are the foundation of guidelines in relation to non-sexist use of the Italian language.

The Legacy of Alma Sabatini

Alma Sabatini (1922–1988) was a central and infuential fgure in explaining (and promoting) a fairer use of language. She also dedicated part of her life to promoting equality, in political campaigns on topics such as abortion, motherhood and prostitution. Her work and her 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 83 political activism are historically situated within, as far as gender issues are concerned, years of turmoil in Italian history, i.e. the decriminalisa- tion of abortion in 1979. In her interventions in Efe, an independent feminist magazine published between 1973 and 1992,2 Sabatini mainly discusses international feminism with the intention of explaining how perspectives from abroad can contribute to raise awareness on the Italian experience. Sabatini does not engage with debate on language in the magazine, instead her seminal work on this topic is outlined in the publications titled Il sessismo nella lingua italiana (Sexism in the Italian Language, 1986) Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua italiana (Recommendations for a non-sexist use of language in Italian, 1987) including her thoughts on non-sexist use of Italian in her last document Ricerca sulla formulazione degli annunci di lavoro (A study on the formulation of job adverts) in 1993, all commissioned by the Italian government. Tese publications, of which only one is partially available on the website of the Ministero della Semplifcazione e Pubblica Amministrazione (Ministry of Simplifcation and Public Administration), are detailed accounts of the linguistic invisibility of women, which the speakers of Italian then indulged, and still do today. While never holding posts in Italian universities, her work on sexist usages of Italian is widely recognised within the academic and non-academic communities who debate this topic. In 2017, a symposium was held in her memory at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Modena, 30 March 2017) in which scholars and practitioners retraced Sabatini’s steps in light of recent studies and practices oriented to the promotion of a fairer use of language. Before delving into the documents, I comment on the modern (for its time) argument Sabatini makes in relation to the interdependence between language and society. She writes:

L’uso di un termine anzichè di un altro comporta una modifcazione nel pensiero e nell’atteggiamento di chi lo pronuncial e quindi di chi lo ascolta. La parola è una materializzazione, un’azione vera e propria. È altrettanto chiaro che il valore semantico è strettamente legato al contesto linguistico ed extra linguistico in rapporto dinamico. 84 F. Formato

Te use of one term rather than another entails a modifcation of the cognitive and behavioural attitude of those who pronounce it and therefore of those who listen. Words are a materialization, a real action. It is clear that the semantic value is strictly linked with the linguistic and extra linguistic context in a dynamic correlation. (Sabatini 1993, p. 1)

Tis point can be seen within the literature reviewed in Chapter 1 about language as a ‘social action’ and the strand of research in discourse, widely considered in applied linguistics (see Mills 2004; Wodak 1997). Another important argument that forms part of the introduction to her work, is the issue surrounding reasons why speakers are resistant to change, or rather, resist the use of non-sexist language. According to Sabatini “parte della gente è conservatrice e mostra difdenza – se non paura – nei confronti dei cambiamenti linguistici, che la ofendono per- ché disturbano le sue abitudini o sembrano una violenza “contro natura”. Toccare la lingua è come toccare la persona” (part of the population is conservative and shows scepticism—if not fear—as far as linguistic changes; these are seen as ofending that part of the population, disturbing their habits or they are perceived as a violence ‘against nature’. Reforming language is like evaluating the person, 1987, p. 2, my emphasis). It is rather impressive that the explanations provided in these documents seem to have lasted until recent times, where speakers appear to justify their resistance to change in very similar ways (see below). Another explanation which informs such resistance is also very widely used nowadays: new terms, that is feminine ones, “sound bad” or are “awful” entering a non-specifed aesthetic terrain of appropriate sounds and appearance. Sabatini acknowledges that a lack of linguistic reforms must be seen within a political and cultural agenda, as they both construct the world in which we live in, and we live by (1987, p. 4). Her documents are easy to consult and understand as they are divided into 3 sections which present two columns, i.e. the habitual use and the non-sexist use.3 Sabatini suggests that we should avoid using generic terms such as uomo/uomini (man/men) and, likewise, avoid asymmetrical terms when talking about men and women together, e.g. Maggie e Craxi (to be replaced with Maggie e Bettino, or Tatcher e Craxi—i.e. the politicians, ‘Maggie’ Tatcher and Bettino 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 85

Craxi). Te recommendations also address specifc job-titles, e.g. the use of poeta instead of poetessa for a female poet (syntactic gender, epicene term), and titles used in specifc institutions or workplaces, such as the Church, e.g. la prete (priest) to refer to a woman in her ofce as priest, or the military, e.g. soldatessa/soldata, where the frst is accepted in the language but does not refect the correct use of grammatical gender, represented by soldata. Te section of this volume most relevant to Sabatini’s work, is the analysis conducted in Chapter 4, on titles, posts, professions, and jobs. Some of her proposals are also reviewed in Chapter 2 but I summarise the main points in the list below. Te recommendations propose the avoidance of:

• the masculine forms of jobs, professions, posts to express prestig- ious positions when the feminine forms do exist except they are used exclusively for jobs hierarchically inferior and traditionally linked to the female role in the private (rather than in the public) sphere, e.g. segretario (of a party) and segretaria (admin coordinator) • masculine forms for jobs that regularly have the feminine form, e.g. ministro, ministra • epicene nouns (1) in the masculine forms and with masculine satellite elements, e.g. il presidente; (2) In the feminine with the sufx -essa, e.g. vigilessa 3. with the modifer donna (woman), e.g. giudice donna • masculine forms or feminisation with the sufx -essa for nouns that have the regular feminine form in -a, e.g. avvocatessa • masculine forms or the modifer donna with the job titles, e.g. ministro donna • the masculine form for noun ending in -ere, whose feminine ends in -era, e.g. ingegnere and ingegnera (engineer) (1987, pp. 109–119)

Tese are some of the suggestions that Sabatini puts forward, aimed at helping speakers to orientate themselves towards gender-fair language. She concludes her documents with a positive note, encourag- ing speakers to consider the (existing) varieties of the Italian language (what I defned as ‘availability’ in Chapter 2), and wishing for research 86 F. Formato to continue on this topic. In the next sections, I attempt to chronicle the research, as well as non-academic documents, which have dealt with gender fairness in language.

The State of the Art—Academic Studies

While activism from academics may also take other forms (e.g. posts on social networks, websites4), here I focus published (available) work, or that known because presented in international conferences, by academics in Italy on the topic of gender-fair language. I do not exclude that there are other works in existence, but the scarcity of publications in international peer-reviewed journals or consultable ones, render the task of fnding such works problematic. Tere are several strands of research which seem to emerge in relation to an investigation of language and gender: general edited collections (Sapegno 2010), discussion on specifc topics (Cavagnoli 2013; Fusco 2012), systematic analysis of corpora (Formato 2014, 2016; Nardone 2016, 2018) as well as experiments (Merkel et al. 2012; Proverbio et al. 2017). I conclude this section with a study I carried out on language and gender in the Italian parliament. Sapegno (2010) published an edited collection on the topic including studies on several intersections between gender and language (literature, media, school texts). She introduces the contrasting positions between those who agree and those who do not, believe that a fairer language is needed to promote a balanced gender society. In this edited collection, in interviews to politicians taken from daily newspapers, Basile (2010) found that both female and male politicians use 1st person singular person; however, women tend to use subjunc- tive and conditional moods more than the male counterpart (which prefers the indicative mood), concluding that female politicians seem to be less assertive. Bindy, Bongiorno, Carfagna, Concia, Shiva, Binetti and Perina (the female politicians who were interviewed by the newspapers) also employ passive sentence more than D’Alema, Bersani, Scalfaro, Bocchino, Franceschini, Bondi, Casini, Mastella e Chiamparino (the male politicians). Tis shows a tendency to hide the agency of the female politicians who emphasise the actions. In confrming the 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 87 diferences between the two gendered political groups, Basile (2010) also found that female politicians use verbs such as pensare (to think), credere (to believe), valutare (to evaluate), temere (to fear), sperare (to hope) more than chiedere (to ask), rispondere (to answer), dire (to say), parlare (to speak/talk), which are preferred by male politicians. Other studies in the same edited volume, investigate (what I refer to) versatile masculines: both Nobili (2010) and Venturini (2010) found that these are mostly used in universities (in the notice boards and on the web, respectively). On sexist language used, Di Rollo (2010) conducted a survey in schools, arguing that these should lead the linguistic change towards a fairer use of language. Te surveys collected, however, show that results are diferent depending upon whether the teachers would use or debate on fairer language (e.g. use of feminine for women in high ranking roles). In relation to studies on specifc topics, Cavagnoli (2013) gives an overview of (non-)sexist language used in daily newspapers (from January to June 2013), then reviews grammatical rules and strategies, and concludes with an investigation of gender in the language of the law. She systematically investigates the Italian Constitution, fnding unmarked and versatile masculines such as cittadino (citizen), tutti i cittadini (all citizens), together with some split forms following the versatile masculines, e.g. tutti i cittadini, uomini e donne (all citizens, men and women). By exploring the penal code (codice penale ) on which the juridical system is based, Cavagnoli (2013, p. 124) found some inconsistencies in gendered language as, for instance, in the example—chi cagiona la morte di un uomo è punito con la reclusione (who cause the death of a man is punished with inprisonment, art. 575). Tis example is given in order to highlight potential controversy: what about the death of a woman? However, her fnal argument is that the uomo (man) is widely accepted as a generic in the language of the law. Another example given is—La madre che cagiona la morte del proprio neonato (the mother who causes the death of her own infant). Tis phrase is problematic because, as we have seen so far, Italian does not tend to use versatile femminines or generics, and the language might be manipulated in court in cases where the death of an infant has been caused by a father. Cavagnoli (2013) emphasises that the language of the law can 88 F. Formato change the lives of citizens, and accuracy should be taken into consideration for this genre. Furthermore, the use of mother is interesting from the social point of view: women in Italy have been and, arguably, are still seen mainly as mothers or belonging to the private sphere (as discussed in Chapter 5). Similar to the other two datasets, Cavagnoli also found samples for contracts contain masculine forms used as generics. Fusco (2012) studies gendered language from another perspective, that of lexicography and, more specifcally, interrogating Il Grande Dizionario Italiano dell’uso (Te Great Dictionary of Italian in Use). She found that pair terms, as for instance uomo (man) and donna (woman), are defned diferently based on how they are perceived in society and in the culture; the defnitions feature outdated stereotypes which place women in a marginal role in comparison to men. Similarly, Nardone (2016) investigates asymmetries in the use of feminine and masculine job-titles in the ITWac corpus (2016), revealing how sexism still operates in Italy through choices made between masculine and feminine terms, and the social constraints behind such choices. Moving on to job adverts, Nardone (2018) investigates gender for this genre, in Italy and Germany, through a corpus linguistics approach (in the corpora ItWaC and DeWac). Her results show that feminisation strategies are rarely used in both corpora and when used, specifcally for Italian, there is asymmetry in the meanings between masculine and feminine forms. She also investigates how the media conceptualise the topic of ‘women at work’ and found that while Germany focuses on the gender pay gap, Italian media is interested in the broad understanding of the female workforce (in relation to participation in diferent employment sectors). On the topics of job-titles, Merkel et al. (2012), conducted an experiment to investigate perceptions around masculine (unmarked) job-titles and feminine correspondents. Teir interviewees thought that masculine forms (e.g. avvocato ) where still the ones carrying a higher status with respect to old forms of feminisation (as in the case of avvocatessa ) and new forms, not always recognised as grammatically correct (as in the case of avvocata ), these carrying a lower status. From a diferent feld, that of neuroscience, Proverbio et al. (2017) conducted an experiment with event-related potentials with 15 speakers 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 89 of Italian asked to respond to congruent and incongruent grammatical and social gender sentences, e.g. il controllore fnanziario si macchiò i pantaloni (the fnancial controller soiled his pants, congruent), l’ingegnere si macchiò la gonna (the engineer stained her skirt, incongruent). Starting from these examples, I asked the authors whether they had considered that in the second sentence, ingegnere is grammatically masculine (what I defned unmarked) and the reasons why they did not use the (marked) feminine. Proverbio (p.c., 2017) suggested that most of the sentences did not contain job-titles, yet defending the use of masculine forms and interpreting them as the ones mostly used by Italian speakers (with respect to non-existing feminine correspondents). Proverbio (p.c., 2017) explained that incongruent sentences where mainly based on feminine adjectives used in sentences which reproduced stereotypically male activities, for instance: sostituì la gomma e sor- rise orgogliosa ([zero] replaced the tyre and proudly [feminine] smiled), dopo aver sistemato la caldaia, era stanca (after fxing the boiler, [zero] was tired [feminine]), fu al vertice dell’azienda, era molto rispettata ([zero] reached the summit in the company, [zero] was very respected [feminine]). Tese sentences, as indicated in the translations have no gender-specifc subject, being Italian a pro-drop language. Proverbio et al. conclude that the brain processes gender stereotypes automatically and are “deeply rooted in our linguistic brain” (2017, p. 1). In other words, incongruent sentences are likely to be processed as morpho-syntactic or linguistic error. In this literature review, I also include my work on the topic. While this volume does not stem from my Ph.D. project, it contains element of it, specifcally, the analysis of noi forms (second person plural forms). In 2014, I completed my doctoral studies with a thesis titled Gender and language use in the Italian parliament, where I investigated three language phenomena using corpus linguistics techniques (mainly related to frequencies), found in 13 debates on the topic of violence against women in the period 2008–2011. In the thesis introduction, I explained how scholarly work on the topic of language and gender had moved on from what seemed to be a binary understanding of language (men’s and women’s language) and yet I was still presenting a language investigation of groups of women and men in the Italian parliament. 90 F. Formato

Te reasons for this are to be found in a theoretical position—that of multiple identities negotiated within society—and a practical view of Italian politics. In fact, the participation of women in the parliamentary arena (as shown in Chapter 1 of this volume) has increased only in the last decade, which may result in an interesting repositioning of gender in a space that is traditionally masculine (because of its workforce), and, relatedly, a change to its practices (including its language ones). Te groups of male and female MPs are not simply gender-groups based on their biology, but they are gendered groups based on the histories that brought them to the political scene. Tis investigation of gendered groups is supported by Hultgren (2008) who defnes studies such as mine as belonging to ‘correlational sociolinguistics’ that is interested in “variation on the level of discourse and interaction” (2008, p. 30). To investigate female and male MPs, I explored forms of address, namely those forms that female and male MPs, as well as ministries, would use to address their interlocutor/s at the beginning of interventions; the results showed that unmarked masculines—e.g. Signor Ministro (Mr. Minister[masc])—versatile masculines (labelled as ‘inclusive’ in the thesis)—e.g. colleghi (colleagues[masc]) were used together with marked feminine—e.g. Signora Presidente (Mrs. Speaker), although these latter were used less often than the former. I also found that female MPs were leading the change in using forms that could be seen as dis- rupting the ‘masculine as a norm’ with, for instance, gender split forms with female frstness, i.e. colleghe e colleghi (female and male colleagues). Tis is seen as a challenge to their institutionalised invisibility (related to the increasing number of female politicians in the parliament) and a legitimisation for their role in the chamber. As for the forms used to address specifc female politicians—i.e. the Minister of equal opportunities at the time, Mara Carfagna, and the Deputy-Speaker, Rosy Bindi,— unmarked masculines were more frequently used than marked feminine forms. It was by studying these forms that I found some which seem to be in a middle ground, those that I defned semi-marked forms (reviewed in Chapter 2 and investigated in Chapter 4). While I do not review here the study of noi forms in detail (as this is done in Chapter 4 where the analysis is presented), I focus on the third phenomena I investigated in my thesis, that is violence metaphors. Te interest in metaphors, and specifcally war and violence 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 91 metaphors, is linked to their ascertained use in politics and the political arena (Charteris-Black 2005) and/or their relation to gender (Semino 2008; Koller and Semino 2009; Semino and Koller 2009; Philip 2009; Koller 2004). War metaphors are also seen as highly masculinised and as “a site of male-defned mental models” (Koller 2004, p. 173). After a search of all metaphors related to the domain of war and violence, I built a war/violence analytical framework, in which I included aspects and phases, i.e. ‘threat and challenge’, ‘strategy and alliance’, ‘ground confrontation’, ‘army’, ‘fnal stage and outcome’, ‘death or injuries’ and ‘location’. Starting from this, I decided to focus on those words used in a political setting which I defned as pertaining to the ‘ground confrontation’ phase of war or violence, that is constructing the scenario which I explained as “involv[ing] two or more, human or non-human sides confronting each other on a feld. Each can be equally or diferently powerful in relation to their opponent” (Formato 2014, p. 254). I explored metaphors in their linguistic co-text, making note of who the opponents were in the political confrontation. In the analysis, I frst investigated the frequency of the use of metaphors by female and male MPs and found that female politicians used slightly more ground confrontation metaphors than their male counterparts. Male MPs seemed to use the metaphors in relation to the issue of sexual violence, as one side opposing the law, the parliament, or politics in general, while female MPs opposed these against a broader understanding of violence, ranging from chauvinist practices to discrimination in the workplaces, and, more obviously, violence against women (the topic of the debates I investigated). Similar uses of these metaphors by male and female MPs contributed to the understanding that, in some cases, the role of the speaker foregrounds their gender identity. Violence, in these debates, was seen as a non-human and abstract phenomenon, rather than caused by people. Te striking, yet only diference between the two groups was the use of metaphors such as difendere (to defend), difendersi (to defend oneself) and in/a difesa (in defence), exclusively used by female MPs, who were possibly internalising their position (as victims) within the topic of violence against women. After the Ph.D., I continued researching in the feld with the aid of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, as shown in this volume. Te reviewed literature shows that the feld is slowly gaining 92 F. Formato popularity and interest amongst junior and senior scholars. For instance, more recently, an open access journal titled Gender, Sexuality and Italy has been published annually, containing work (invited contributions and general submissions) on language and other felds of inquiry.

The State of the Art—Public Documents and Administrative Language

Tere are some documents which suggest an interest in reforming, or at least guiding, language towards an inclusive and fair usage. Here I review documents which other scholars (Cavagnoli 2013) have mentioned or that were easy to access with a Google search. Te main point of consideration was the legislative eforts being made in promoting a gender fairer language in institutional public spaces, where women have, undoubtedly, been excluded for longer. Cavagnoli (2013) cites, among other documents, the Codice di stile delle comunicazioni scritte ad uso delle amministrazioni pubbliche (Code of style in written communications for public institutions, 19935) and Manuale di Stile, strumenti per semplifcare il linguaggio della pubblica amministrazione (Style manual and tools to simplify the language of the public administration, 19976). Cassese, a professor in Administrative Law, advocates the recommendations ofered by Sabatini and suggests that the use of the masculine for both men and women gives the idea “che l’amministrazione pubblica, attraverso i suoi atti, appare come un mondo di uomini in cui è uomo non solo chi autorizza, certifca, giudica ma lo è anche chi denuncia, possiede immobili, dichiara, ecc” (that the public administration appears to be a men’s world through its documents, where the man is not only those who authorises, certifes and evaluates but also the person who reports to the police, own properties, declares, etc. 1997, pp. 38–39). Te point made is central to the understanding that the public space belongs to men, re-constructing the understanding that women are invisible to the institutional, public sphere and are exiled to the house as the only private space in which they can yield their power. In this document, Cassese then lists how to use a fairer language, i.e. (1) use the appropriate grammatical 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 93 gender depending on the gender of the referent (if known), (2) leave the options open if the gender of the referent is unknown, (3) use the feminine if the ofcer in charge is a woman, (4) limitare (to restrict) [sic] the use of generic masculines, (5) to consider asymmetries in terms used in masculine and feminine forms, and (6) be aware of discrimination when writing job adverts. In the document written by Fioritto, a professor in the same area of Cassese, one can read similar suggestions as those provided in the document review above and, in my view, what is more disturbing, he recommends to limitare (restrict, rather than avoid) the generic masculine as a sort of compromise with the speakers. Te addition made by Fioritto concerns the recommendation to avoid using Signora (Mrs.) if the woman holding the job has a job-title, e.g. assessora (councillor). Other documents are restricted to regional or city councils. Among these is the Direttive per il rispetto del genere nei testi dell’Am- ministrazione provinciale7 (Guidelines for a gender fair language in the texts of the institutions of the provinces) of the autonomous province of Bolzano (written in both Italian and German) where the un-acknowl- edged author/s returns to the list of proposals provided by Sabatini, as well as using more recent documents as a reference. On the same track, the city councils in Florence and Modena, in 2012, adopted similar versions of the Linee guida per l’uso del genere nel linguaggio amminis- trativo8 (Guidelines for the use of gendered language in administrative documents). Tese documents mainly continue Sabatini’s work and re-work similar asymmetrical or sexist practices in language, or reproduce the same list of recommendations, as, for instance, in the Direttiva del 23 Maggio 2007 (Directive of 23 May 2007) published in the Gazzetta Ufciale (the ofcial publication where the text of new bills are announced, GLI n. 173 del 2 7-2007), where Fioritto’s document is also mentioned. It goes without saying that the list of the documents could be longer than the one presented here. Other projects also seem to be interested in promoting gender fairer language. For instance, Sapegno (2010) points to the document Codice di autoregolamentazione (Self-regulatory Code, as part of a wider project called POLITE) in which the main publishing houses asked authors to avoid sex discrimination, stereotypes, and the exclusion of one of either of the two sexes, in their books (2010, p. 19). 94 F. Formato

More recently, the MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Univer- sità e della Ricerca, the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research), led by Valeria Fedeli (in the 2016–2018 Gentiloni government), published a document titled Linee Guida per l’uso del genere nel linguaggio amministrativo del MIUR9 (Guidelines for the use of gender in the administrative language of the MIUR). In its introduction, the minister introduces the reasons why these guidelines are needed, accepting that, while this could be a considerable challenge, it is a golden opportunity to refect on a changing society. Tese guidelines stem from other documents that consider how language is to be used in administrative contexts, and also provide some samples to be used by other institutions. On the whole, there seems to be a consistent efort to create guidelines which could aid speakers in re-orienting their language choices and widen their language availability (see Chapter 2), towards a fairer language usage. Later in this chapter, I ask why there is such resistance to these changes and, have these eforts to efect change produced any positive results?

The State of the Art—Contrasting Voices

Proximal to the work undertaken by Italian academia and documents produced on the topic, activism on social media and in politics is also contributing to the eforts to raise awareness. For instance, the undersecretary of state, Maria Elena Boschi (2016–2018) uses the marked sottosegretaria (undersecretary), similarly Fedeli, the former minister of education mentioned above as having commissioned guidelines, uses ministra to talk about herself. Fedeli is also very careful in using gender split forms to refer to both female and male referents, as in Lo sport è scuola e deve essere parte integrante dei percorsi formativi per le nostre ragazze e ragazzi (Sport is school and should be an integral part of education paths for our girls and our boys, as appeared in a tweet sent by the minister). However, there is un-systematicity in this respect; the majority of former female ministers in the Gentiloni’s government (2016–2018) used the unmarked masculine ministro (Roberta Pinotti, Beatrice Lorenzin, Anna 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 95

Finocchiaro), as noted from their institutional web pages and Twitter accounts10; Inconsistencies are also found in the website of Marianna Madia, the former minister for public administration, where a mix of unmarked masculine and marked feminine forms are used on the same page, e.g. la ministra Marianna Madia (the minister [fem] Marianna Madia) or segui il ministro su (follows the minister [masc] on). In relation to female politicians, the loudest voice has been that of Laura Boldrini, the former speaker of Camera dei Deputati (the House of Representatives). In a parliamentary session, she was addressed as Signor Presidente (Mr. President) by the male MP, Paolo Grimoldi, who stressed the masculine title Signor to signal his disagreement with her (through linguistic practices dear to the Speaker). Boldrini returned the address with Grazie deputata Grimoldi per l’intervento (thank you, MP [fem] Grimoldi for your intervention), generating laughs and approval from the chamber.11 When she was frst voted speaker of the Chamber in 2015, she wrote a letter to all the MPs recommending the use of language that was fairer and inclusive in relation to gender. Introducing the letter with a gender split form with male frstness, caro collega, cara collega (dear colleague [masc], dear colleague [fem]), Boldrini justifes her concern for a fairer language because of the higher proportion of female MPs entering the new parliament, Legislatura VIII. She asked all members, regardless of their political afliation, to adopt a language that corresponded to the gender of the referents that they address.12 While I later discuss how the kind of recommendations and guidelines illustrated above are to be seen as part of, what Cameron defned as, “verbal hygiene” (1995, p. 1), here I emphasise that Boldrini always supported her claims by mentioning that the use of a fairer language was a recommendation given by the Accademia della Crusca. Te Academy—also known as La Crusca—is highly recognised as an institution that deals with the origin, history, and use of the Italian language. It was founded in 1582–1583 and still continues to express opinions on uses of Italian. In 2002, the Crusca explained that feminine job-titles could be problematic because of their rare use, and because they could be deemed as trivialising women: in other words, women themselves could see their role diminished when said in the feminine form. However, while the resistance of the speaker is mentioned as one of the issues for 96 F. Formato using a fairer language, in 201313 the Academy suggested that feminisation of titles in certain environments—for instance traditionally male roles, e.g. Ministra (female minister)—should be adopted to match those feminine titles which are unproblematic for speakers and which address, refer to, or talk about women in traditionally female environments, e.g. infermiera (nurse) or maestra (teacher).14 In 2016, the Accademia della Crusca published a leafet, sold with the daily newspaper La Repubblica, titled Sindaco e sindaca: il linguaggio di genere (sindaco e sindaca: gendered language) where information about gendered terms was provided. Tis type of initiative is aimed at a wider audience than that of an academic one. However, this leafet was sold with a broadsheet newspaper, risking to preach to the converted, that is those accepting that gender is problematic in Italian and those already committing to the cause. In the media, resisting voices can also be heard and the un-systematicity of the debate fnds space here too. For instance, the magazine L’Espresso published an article titled Ma la battaglia sul genere delle parole ha davvero senso? (Ten does the battle on gendered words really make sense?). In it, the male journalist compares President Donald Trump’s policing of some words (transgender, diversity) to the struggle to have feminine forms accepted in Italy (ofering support for this case with examples from France).15 Tere is a trivialisation of the job-title presidente, used in the non-existing form presidenta, to attack Laura Boldrini (whose image appears in the article), as well as the argument that all grammatical gender languages use the masculine as a generic. His argument against feminisation is also made clear in relation to the arbitrary use of grammatical gender for animals. Te article concludes by suggesting that parity in the language should follow the gender pay gap. However, 10 days after this article was published, the same magazine re-published a blog post on the importance of feminine terms and, more specifcally, the use of capitana (captain [fem]) in a TV series (Don Matteo ) where the police ofcer engages in a conversation with a colleague and suggests that she wants to be addressed capitano because the feminine term does not exist.16 Further on the topic of gendered language, In the daily newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, the former speaker of the Camera dei Deputati is sarcastically asked (by a female journalist) whether men are allowed 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 97 to be addressed with the masculine, as for instance, pediatro (referring to a case which I discuss below), the former speaker having pushed to have feminine forms used in the chamber.17 On Boldrini’s linguistic choices for herself and other female politicians, Massimo Sgrelli,18 the President of the scientifc committee of Cerimoniale (a department of the government that deals with ofcial events of the Head of State) suggests that using the feminine forms is “una decisione istituzionalmente non corretta e monca” (an incorrect and incomplete institutional decision) based on the account that each word has an historical grammatical ending which is not connected to the gender of the referent/s. In the newspaper article in which his stance is published, he also states that feminine forms are detrimental to citizens who could be misled by these, compromising their understanding of the role. He insists that feminine forms are against the (Italian) Constitution, as there are no indications that support them. With regards to the view of the female minister Fedeli, Corriere della Sera, another daily newspaper suggests that the use of gender split forms is “un uso caricaturale del politicamente corretto”19 (a caricatured use of the politically correct). Tere appears to be a lack of gender specifc language on TV, (also discussed in Chapter 2) as national and commercial TV programmes continue to employ unmarked masculines to refer to, talk about, and address female professionals (in Chapter 4, I systematically investigate the media and explain their apparent stance).

Guidelines, Recommendations and Speakers: Friends or Foes?

In this section, I want to initiate a debate about the relation between recommendations and guidelines (as those discussed above) and the speakers. As suggested above, I believe this is a very important part of the discussion and the debate around changes in non-sexist use of language. Cameron (1995) asks how she could investigate whether non-sexist terms were rejected or adopted. She decides to explore reactions to guidelines implemented at a university while dismissing informal debate on the topic of non-sexist language and ‘politically correct’. 98 F. Formato

Conversely, I go through this route with the aim to discuss relations to grammatical norms, and wide perceptions on this controversial topic. In the following sections, I present some opinions of the speakers on this topic and conclude with possible explanations about why their opinion matters and what alternative can be used to recommend a fairer language. I frst report on commentaries found online and I then explain I survey I conducted in 2015.

Speakers’ Commentaries

I start by presenting some of the common remarks that I frequently encounter. One of the ways in which I systematically organise these commentaries is to take into consideration possible reasons attributed by the speakers when rejecting feminine forms. Mills (2008, p. 98) cites, among the reasons she encountered, the following: (1) Opposition to traditions of the language; (2) Te understanding that there are more important things to deal with; and (3) Te un-aesthetic nature of the new forms. To these, I add (4) (Mis)understanding of grammatical gender. Within reason 1—opposition to traditions of the language—I also include speakers’ perceptions, that make them see feminine forms as neologisms, or words recently created. I have chosen an article titled Infermiera si, Ministra no: se il femminile non è questione di grammatica (ma di potere) (Yes to nurse [fem], No to minister [fem]: if the feminine form is not about grammar [but about power]), shared on their Facebook page20 by the newspaper Il Corriere della Sera. Tis functions as an example of overheard commentaries on the topic of language and gender. In Table 3.1, I cluster speakers’ reasons for rejecting feminine forms in relation to the 4 categories presented above. Tere are 88 comments (some of which were comments upon previous comments), I here consider some telling expressions of disagreement, and stances against the use of the feminine forms, which were advocated by the article. As we can see from these views, they all seem to trivialise the debate, the main categories being the un-aesthetic nature of the forms, the ‘there are more important things ’, and the misunderstanding of grammatical 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 99 (continued) ] because this last [word] cannot be pro - It could be a limit of mine but this is fake prob - lem, a real parity has to be seen in relation dignity and pay gap The substance is important not the form, we always divert the attention to what is really needed in this country Translation If anyone would dare to call me architetta [fem] [they] would get punched in the face Ministra, avvocata, chirurga [fem] are problems that only somebody like Boldrini could raise Mine are not hesitations, some neologisms utterly awful and emphasise differences Ministra, sindaca, architetta [fem] are awful to hear! Listen…I am a woman and an architetto [masc— architect]. I do not want to be called architetta [fem] because I do not think it sounds good I want to be called ingegnere rather than ingeg - neressa [this does not exist, the feminine is ingegnera nounced. Oh well, this is about feminists wanting to overdo it! This is not about sexist language… ministra, sindaca, notaia [fem] do not sound good - architetta perché nu n se po sentí sindaca notaia non si possono sentire!!! Comment Se qualcuno osasse chiamarmi architetta si prenderebbe un pugno sul naso!! problemi che solo una persona come la boldrini poteva sollevare Sarà un mio limite, ma questo mi sembra “falso problema”; una reale equiparazione di dignità e retribuzione, mi sembra quello vero.. La sostanza non la forma …si sposta sempre l’attenzione sul necessario in questo paese! Non sono remore, certi neologismi vera mente orrendi e servono solo a mettere ancor più in evidenza le differenze Ministra, sindaca, architetta ecc……..non si possono sentire! Sentite…io sono donna e architetto …e non chiamatemi (written in roman dialect) Ma che sessismo lingustico fatemi il piacere.. ministra delle prio impronunciabile! L’esagerazione femministe! A me piace più essere chiamata Ingegnere piuttosto che Ingegneressa direi sia pro - Ministra avvocata chirurga sono solo dei - Speakers’ reasons for rejecting feminine forms in commentaries on a Facebook post shared by Il Corriere della Opposition to tradi tions of language There are more important things to deal with Un-aesthetic nature of the forms 3.1 Table Sera 100 F. Formato ] or

] but gram - Grammar suggests that there are masculine and feminine nouns, some are just masculine (they do not have the feminine form) and can be used for women too. It is stupid to accuse language of male chauvinism Translation When I was a child, wanted to be pilotO [the correct form is pilota which an epicene, here the speaker is being sarcastic], astronautO [the correct semi-epicene form is astronauta farmascistO [semi-epicene farmacista mar made me doubt my future and I had to see a psichiatrO [semi-epicene psichiatra] *this is a list of terms which do not exist but that want to resemble feminine forms - - - Comment Io da piccolo volevo fare il pilotO, l’astronautO o il farmacistO… poi la grammatica mi ha por tato dei dubbi sul genere… e sono fnito dallo psichiatrO!!! Ministressa, pilotessa, vigila, presidenta, inseg nanta o insegnantessa, dentistessa, militara, autistessa, notaiessa, muratora, piz uffciala, La grammatica dice che ci sono nomi maschili, nomi femminili, presenti solo in forma maschile (cioè che non presentano la forma femminile) che valgono anche per il femminile. Ed è stupido accusare una lingua di maschilismo zaiolessa, dottora, professora ….etc. (continued) (Mis)understanding of grammatical gender 3.1 Table 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 101 gender. It is interesting to see women commenting on how they want to be addressed in the workplace and their preference for unmarked masculines. Te misunderstanding of grammatical gender can also be seen as a backlash, where the trivialisation of terms that do not exist, could convince other speakers. It is not uncommon to hear camionisto, giornalisto (truck driver and journalist, respectively), as a justifcation for not wanting to use feminine forms. In a location on the East coast of Italy, I came across a sign, pediatro (used as an assumed masculinisa- tion of the feminine pediatra ), indicating the clinic of a paediatrician. Te sign had already been discussed in the media, and, in an interview, the doctor suggested: “da qualche anno - dice - non si fa che sentire (dal Presidente della Repubblica a scendere) chiamare alcune cariche al femminile tipo: sindaca, ministra, assessora. Secondo me è un’esagerazione, oltre ad avere un efetto cacofonico. E allora, visto che le donne ci tengono molto al femminile delle loro professioni o dei loro incarichi, ho deciso anche io, come uomo, di dare il maschile alla mia professione. Così da oggi ho cambiato la mia targa professionale scrivendoci al posto di pediatra pediatro”21 (it has been some years that the Head of State and others below him have started naming female professionals with feminine terms, for instance sindaca, ministra, assessora [councillor]. In my opinion this is an exaggeration, and it has a cacophonic efect. Terefore, as women are fond of having their roles in feminine terms, I decided that as a man, I want to give the masculine to my profession. As from today, the sign with my name is pediatro replacing pediatra ). Te paediatrician’s view confrms my decision not to ignore how speakers would comment and react to the debate, as this example shows the extent to which speakers are willing to re-afrm the ‘masculine as a norm’, despite clear grammatical rules. Having presented some of the commentary, I now move on to an experiment made with the intent of studying attitudes towards, and beliefs about, gendered language, in a more systematic way. Te reason for presenting the commentaries and the survey in two separate sub-sections, originates from the refections made once I had collected the results of the survey; more specifcally, I consider as relevant the demographics of those who completed the survey and the realisation that most of those surveyed were already familiar with the debate on sexist language. 102 F. Formato

Beliefs About and Attitudes Towards Gendered Language: A Survey

In 2015, I created a survey to provide a systematic understanding of beliefs about and attitudes towards gendered terms. In this section, I explain how I proceeded from the design of the survey to the methods of dissemination, concluding with its results and some fnal remarks. I started from the availability of the Italian language and its use (described in Chapter 2). I mainly based my questions on the problematisation of marked feminine forms. Te research question for this project is: What attitudes towards and beliefs about, do people have on gendered terms in Italian? Before I delve into the survey as such, I defne this investigative method with the following working defnition:

A survey […] provides a quantitative or numeric description of trends, attitudes, opinions of a population by studying a sample of that population. From sample results, the researcher generalizes or draws inferences to the population. (Cresswell 2013, p. 45)

I return to this defnition when I draw conclusions on this experiment, so as to discuss interesting remarks about the sample population and how this is afected by contextual factors.

Te Survey: From the Idea to the Design

Te steps that I followed are summarised in the list below and have been adapted from Cresswell (2013): Will the population be stratifed? If so how? I decided to stratify the population with the intent of investigating similar or diferent attitudes towards gendered terms. Te details I took into considerations are: (1) Language; I asked the respondents whether Italian was their native or non-native language; (2) Age; I divided the age range into: 18–28, 29–38, 39–48, 49–59, 60 and above; (3) Gender: woman, man, 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 103

I prefer not to say; and (4) Previous knowledge of or engagement with the debate on language and gender; where the options were: yes, no, I am not sure. I believe that this stratifcation was the most appropriate for my project with the aim of controlling factors which could have afected the results. Procedure for sampling these individuals (random, non-random). I decided that the sample had to be random, namely that “each individual in the population has an equal probability of being selected” (Cresswell 2013, p. 48). Content areas to be addressed in the survey. I decided to divide the surveys into three content areas, each one introduced with an explanation and instructions to follow. Open and closed questions were fea- tured in all sections:

• Gendered perceptions and symbolism. In this content area, I included some sentences extracted from newspapers articles (browsed through Google) and I asked the respondents to follow their intuition about what was the gender of the person addressed with the unmarked masculine; the options were: a man, a woman, I am not sure. Te six closed questions had their options shufed, which means that the options were not always in the same order. I decided to include I am not sure as an option rather than It could be both with the purpose of not suggesting answers to the respondents. I gave them the possibility of explaining the I am not sure in the open question at the end of this section. • Usages of Italian. In this section, I asked the respondents to indicate their most pertinent answers among those proposed in relation to: versatile masculines, i.e. masculine plural forms which plausibly refer to mixed-gender groups; epicene forms; female or male frstness, asymmetric terms, and feminine forms. I also asked the respondents to comment on the use of the forms that they believed to be more pertinent in institutional language, as this was the variety of language I was interrogating my respondents on. • Final part. In this section, I asked to what extent using feminine forms was important and if there was, in their opinion, a bias in referring to women with feminine forms in relation to their 104 F. Formato

competence (starting from the study conducted by Merkel et al. (2012), as reviewed in Chapter 2). I then asked respondents to provide comments on the survey and any reservations they might have on sharing their details. Respondents were also given the option to be informed, via email, of the results of the survey. Te survey can be found at the end of this chapter.

Procedure used to pilot or feld-test the survey. I decided to send the survey to two people before it was posted online, one academic in the feld of gender and language, and another randomly chosen among my personal contacts (a non-academic professional). I then revised the survey based on their feedback, mainly addressed at strategies for tack- ling possible leading questions. Timeline for administering the survey. Te survey was undertaken over a period of 7 months, from April 2015, when it was frst dissemi- nated, to October 2015. Tis time allowed me to gather what I thought to be telling and interesting insights into gendered language. What are the variables in the study? And how do these cross-reference with the Research Question and items on the survey? As explained above, I made sure that the questions, divided into content areas, would provide information about attitudes towards and beliefs of the speakers, rather than suggesting correct forms. In other words, the survey was speaker-oriented. How will the results be interpreted? While I had initial ideas about quantitative and qualitative methods (as outlined in this chapter), I had to take into consideration some factors that I had not anticipated, e.g. the high number of the female respondents (in comparison to male ones), their knowledge of the topic and the debate on language and gender. Once these were taken into consideration and the survey adjusted to its fnal version, I considered the alternatives in relation to its dissemination. As the survey was available through Google form, I decided to Tweet it and asked some key contacts to re-tweet it; I posted it on Facebook on my personal page as well as my Lingua di Genere page, and I sent some emails, all with the aim of reaching a 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 105 high number of respondents. In relation to ethics, the respondents were informed that the results would be published. I also emailed respondents once I had the results, to provide an update on the study they had participated in.

Discussion of the Results

At the end of the 7 months in which the survey was online, 180 surveys were completed: these will form part of this discussion. Firstly, the respondents were mostly native speakers of Italian (94.4%), however, more variety is seen in respect of age ranges, divided as follows: the younger band (18–28) counts for the highest percentage of respondents (36.7%), followed by the subsequent band (29–38; 33.9%). Te older bands (39–48, 49–59) have a lower percentage of respondents, 14.4 and 11.7% respectively, and the band 60 and above, is represented by just 3.3% of those who completed the survey. Te result concerning the gender of the participants—women 82.8%, men 15%, prefer not to say 2.2%—form part of the considerations about the initial random stratifcation of the sample and the obtained stratifed sample of the survey, that I discuss later in this chapter. In relation to the respondents’ knowledge and awareness of the debate on language and gender, 58.3% considered themselves in the ‘yes’ category, as opposed to the 38.3% who had not read or heard about the debate, and the 3.3% who admitted not to remember. In the introductory part of the survey, I also asked the respondents to provide their own perceptions (or knowledge) on Italian grammar, as misinterpretations of it frequently occur (as shown above). In Chapter 2, I explained the complex picture of grammatical gender in Italian; here I only present a simplifcation of the issues that can arise. Specifcally, I asked them to tick one of the three following options in relation to gender as a grammatical class: (1) Italian has masculine and feminine, (2) Italian has masculine, feminine and epicene forms, and (3) Italian only has epicene forms. 53.3% of the 180 participants believed that Italian is formed by only masculine and feminine forms, while 46.1% asserted that Italian 106 F. Formato also has epicene forms in conjunction with feminine and masculine ones. Te almost equal split is an important aspect of the misuse of grammatical gender in Italian, especially in relation to forms that refer to both women and men (epicene), possibly due to a lack of discussion about these forms in textbooks used in schools. For ease of discussion, I explain the results based on each section.

First Part: Gendered Perceptions and Symbolism

What emerges from this frst part is that while there are some trends, each term seems to have its own relation to perception and symbolism with regard to gender. For instance, the grammatical masculine ministro (minister) and avvocato (lawyer) are seen by the respondents as unmarked terms, that is, used for both women and men, in high percentages (49.2 and 53.1%, respectively). Te percentages of these two terms as referring to men only, are not greatly distant from the unmarked, 43% for ministro and 40.2% for avvocato, signalling the confusion that these terms can generate when exclusively used in the masculine form. Onorevole (MP) and presidente (Chair, Speaker, President), although coming from the same grammatical category—epicene—are treated diferently by the respondents: onorevole is seen as possibly referring to both rather than exclusively to women or to men only (61.2% for the category I do not know ) while presidente is mostly seen as a masculine term (63.5%). Furthermore, there is recognition that masculine forms in their plural forms are used as versatile for mixed-gender groups (89.4%). Ingegnere (engineer) is mostly seen as having male referents (58.7%), however, slightly more than 1/3 of the respondents thought they could also be unmarked (referring to either one or the other). In relation to the open questions, where I asked respondents to think about the reasons why they have attributed these terms to referring to men or to both women and men, (predictably, the percentages for these terms to refer to women are very low), there was a wide range of answers. Amongst these, there are some which are extreme, as illustrated below, with reference to age range, gender, and whether they are familiar (Y) or not (N) with studies about sexist language. Some of the 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 107 respondents have based their answers exclusively in relation to grammatical gender, as seen in the response below:

Alcuni dei termini utilizzati hanno un corrispettivo femminile, essendo utilizzati al maschile mi viene da pensare che si riferiscano a uomini, altrimenti si sarebbe utilizzato il termine al femminile. Some of the terms used have a feminine corresponding term, but as they are used in their masculine form I come to think that they are used to refer to men, otherwise feminine terms would have been used. 18–28, Woman, Y

From another grammatical perspective, a participant attempted to associate neutrality/genericity to some terms, when compared to others among those proposed in the frst part of the survey. Tey suggest:

Nella prima frase avvocato è usato come termine neutro, mentre il presidente, il ministro, l’ingegnere sono forme maschili. In the frst sentence avvocato (lawyer [masc]) is used as a neutral term while the presidente (chair, speaker, president [epic]), the ministro (minister [masc]), the ingegnere (engineer [masc]) are masculine forms. 18–28, I do not want to say, Y

Similarly, another respondent confesses to use some of these terms as unmarked forms:

Uso indistintamente alcuni termini, come avvocato o ingegnere sia per uomini che per donne. I use some of these terms, such as avvocato (lawyer [masc]) and ingegnere (engineer [masc]) for both men and women. 29–38, Woman, Y 108 F. Formato

In sharp contrast with the last two views, another respondent from an older age range suggests that these terms are used incorrectly as unmarked:

Uso improprio del maschile in guisa di neutro. Tese terms are used incorrectly as neutral ones. 49–59, Woman, Y

Some other responses have a mixed-approach, where the grammatical gender meets the symbolic social one, as seen with this woman who states:

Il maschile dei sostantivi (avvocato, non avvocatessa, per esempio) e il riferimento a cariche di potere, di gran lunga a maggioranza maschile. (I decided to select) the masculine form of the nouns (avvocato [masc] instead of avvocatessa [fem]) (on the basis of) the reference to positions of power, which are male-dominated. 39–48, Woman, Y

Te answers represented by the views reported above present what I have already referred to, that is an un-systematicity in understanding gender at the crossroad between grammatical forms and social symbolism, where the former has been modifed by the latter.

Usi Dell’Italiano (Uses of the Italian Language)

In this second part of the survey, I asked the respondents to choose among the options provided, which included feminine, masculine and semi-marked alternatives. Te questions looked like the ‘fll the gap’ exercises that are undertaken in school. Te results are interesting, and once analysed they introduced the questions that I deal with in more detail in my conclusions. In other terms, I asked myself whether the survey would have had a diferent outcome if more male respondents had taken part (only 15% in this experiment). In Table 3.2, 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 109

I summarise the fndings, starting from the open questions posed and their relationship with the options provided in the 5 (of the 6 questions) in this section of the survey. I had to exclude the question about the use of female or male frstness, this last chosen by 71% of the respondents, and the one on asymmetry between segretario and segretaria, as not enough information was given to provide a consistent result. I investigated whether the respondents chose: (1) More feminine forms and said that these were not those used in the language (scenario 1, see Table 3.2); (2) More masculine forms and said that these were those used (scenario 2); (3) More masculine forms and said that these were not used in the language (scenario 3); and (4) More feminine forms and said that these were mostly used in the language (scenario 4). Tis question compares the preferences of the respondents (guiding the answers to the questions and, possibly, their practices) and language used elsewhere. I also looked at those respondents who gave mixed feminine-masculine forms and who were uncertain about whether they were used or not, however, there were less than 10 occurrences of these, far fewer instances than those presented below. Table 3.3 summarises the results for the 4 cases outlined above (with absolute frequencies and percentages), answering the question: Are the forms you have chosen those mostly used? Table 3.3 shows that people who have chosen the feminine forms— e.g. ministra and ministre—also believe that these forms are not widely used, this reaching 63.5% of the result. 23.9% of respondents believe that the masculine forms that they have chosen are those mostly used in the language. Te other two results are based on respondents perceiv- ing that the masculine forms they have preferred are not those in use (7.29%), as well as those who chose feminine forms and suggesting that these are employed (5.20%). I isolated some comments which were provided together with yeses or nos, and here I discuss those that seem most telling and which demonstrate the complexity and the tension between grammar, society and personal opinion: 110 F. Formato Si (YES) No (NO) Si (YES) No (NO) Credi che le forme che sono pertinenti per te siano anche quelle più in uso? Are the forms you have chosen those mostly used? Ministra Feminine Ministro Masculine Ministro Masculine Ministra Feminine Nel consiglio dei Ministri, le donne (al singo - lare) dovrebbero essere chiamate: In the government, women (singular) should be addressed Ministre Feminine Ministri Masculine Ministri Masculine Ministre Feminine Nel consiglio dei Ministri, le donne (al plurale) dovrebbero essere chiamate In the government, women (plural) should be addressed Presidente Feminine Presidente Masculine/epicene Presidente Masculine Presidente Feminine Laura Boldrini e’…………………… della Camera dei Deputati Laura Boldrini is the……………… of the Camera dei Deputati Avvocatessa Feminine Avvocato Masculine Avvocato Masculine Avvocata Feminine In uno studio di avvo - cati, la Dott.ssa Rossi è………………………. In a lawyer partner frm, Dr Rossi is an… Scenarios investigating forms used and perceived as by the respondents of survey 4 3 2 1 Scenarios 3.2 Table 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 111

Table 3.3 Absolute frequencies and percentages of preference, use and, perceptions of feminine and masculine forms by respondents of the survey Are the forms you have chosen mostly used (elsewhere)? Si (YES) No (NO) AF % AF % Preferred/used forms (mostly) Feminine 5 5.20 61 63.5 by respondents (mostly) Masculine 23 23.95 7 7.29

Personalmente penso che la parola Ministra come Ministre non suon- ino bene. Penso anche che architetta non suoni bene, tuttavia penso sia importante che nella lingua italiana venga utilizzato di più il genere femminile per connotare una donna nella sua professione. Dunque anche se è desueto penso dovremmo abituarci a dire ‘Ministra’, ‘Avvocatessa’, etc. I personally think that the term ministra as well as ministre do not sound good. I also think that architetta does not sound good, but I think it would be important to use feminine terms in the Italian language to defne a woman in her profession. Terefore, even if these are not in use, we should get used to saying ministra, avvocatessa. 18–28, Woman, Y

I found the ‘un-aesthetic’ reason for not preferring feminine forms both interesting and strange at the same time. What changes is the fnal vowel, therefore the sound would remain very similar to the form that we have most likely heard more often in our lifetimes, i.e. the masculine. Some respondents emphasise the possible failed relation between fairer language and society admitting that:

Le forme che io uso sono quelle più comuni. E ribadisco: coniare nuovi femminili non fa sì che automaticamente le donne vengano considerate alla stessa stregua degli uomini. Te forms I used are more common. And I repeat it: creating new feminine forms is not directly related with the change in perception for women to be seen as equals to men. 29–38, Woman, Y 112 F. Formato

Tis seems to be related to the understanding that changing language does not contribute to a social repositioning of women in the public sphere. Focussing only on grammar, another respondent suggests:

Penso di sì. Non credo sia necessario creare un femminile apposito per tali termini, dato che avrebbe più un valore spregiativo (e sessista) che generi- camente distintivo.

I think so. I do not think it is necessary to create an ad hoc feminine term for those proposed as it would have a negative (and a sexist) meaning rather than being specifc. 18–28, Woman, Y

Both these respondents seem to argue that feminine forms do not exist and therefore they need to be created, reproducing the common understanding that the masculine is the original form, disregarding the nature of the grammatical class of gender. I believe that this is a legacy of how grammar is taught in school, e.g. in pairs, where, it goes without saying, the masculine comes frst, e.g. ragazzo–ragazza (boy–girl). Another interesting comment on similar premises is the following one:

Si. Francamente la mia femminilità e soprattutto il mio ruolo nella società non viene determinato da un cambiamento di una vocale alla fne di un sostantivo. Dimostro di essere donna tutti i giorni, facendomi rispettare. Yes. Frankly, my femininity and my role in society is not determined by a change in the vowel at the end of a noun. I prove to be a woman every single day, making myself respected by the others. 29–38, Woman, Y

Tese comments show that some speakers focus on their personal experience in relation to language used. Tis is understandable, specif- ically for the personalised questions of this survey. It is possible that a diferent outcome could arise with a focus group where speakers have a diferent perception. Some other speakers seem to dismiss the importance of feminine forms, suggesting that: 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 113

Credo che le forme esclusivamente femminili siano un retaggio del politicamente corretto. I think that exclusively feminine forms are a “politically correctness” legacy. 29–38, Woman, Y

Alcune forme sono in uso, altre no. Non le considero però una questione discriminatoria. Some forms are used, others are not. But I do not think it’s about discrimination. 29–38, Woman, N

Sì, senza connotazioni particolari, riferendosi unicamente al ruolo eser- citato e non al genere di chi lo esercita. Yes, without particular connotations, they exclusively refer to the role and not to the gender of the person who holds it. 29–38, Man, N

Tese views seem to present an apparent neutral view of feminine terms, yet, subtly, they seem to consider and confrm ‘masculine as a norm’, without problematising grammar and its relation with society and the social history of Italy. To end this section, dedicated to the second part of the survey, I present another view. Tis one seems to support the use of feminine forms and the role they can play in society, emphasising the lack of problematisation of some speakers with respect to feminine forms and the widespread knowledge that women, in order to be trusted, need to be addressed with the masculine form:

No, purtroppo molte donne pur di non veder sminuito il proprio ruolo preferiscono essere nominate con il maschile delle cariche. No, unfortunately many women not to see their role undermined prefer to be named with the masculine form of the job. 29–38, Woman, Y 114 F. Formato

Tis last comment is highly relevant to the overall argument put forward in this chapter, as well as in Chapter 2, that is, that unmarked forms are not neutral but are a deliberate and, as discussed before motivated, choice that tends to hide women and re-afrm the role of men.

End of the Survey

In this section, I discuss some of the comments provided by those respondents who completed the survey, before discussing some conclusive remarks of this chapter. I here (cherry-)pick telling chunks of the comments from the two main positions with the aim of ofering a balanced view: on the one side, those that advocate the use of the feminine for empowering women and, on the other, those that believe that the masculine is a harmless generic/neutral. Tese reproduce the tension between grammar (use and misuse of) and language as discourse in its bidirectional connection with society and culture. I divide the following sections into those comments which advocate the feminine forms and see them as empowering, and those which, on the contrary, perceive masculine language as neutral.

Advocating Empowerment Trough Feminine Forms

Most of the comments supporting the use of the feminine form question the incongruity of accepting some feminine terms as part of our culture and our language, while demonising the terms that refer to women in high-ranking professions, those which are held traditionally by men, as in:

Secondo me è molto importante utilizzare forme femminili quando si sta parlando di donne; nel modo in cui si utilizzano sostantivi quali maestra, infermiera, cuoca sarebbe doveroso utilizzare sostantivi quali sindaca, ministra, avvocata. Questa disparità d’uso rende chiaro che l’utilizzo molto limitato di questi ultimi sostantivi femminili è legato a questioni culturali e non linguistiche. 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 115

In my opinion, it would be important to use feminine forms when one is talking about women; in the same way one uses nouns such as maestra, infermiera, cuoca22 it would be appropriate to use sindaca, ministra, avvocata. Te diference in using these forms makes clear that the limited use of feminine forms is linked to culture rather than language. 18–28, Woman, Y

In support of an alignment between a recognition of changes in society and language, this respondent suggests:

Il riconoscimento della professionalità passa anche attraverso il riconoscimento del genere con uso di linguaggio adeguato. Te recognition of the professionalism goes through the recognition of gender with an appropriate use of language. 49–59, Woman, Y

Some other respondents are aware that society does not seem to be ready as yet, but advocate the use of feminine forms as a means to make women visible, as in:

Credo che sia importante rendere visibile la presenza femminile. Non credo che questo ne diminuisca la professionalità anche se secondo me ci vuole tempo perché questo diventi una realtà vera e propria. I believe that it is important to make women visible. I do not believe that this would diminish their professionalism, but I do think time is needed before this can be real. 48–59, Woman, Y

Credo che sia importante usare il femminile se la persona che rico- pre la carica e’ donna per dare visibilita’ al fatto che le donne hanno accesso a incarichi prestigiosi e che questo non rifetta una diferenza di professionalita’. I think it is important to use the feminine if the person who is in the role is a woman, in order to show that women can access high-ranking jobs and that this does not refect a diference in professionalism. 29–38, Woman, N 116 F. Formato

Sì, di sicuro. Se esiste la forma femminile di un nome, perché non usarla quando il referente è una donna? Yes, of course. If the feminine form of a noun exists, why would it not be used if the referent is a woman? 29–38, Woman, Y

I am not surprised that interest towards the marked ministra is great. Some respondents comment that it would function as a main term from which to build support for the advocacy of other feminine forms:

Sì, credo che sia molto importante il poter scegliere tra Ministra e Ministro sopratutto perchè il linguaggio ci permette di costruire immagini e creare una certa visione del mondo. I think it would be very important to be able to choose between ministra and ministro, above all because language allows us to build imagines and create a specifc vision of the world. 18–28, Woman, Y

La parola Ministra esiste, é una normalissima parola della lingua italiana, non vedo il motivo di continuare ad insistere sull’uso della forma maschile per le donne, sarebbe come volersi ostinare a dire “cameriere” alla ragazza che ci sta servendo al tavolo. Chi lo farebbe mai? Che senso avrebbe? Te word ministra exists, it is a very normal word of the Italian language, I do not see why one has to insist to use the masculine form for women, it would be like insisting to say cameriere (waiter) to the girl who is serving us at the table. Who would ever do that? How would this make sense? 18–28, I do not want to say, Y

In relation to the questions posed in this last comment, I agree that ‘policing’ the language only works for female referents; in fact, as widely discussed in this volume, men being seen as ‘the norm’, their role in society and, more specifcally, in working environments, is unchallenged and constantly legitimised through language and practices. 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 117

Advocating Harmless Generics

From a diferent perspective than the one discussed above, some respondents seem to turn the table and suggest that by failing to recognise that the masculine is neutral, speakers are focusing on diferences rather than accepting these forms as a sign of parity, as in:

Credo che il termine ministra sia poco utilizzato e che anzi stoni. Credo sua giusto declinare quando questo sia possibile e la lingua italiana lo con- senta (es. avvocato/avvocatessa) Altrimenti, declinare al femminile termini nati al maschile penso sia non solo poco elegante stilisticamente ma anche superfuo. Il genere grammaticale non dovrebbe infuire, il ministro è pur sempre il ministro, che sia uomo o donna. La tendenza a sottolineare la diferenza è anzi, secondo me, sintomo di una mentalità che ancora non riconosce appieno l’uguaglianza dei sessi. Ciò che conta è il ruolo rico- perto, la professione, comunque denominata, a prescindere dal sesso della persona. I believe that the term ministra is not widely used and that, on the contrary, is out of tune. I think it would be fair to use the feminine when the Italian language allows it (e.g. avvocato/avvocatessa ). Otherwise, to use the feminine forms of nouns which were born masculines is not only inele- gant in style but also superfuous. Grammatical gender should not be relevant, the minister is after all a minister, whether he is a man or she is a woman. On the contrary, the tendency to emphasise the diference is, in my opinion, a symptom of the mentality of those who do not recognize the parity of the sexes yet. What is relevant is the role that is held, the profession, however it is called, regardless of the sex of the person. 18–28, Woman, Y

Le competenze di una persona sono capacità intrinseche, che nulla hanno a che vedere col sesso. Usare la stessa forma sia per un uomo sia per una donna (vedi il caso “Ministro”) è sintomo di parità e di riconoscimento che il valore non si valuta secondo il genere. Te competences of a person are intrinsic, that have nothing to do with sex. To use the same form for a man and a woman (see the term ministro ) 118 F. Formato

is a symptom of parity and of recognition that the merit is not measured according to (the) gender. 18–28, Woman, Y

In reading the two comments immediately above, I realised that both use the term ‘symptom’ (which has possibly lost its metaphoricity from the health domain) for two diferent intentions. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, symptom is “[a]n indication of the existence of something, especially of an undesirable situation”.23 In the former, the ‘undesirable situation’ is a mentality for which women and men are diferent if we use feminine and masculine forms (possibly, the same essentialism and binary that Bengoechea (2015) herself questioned, as discussed in Chapter 2); while for the latter, symptom is used as a positive term to justify unmarked masculines (as I defned them, also in Chapter 2) or generics. Other respondents, similar to some of the comments reviewed in the section on commentaries above, report that feminine forms are ungrammatical and, therefore, incorrect:

Credo che non sia corretto utilizzare forme femminili inesistenti e sgrammaticate per non essere tacciati di sessismo. Preferisco intendere “Ministro” o “Presidente” sia al femminile che al maschile. I think that it is not correct to use feminine forms that do not exist and are ungrammatical because one has to fear to be called sexist. I prefer to intend ministro or presidente as both masculine and feminine forms. 29–38, Woman, N

Ci sono ruoli per i quali - data l’istituzionalitá o il prestigio - dovrebbe rimanere la forma tradizionale al maschile in ogni caso (presidente, ministro, avvocato, architetto,…) e altri per i quali si possono utilizzare il maschile per gli uomini e il femminile per le donne, senza ricorrere a stor- piature tipo ministrA o avvocatA. Tere are roles for which – given the authority and the prestige – should stay in the traditional masculine form anyway (presidente, ministro, avvocato, architetto…. ) and some others for which one can use the masculine for male referents and the feminine for female referents, without having to use [a] mangl[ed word such as] ministra or avvocata. 18–28, Woman, N 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 119

Te comment above seems to reproduce an opposite reality to the comment that, advocating feminine forms, suggests that some are used unproblematically and that this is a sign of a masculine society. Te comment above is in direct contrast to the earlier one that proposes that gendered language can exist and be used. Tis one advocates that feminine terms do not exist and this is why masculines should be used for female referents. To conclude, I provide a comment that suggests that the use of feminine forms would be patronising, as it would treat women diferently than men:

Io credo che Ministro, come Ingegnere (la mia professione) sia da consid- erarsi asessuato e quindi da applicare indiferentemente a donne e uomini. Dire ministra o ingegnera mi suona di paternalistica concessione. I think that ministro, likewise ingegnere (which is my profession) is to be considered as unisex and therefore to be used regardless for both women and men. To say ministra o ingegnere seems to me it would be a paternal- istic concession. 29–38, Woman, Y

Tis fnal point of view is an interesting one, suggesting that, if we had to use feminine forms, they would need the approval of men, and therefore, the situation would be little diferent from the already established norm.

Conclusive Remarks on the Survey

When I started this experiment, I was not sure how many people would participate and what outcome could be achieved in relation to the answers given. In the sub-sections above, I have attempted to systema- tise the diferent views of the speakers with the aim of presenting their perspectives. Te picture that can be drawn is a very fragmented one. Speakers mainly have personal opinions based on the jobs they hold, memories of what was taught to them in school, or what they perceive as natural or un-natural, based on what seems to be an arbitrary system of attribution of morphological units (something that is labelled ad personam sociolinguistic imaginary in Chapter 1). Another important 120 F. Formato point that needs to be made concerns the sample which I had in mind, in contrast to the actual one that completed the survey. Te gender of the respondents who completed this survey was not investigated so as to associate a binary, and possibly essentialist, relation such as ‘woman equals support for feminine forms’. However, the greater participation of women and, more importantly, the low(er) participation of men, poses interesting questions about who may be more engaged in this debate. Te qualitative analysis presented here shows that women do not have a straightforward preference for feminine forms, perhaps accounted for by the diferent experiences individuals have in relation to language, and their diferent roles and positions in society. A noticeable divide seems to emerge and it relates to whether fairer language is a political symbol (of a new imaginary yet possibly not less sexist) or a practice (of a more balanced society). Tis raises a concern about the motivated scepticism (from some respondents) towards language, and more specifcally feminisation, as being a real instrument through which society can be changed. I continue to discuss this theme in the overall conclusions.

Conclusions: Verbal Hygiene in Italian?

Having presented the debate from several points of view, I now draw conclusions on recommendations and guidelines, and speakers’ perceptions of language. Here I mainly revisit what has been discussed above, informed by the seminal work of Cameron (1995) and ‘verbal hygiene’ defned as “the urge to meddle in matters of language” (1995, p. vi). I dedicate this part of the chapter to speakers and their views with the aim of investigating diferent points of view. Cameron (1995, p. xii) is interested in the “hidden principles” of public debate on language. Moved by the same aim, I hope to have contextualised the view of the speakers in light of their observable rejection of language change and quasi-imposed instructions and recommendations from above i.e. from government institutions and the like. To start with I review the situation in Europe. Academic studies suggest that language planning and reforms have failed in some instances, 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 121 e.g. Icelandic (Grönberg 2002), Spanish (Nissen 2002; Bengoechea 2011), and French (Coady 2018), but have been successful in others, e.g. Swedish (Milles 2011). It is important to remember that the success or failure of reform is related to several factors, most importantly, as listed by Milles (2011, p. 22), the “unique properties of the language spoken, the language-planning organisation and the political climate concerning feminism in the society as a whole”. Milles (2011) reports that attempts to change Swedish have been successful in respect of lexis, for example, words used to describe feminine genitalia (as there was asymmetry of terms describing gendered genitalia). Tese changes were enforced by institutions and used widely in children’s books. Te fact that positive reforms have been implemented, reinforces the idea of Sweden being one of the most gender-equal countries in the world (confrmed by their position in the 2017 Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum, in which the country is ranked number 5 out of 14424). A diferent scenario is to be found with Spanish (based on the account provided, in 2011 by Bengoechea). Tere are several reasons why non-sexist language reforms and planning have been unsuc- cessful in Spain, and these explanations can also be used to explore the situation in Italy. While advocates of non-sexist Spanish do not seem to have the support of the Academy of the Language (Real Academia Española, the RAE), change in Italy does have the support of La Crusca (as discussed above). Te RAE (Bengoechea 2011, p. 39) suggests that split forms are unnecessary and artifcial, and recognises that unmarked masculines are to be considered neutral.25 A claim was made in the media about the RAE being male-dominated and the resulting infuence that this had on attitudes towards sexist practices in the language.26 Furthermore, among the reasons for the failure of institutional reforms, Bengoechea (2011) reports: (1) Te defciency in knowing what sexist language is; (2) Te understanding that making a document non-sexist is a clean-up rather than a spontaneous efort from the very beginning of the writing stage; (3) Funds were granted unsystematically; (4) Tere were no enforcement measures; (5) Teachers’ attitudes were not considered; and (6) Debate on the topic came from anecdotal evidence. I believe that some of the points made on Spanish, could be discussed for the Italian case as well. Firstly, there should be agreement on 122 F. Formato

Italian having developed as a masculine language, an idea that is paid insufcient attention by those who advocate feminine forms and who underestimate the disinclination for change. Secondly, speakers are not singularly asked to decide ‘where to stand’ in respect of language reform (or recommendations), but to consider and explore instead, notions of power and how men27 have traditionally dominated societies to the detriment and disadvantage of women. In other words, promoting gender fairness in language must be seen by, and conveyed to speakers, as one of the ways to acknowledge and to fght sexism as a “systematic and institutional problem” (Mills 2008, p. 99, my emphasis). With this in mind, I wish to clarify what I intend for institutional as I see this term related to (at least) two main strands. On the one side, I conceive of it in relation to political sites as well as the agenda from the ‘top’ (e.g. politics and its spaces, for instance, parliament) and on the other side, I see it related to “a[n established] convention or norm in a culture”, as suggested by the Oxford English Dictionary. Tese two dimensions are, in my work, strictly related, as unsystematic-ity at a political level mar- ries deep-rooted and conservative linguistic and cultural (‘male’ turned into ‘masculine as’) norms in Italian culture. In relation to the former, specifc speakers within institutions are sending a mixed-message (as presented above), rendering it possible that other speakers (and writers) might feel confused about the directions given to make language fairer (as discussed in Chapter 4). Tis not only gives support to existing reluctance and rejection but, in a worst fashion, could pressure speakers to adopt feminine forms, but as asymmetric to masculine ones. Because of this, recommendation, guidelines and other initiatives are, arguably, seen as being ‘prescriptive’, and thus have negative connotations; if we look at those building an argument for using fairer language through morphological specifcity, the speaker might ask: who is prescribing these forms, for whom? what are they prescribing and for what pur- poses? (Cameron 1995, p. 11). Here, we return to Sabatini’s suggestion, namely reforming language is like negatively evaluating the person, and, in a similar vein to Cameron’s argument on people’s “dislike, specifcally, [for] the politicising of their words against their will” (1995, p. 120). Similarly, Sapegno (2010) believes that speakers might feel forced to change their linguistic habits which “gratt[a] sui nervi di un automat- ismo acquisito” (disturbs an acquired automatism, 2010, p. 25). 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 123

I believe that this is especially true for guidelines ofered by institutions, considering the known distance between people and politics, not only on language matters but also, more broadly, on trust towards politicians which are seen as corrupted and interested in their own afairs rather than the wellbeing of society. Another mis-take is the reduced engagement, on the complex relation between grammatical and social gender, of some of those who raise their voices against unmarked masculines (and other discriminatory and women-shadowing forms). For instance, when capitano (captain) was used on TV for a female police ofcer, the debate in the media focussed on the use of the unmarked rather than the marked. However, the resisting voices failed to address that perceptions of the term capitana (as also confrmed in some dictionaries) see the marked term used to describe wives of a capitano and as a joke to intend women who are in charge of other women. Dictating to the public that capitana was the only choice that the authors of the series had to consider (and Italian speakers employ) was, in my opinion, a wasted chance to talk about grammatical gender in conjunction with asymmetrical meanings (for female and male terms) and real use. Terefore, while many of the initiatives have positive intentions, they fail to make an impact on a general audience who fnd shelter in known misconceptions about gendered language. Te two positions reported by Cameron (1995) on a similar debate concerning the English language, represent the core of the struggle between initiatives and speakers, that is the opposition between the understanding that “language refects society” of the former and “unnatural and unnecessary tinker- ing” (Cameron 1995, p. 19) of the latter. Based on the European experiences and policing language in Italy, I can conclude that in Italy there is a systematic lack of debate on sexist language (with some institutions, such as La Crusca, only focusing on job-titles from a grammatical point of view, disregarding asymmetrical meanings or indirect forms of sexism). Furthermore, recommendations coming from the ‘top’ with a quest to simply clean up administrative documents, have no enforcement measures. Tere seems to also be a lack of institutional eforts to act in schools in relation to materials, teachers’ training28 and support in all levels of education (see research 124 F. Formato conducted by Di Rollo (2010) and Ercolini29 (2010) for a project conducted in 2 schools in the Rome area). Precisely, each of these eforts remain sporadic and concern very few people.30 Primarily, as a corpus linguist, it is my belief that a response to anecdotal evidence rather than a systematic investigation of the language, is what has mainly hindered the cause. Te study on sindaco and sindaca in this volume, for instance, reveals that marked forms are used more than unmarked (although unexpectedly it might be for some), this attached to very interesting insights into how people think about roles occupied by women. However, while working on this chapter, I began to speculate that these initiatives are mainly put forward and advocated by women: the same women who are discriminated against in language, in their participation in institutions, and in the public and private spheres, as discussed in the following chapters. Tis resonates with the question that Cameron (1995, p. 122) extensively comments upon: who is to be the master? Here it is not about whether the people or the words are the master, but rather, who is attempting to subvert the masculine(ist) status quo of language and society. It cannot be a coincidence that the politician Laura Boldrini, the loudest voice on this and other gender-related topics (e.g. sexist advertising and the objectifcation of women) has been fercely attacked for her views and is constantly undermined. In other words, these initiatives (or individual stances) originate from the experience of women as historically belonging to a group that is peripheral to decision-making processes in society (with men as core members). I am not assuming here that all women feel peripheral. However, if those who are more visible raise their voices on the topic and articulate their belief that they have been mistreated by a sexist and gender imbalanced society, then the backlash they receive is precisely aimed at repositioning them as powerless in a natural gendered order. Men are rarely questioned about the language they use, they prefer, or they adopt to describe themselves. Tis is a given: if women stand up to social injus- tice, then it is seen as a form of rebellion. Tis is tied to Milles’s (2011) claim, which sees language planning and reform as strictly linked to gendered values in society. 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 125

Survey

Linguaggio di genere31 Salve. Mi chiamo Federica e sono una ricercatrice universitaria presso la Lancaster University (Regno Unito), (http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/ portal/en/people/federica-formato%283c1ec1f2-ac4a-49da-a1fc-14846 8a26e67%29.html). Questo questionario esplora le percezioni e l’uso di forme di genere grammaticale per uomini e donne in particolare quando questi occu- pano ruoli professionali. Non ci sono risposte esatte o sbagliate nel questionario, è un esercizio di onesta libertà di scegliere forme linguistiche che si è soliti usare o riconosciute come giuste/appropriate. I dati personali identifcabili non verranno riprodotti in pubblicazioni scientifche, contrariamente alle risposte che saranno oggetto di materia di studio. Per qualsiasi domanda in merito potete contattarmi su [email protected]. Vi ringrazio per la partecipazione. Durata Del Questionario: 5 Minuti. Dati personali L’Italiano e’ *

• La mia lingua madre • La mia seconda/terza lingua

Appartengo alla fascia d’eta’ *

• 18–28 • 29–38 • 39–48 • 49–59 • 60 e oltre

Sono *

• donna • uomo • non voglio dirlo 126 F. Formato

Hai mai letto “Lingua di Genere” o rubriche/pagine/studi accademici sul tema di linguaggio, genere e sessismo?

• si • no • non ricordo

Se dovessi descrivere la grammatica italiana, diresti che questa include:

• Il genere grammaticale (femminile e maschile) • Il genere grammaticale (femminile e maschile) e forme epicene (senza genere) • Forme epicene (senza genere)

Prima Parte PERCEZIONI E SIMBOLISMO DI GENERE Leggendo i seguenti estratti di articoli di giornale e partendo esclusivamente dalla tua intuizione, scrivi se credi che i titoli e/o cariche professionali si riferiscono a una donna, un uomo, un gruppo di donne o uomini. Se non sei sicur*, puoi selezionare “non so”. Una sentenza recente ha stabilito che l’avvocato ha diritto al com- penso solo se assicura al cliente una possibilità di vittoria:

• un uomo • una donna • non so

Il governo ha risposto all’appello immediatamente inviando il ministro. Ripristinata buona parte delle utenze anche se alcune zone ancora manca l’elettricità

• una donna • un uomo • non so 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 127

il giorno dopo la notizia dell’indagine nessuno risponde al citofono dell’abitazione forentina dell’ingegnere.

• Una donna • un uomo • non so

I ministri dell’istruzione superiore di 29 paesi europei si sono incon- trati a Bologna per sottoscrivere un accordo

• un gruppo di donne • un gruppo di uomini • un gruppo di donne e uomini

Onorevole lei ha avuto già modo di rappresentare la sua posizione

• un uomo • una donna • non so

Le più importanti sale di rappresentanza si trovano al secondo piano, insieme agli ufci del Presidente

• un uomo • una donna • non so

C’e’ qualcosa in particolare che ti fa pensare al genere della persona in questi estratti (e.g. forma grammaticale, stereotipo, etc) Campo non obbligatorio Seconda parte USI DELL’ITALIANO Secondo te, quale è la forma più pertinente tra quelle proposte? In uno studio di avvocati, la Dott.ssa Rossi è: 128 F. Formato

• avvocato • avvocatessa • avvocata

Laura Boldrini e’…………………… della Camera dei Deputati

• Presidente (forma maschile) • Presidente (forma maschile e femminile) • Presidenta • Presidentessa

Nel caso di termini plurali nelle due forme, sceglieresti

• uomini e donne/fratelli e sorelle • donne e uomini/sorelle e fratelli

Nel consiglio dei Ministri, le donne (al plurale) dovrebbero essere chiamate

• Ministre • Ministri donna • Ministri

Nel consiglio dei Ministri, le donne (al singolare) dovrebbero essere chiamate:

• Ministra • Ministro donna • Ministro

Segretario e segretaria (di partito, del capo):

• sono due lavori simili • sono due lavori diversi • non so 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 129

Credi che le forme che sono pertinenti per te siano anche quelle più in uso? Rispondi si/no e/o aggiungi un commento Fine Credi che sia importante usare forme grammaticalmente corrette (femminili per donne e maschili per uomo) o che questo non sia in alcun modo legato alle competenze della persona? Per esempio, la scelta tra Ministra e Ministro per una donna e’, secondo te, legata alla professionalita’ della persona che occupa questa carica? Puoi rispondere “si”, “no” e/o aggiungere un commento Hai dei commenti (sul questionario in generale, sulle domande, sui dati personali)? Scrivili qui o invia email a [email protected]. Se ti interessa questo argomento puoi anche seguire la rubrica “Lingua di Genere” (http://tinyurl.com/linguadigenere, facebook: https://www. facebook.com/LinguaDiGenere, twitter: lingua_genere). Se vuoi essere contattato per commentare le tue risposte o essere informato sui risultati, lascia il tuo indirizzo email qui Campo non obbligatorio.

Notes

1. http://www.sannioteatrieculture.it/main.php?vxCategoria lingua%20 = di%20genere. 2. http://eferivistafemminista.it/ and http://eferivistafemminista.it/writer/ alma-sabatini. Accessed 10 May 2017. 3. While my work embraces these lists, there are also theoretical diferences as I intend the term unmarked (as discussed in Chapter 2) to mean what society accepts as the ‘norm’, while she labels non marcato (for which a possible translation would be unmarked) those masculine generic terms in which both men and women are included, e.g. I diritti dell’uomo (men’s rights). 4. For instance, https://grammaticaesessismo.com/. Accessed 31 May 2018. 5. http://www.francescagagliardi.it/wp-content/uploads/00-codice-di- stile-cassese-1994.pdf. 130 F. Formato

6. http://www.funzionepubblica.gov.it/sites/funzionepubblica.gov.it/ files/documenti/Normativa%20e%20Documentazione/Dossier%20 Pari%20opportunit%C3%A0/manuale_di_stile.pdf. 7. http://www.provincia.bz.it/avvocatura/download/Richtlinien_ ita_m_Deckblatt_HP.pdf. 8. http://portalegiovani.comune.fi.it/allegati_doc/lineeguidagenere. pdf (Florence) and http://www.comune.modena.it/pari-opportunita/ pari-opportunita/progettazioni-azioni/allegati/progettogenereelinguag- gio.pdf (Modena). 9. Te MIUR seems to be interested in gender-related topics from a wide perspective. Tey have recently published a report on gender in academia, http://www.miur.gov.it/documents/20182/991467/Documento_+ Indicazioni_azioni_positive_MIUR_su_temi_genere.pdf/23e81cb6-f15a- 4249-9bd6-cf4fdcd113a8?version 1.0. Accessed 12 May 2018. = 10. http://www.difesa.it/Il_Ministro/Pagine/Biografa.aspx, http://www.salute. gov.it/portale/ministro/p4_3.jsp?lingua italiano&label ministro, http:// = = www.funzionepubblica.gov.it/il-ministro-marianna-madia. Accessed 11 May 2018. 11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v Wh5J8n2V7q0. Accessed 10 May = 2018. 12. http://www.adnkronos.com/2015/03/05/marzo-lettera-boldrini-parla- mentari_66iAmmKYW1VhnDfZI8p4OL.html?refresh_ce. Accessed 10 May 2018. 13. http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/it/lingua-italiana/consulenza-linguistica/domande-risposte/nomi-professionali-femminili. Accessed 10 May 2018. 14. http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/it/tema-del-mese/infermiera-s-ingegnera/. Accessed 10 May 2018. 15. http://espresso.repubblica.it/visioni/2018/01/04/news/ma-la-battaglia-sulle-parole-ha-davvero-senso-1.316689. Accessed 14 May 2018. 16. http://anarkikka.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2018/01/14/oh-capitana-mia-capitana/. Accessed 14 May 2018. 17. https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/premium/articoli/il-sesso-dei-mestieri- cara-boldrini-vogliamo-il-pediatro/. Accessed 14 May 2018. 18. http://www.afaritaliani.it/culturaspettacoli/boldrini-e-l-uso-del-femminile-per-le-cariche-pubbliche-e-incostituzionale-458567.html?refresh_ ce. Accessed 29 May 2018. 19. https://www.corriere.it/opinioni/17_aprile_19/ministra-fedeli-discorsi- toto-568ef39a-2452-11e7-9ccc-1412672da04e_amp.html/. Accessed 14 May 2018. 3 Feminine Forms Between Recommendations and Usages 131

20. https://www.facebook.com/corrieredellasera/posts/101549004 34362530?match aW5mZXJtaWVyYSxtaW5pc3RyYQ%3D%3D. = 21. https://www.ilmessaggero.it/primopiano/cronaca/medico_scrive_pedi- adro_sulla_targa-1968921.html. Accessed 14 May 2018. 22. Maestra (teacher), infermiera (nurse), cuoca (cook). 23. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/symptom. Accessed 12 May 2018. 24. http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2017/dataex- plorer/#economy SWE. Accessed 14 May 2018. = 25. http://www.rae.es/consultas/los-ciudadanos-y-las-ciudadanas-los-ninos- y-las-ninas. Accessed 14 May 2018. 26. https://elpais.com/diario/2010/11/20/opinion/1290207605_850215. html. Accessed 14 May 2018. 27. I here use the term ‘men’ as a generalisation for those who have mostly occupied positions of power within institutions and who have instructed the ancient and the modern world with laws and ways of conceiving gender. 28. Eforts are indeed sparse, one example in favour of non-sexist material is discussed here: http://amsacta.unibo.it/2976/1/ BUSINARO_-_2009.pdf. Debate on this topic is also sporadic, see https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2018/04/08/stereotipi-nei-libri-di-scuola-uomini-cavalieri-e-scienziati-donne-casalinghe-maestre-o-streghe-e- il-sole-picchia-la-luna/4267931/. 29. Ercolini (2010, p. 146) argues that the Sui Generis project has been useful to raise awareness on the topic but it needs continuity, support from libraries, a wider interest (e.g. the whole education system should favour a fairer use of language) and teachers need to be instructed on how to use and teach a gender specifc language. 30. Te Associazione delle donne in rete (Association of networking women) has petitioned to have gender parity in school books in relation to the representation of gender. Tis remains an initiative of a small group of people despite having, arguably, gained national interest on social media, see http://www.donneinretefg.it/2018/04/20/vogliamo-li- bro-di-testo-rispettosi-del-linguaggio-di-genere-e-senza-stereotipi/. Accessed 14 May 2018. 31. Te survey was online from April to October 2015 at the address: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeW4A8tdSSf_Pnc8 UYCZwuIqI-lOTo0aVySgc2t_xlmUmmXAA/formResponse. 132 F. Formato

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In this chapter, I present insights into gendered language and language construction of identities in relation to women in the public sphere. Te analyses originate from grammatical infections as well as attitudes, as discussed in the previous chapters, with the aim to show how grammatical and social gender are seen in practice. Each language phenomenon introduced below is examined and discussed with an ad hoc methodology, set of data and theoretical background. Tese phenomena are grouped here in relation to the peculiarities of the public Italian sphere and, more specifcally, politics as a gendered space in which women have only recently been increasing their participation. I start by conceptualising the public sphere, move on to explore the perception of gendered language by a specifc speaker in the public sphere and then the reception of it in the media. Next, I move to an investigation of the forms sindaco/a (mayor) before presenting an analytical framework which I develop to analyse the sexual terms used to attack women in politics (specifc people as well as the idea of women in a male-oriented space). I conclude with an analysis of frst person plural forms (pronouns, verb endings, clitics) and how they are interpreted so as to construct identities inside and outside the Italian parliament.

A Gendered Public Sphere

I begin by explaining how and why I see the public sphere as containing layers of gender as, for me, this forms a key part of how language is used by, for, and about women in politics. As Koller and Wodak (2008) point out, the public sphere goes beyond physical spaces and “meanings are articulated, distributed and negotiated” within it (2008, p. 1). As discussed by Koller and Wodak, these meanings, articulated, distributed and negotiated through language, start from the opposition between ‘public’ and the ‘private’, and, as Cameron (2006) suggests, they can be seen in relation to gender. Cameron (2006) pushes the boundary of what is ‘public’ and argues that public sphere analysts should also look at the issue of authority. Women, in fact, have had access to and participated in some kinds of public settings (entertainment, for instance), where authority (in/through language) is less salient with respect to institutional spaces. Research undertaken in this area has looked at how men and women use language in politics, the police force, and leadership roles, discussing and examining how language is perceived in relation to coded gendered styles, e.g. people- oriented (feminine) versus task-oriented (masculine) (see Holmes 2006; McElhinny 1997, 2003). In relation to these spaces, Mullany (2007) encourages further studies that have at their core the (institutional or workplace) public sphere, arguing that studying women in these spaces also contributes to the understanding of the “crucial, organizing principles within [these] institutions” (2007, p. 3) and, more broadly, in society, as these institutions are seen as decision-making and authoritative spaces. More specifc to the Italian context, I advocate Cameron (2006) and Baxter (2006), who, supporting Walsh (2001), propose that one looks ‘locally’ in order to explore the relation between the public and private organisation of gender historically and culturally based contexts. It is in these contexts that a specifc discourse is reinforced and ideologies surrounding languages appear. In their book Gender, power and political speech, Cameron and Shaw (2016) consider how authority is vehiculated in the talk of female and male politicians, through language styles which have been attributed to masculinity and, somewhat 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 137 consequentially, to the public sphere, e.g. interruptions, un/invited turns, adversarial/supportive speech (defned as production ). Teir work also focuses on how three female party leaders in the UK 2015 general election, were represented in the UK media (reception and representation ), based on the idea that “the media are an infuential source of the opinions and viewpoints with which people engage in the process of forming their own judgements” (2016, p. 80). However, what could be defned as a mismatch between how gendered language operates in Italy and the UK, in relation to the grammatical properties, the context and society diferences and perceptions of grammatical gender (as explained in Chapters 2 and 3), is what drives me to consider other aspects of language in the public sphere. Te terms production, as well as reception and representation; they here borrowed and adapted, and are investigated, explored and explained below.

Gender Counts: Language Ideologies and Ad Personam Sociolinguistic Imaginary in Practice

In the introduction, I discuss the notion of ideology and have kept this in mind in all language aspects covered so far; I take it in further considerations in this chapter and in Chapter 5. Te idea that speakers (as individuals or as a group) have their own understanding (and therefore use) of the language is central in this book. Tis section aims to demonstrate that the manipulation of grammatical terms, revisited through their availability (see Chapter 2) can be a powerful tool in creating imbalanced language and social imaginaries. To prove how this seems to be easily accomplished, I review one episode which sparked a gendered debate on language and roles in politics, focusing on ideological production—language used by speakers underlying their ad personam ideological imaginary—and reception—commentary given on speakers’ choices by the speakers themselves and the media. In early 2013 and in 2018, voters in Italy elected the composition of the parliament which, in turn, voted for the Speakers of both chambers. In 2013, Laura Boldrini was voted to become the Speaker of the Camera dei Deputati. She was 138 F. Formato possibly the frst to explain that the term Presidente, i.e. the one that described her role, was an epicene noun, that could be used for both women and men, and that gender could be specifed through the satellite elements (adjectives, articles, past participles, etc.). Boldrini’s entry on the website of Legislatura XVII (parliament 17) clearly refects her language ideological production: the main page describing her role is titled La Presidente1 and all other links equally refer to her using this epicene noun. Boldrini being vocal about gendered language meant that some people—many appreciating her work and aligning with her political ideas—referred to her as Presidenta or Presidentessa, using the, arguably common and known, gendered morphological infections—a or the sufx -essa. Satirists, as well as some of her colleagues, did not let this pass unnoticed and the reception to her word choice was widely commented upon. For instance, Alfo Krancic, a cartoonist working for the right-wing newspaper Il Giornale, published a cartoon strip in which someone asks Boldrini if she had any thoughts of becoming prime minister: Presidenta cosa ne pensa di una sua probabile candida- tura come premier? (Speaker [fem*] what do you think about a possible candidacy as Prime Minister [masculine]) with Boldrini replying Premiera, please. Te satire around the feminisation of titles is the main point of this strip, and confates many interesting insights into the gendered use of language. First, the use of the ungrammatical Presidenta, followed by the assumption that Premier, being borrowed from English, is masculine2 and, to fnish, a critique of what is seemingly the only interest of Boldrini, namely the feminisation of language. Tis incipit is useful in providing the background of how Boldrini intended gendered language (ideological production ) and how it was received (reception ) and is necessary to fully understand the episode that is discussed next. Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, a right-wing member of parliament elected in the general election of 2018, became the frst female Speaker of the Senato. In the very frst days of her mandate, while leaving a theatre in Genova, she was asked by one (male) journalist if she preferred Presidente or Presidentessa. Te quick answer she provided, as she walked past the group of journalists that were waiting for her, was Presidente.3 From that moment, newspapers—arguably, those that did 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 139 not align with Boldrini’s presidency in the 2013–2018 parliament— signalled and made relevant the diference between her preferred (feminine) title (assuming and reported as she wished to be referred to as Presidentessa) and the thought-to-be masculine title chosen by Casellati. Te right-wing newspaper Libero wrote the following headline to report the news: La Casellati polverizza Laura Boldrini: “Presidentessa? Per favore… ”4 (Te Casellati pulverises Laura Boldrini: “Presidentessa? Please”) adding a chunk of conversation which had not occurred in the video they were referring to, referenced above. Similarly, the right- wing Il Giornale newspaper reported the encounter as follows: Casellati: “Presidentessa? No. Chiamatemi Presidente ” (Casellati: “Presidentessa? No. Please use Presidente ”5) re-composing the conversation that the Speaker had with the journalists—through the use of direct speech conventions—as with many other newspapers and media outlets. Moderate Il Corriere della Sera interrogated Facebook users on the topic by post- ing the video6 and the question Che ne pensate? (What do you think about this?), unleashing comments similar to those reviewed and discussed in Chapter 3. Tese examples all contributed to attack Boldrini and, consequently, the eforts that linguists, activists and Boldrini herself devoted to fairer language. In a Tweet, she explained that her choice was no diferent from the one made by Casellati; in commenting on the newspaper Libero’s reporting of the news, she tweeted: Non ho mai chiesto di essere chiamata “Presidenta” o “Presidentessa”, ma la Presidente come peraltro stabilito dall’ @Accademia della Crusca. Per il vostro giornale invece non riesco a trovare appellativi, né al maschile né al femminile. (I have never asked to be addressed as Presidenta or Presidentessa instead of the [feminine] Presidente as also stated by the Accademia della Crusca. On the contrary, I cannot fnd any way to describe your newspaper, whether (grammatical) masculine or feminine). My main concern here, however, is the media’s manipulation of grammatical gender and, more broadly, of gender. By efectively creating a non-existing war between the two women, the media seemed to have reproduced the gendered idea that women do not collaborate with each other, foment- ing the harsh judgement towards the whole category of female politicians. Te Presidentessa (and Presidenta) afair diverted the attention 140 F. Formato from ideological production to a war between women. Specifcally, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati efectively decided to use the masculine satellite elements and be addressed as il Presidente in her role as the Speaker of the Upper Chamber. In an interview to a political TV show Matrix, she was introduced as the frst woman in the role, and asked the following (J journalist, C Casellati): = = J: Innanzitutto una precisazione anche per noi. La Boldrini dice ‘la presidente’, lei invece come si vuole far chiamare? C: No! Mi faccio chiamare ‘il presidente’ perché ritengo che non ci sia bisogno di un articolo femminile per rivendicare la parità. La parità è sostanza, non è forma. E quindi il richiamo all’articolo femminile piuttosto che a sostantivi, anche cacofonici come “la ministra” evocano queste battaglie veterofemministe7 che ormai sono superate dai tempi. Oltretutto qui c’è anche un altro problema, c’è un risparmio di spesa perchè avrei dovuto cambiare tutto dalla cancelleria, alle etichette, e per i tempi che corrono non è un problema certamente banale. J: To start with, a clarifcation for us [journalists]. Te Boldrini says la presidente, how do you want to be addressed? C: No! I want to be addressed il presidente because I believe that a feminine article is of no need to lay claim to gender equality. Gender equality is substance over form. Terefore, the reference to the feminine article as well as [fem] nouns such as ministra which are cacophonic, echo dated feminist battles that are now deemed over. Moreover, there is another problem, this is a fnancial saving as I would have had to change everything from the stationary to the labels and in this moment of crisis this is something important to take into consideration.

In this extract, Casellati gives her reasons for using an unmarked masculine for the satellite elements (assuming she knows that the term itself is an epicene), that is: (1) the relevance of substance—allegedly policies—rather than the form—i.e. the language—in relation to gender equality; (2) the sound property of feminine nouns; (3) the link to feminism (with a sarcastic remark conveyed through the prefx vetero ); and (4) the austerity remark on having to change headed documents. Te frst three reasons are among those that are frequently employed 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 141 to criticise and trivialise feminine language (as discussed in Chapter 3). Each of them could be deconstructed from a discourse and ideology point of view. Te previous chapters, as well as the analysis ofered in this, demonstrate that the substance concerning gender equality is still out of reach for many Italian women, who are battling to overcome invisible gendered barriers that seem to trap them within the private sphere or a delimited public sphere, as argued by Cameron (2006) in the UK context, i.e. show-business or traditionally female roles. As a linguist, it is still difcult to comprehend the explanation about a cacophony of sounds. Tis is not a remark to disregard, because, as illustrated in Chapter 2, for some speakers this is widely considered a meaningful explanation, here defned as ideological production. While Casellati, and some others, do not seem to admit it, a specifc ideology (found in the ideological production ) and degrees of “thinking for speaking” (Alvanoudi 2014, p. 73) are involved. Here we go back to the metonymy of men being the salient referent to the category ‘human being’ (Martin and Papadelous 2017, p. 40). Casellati sees the masculine as prototypical of the category ‘politicians’, “consist[ing] of more representative or prototypical members” (Alvanoudi 2014, p. 53) and seems to believe that masculine language should represent the whole social category, in what can be defned as an idealised cognitive model. In order to justify this, she refers to outdated feminist battles that have no standing in the present. Today, it is not common to use the term ‘feminism’ and the argument of feminist battles in derogatory terms; therefore, when Casellati does, it seems to underlie her own anti-feminist feelings which, arguably, appeal to a sexist and gendered imbalanced society, such as the Italian one. Te other explanation she ofers, to factually maintain the (male-oriented) status quo through language, is austerity, referencing the unnecessary waste of money the Chamber would have to sustain to change headed stationery. Te problematisation here is how to use gendered language and how personal ideological productions (originating from an ad personam sociolinguistic knowledge and imaginary) might clash with how language is used by and within institutions. For instance, inconsistencies appear in the ofcial website of the Senato that refers to Casellati as Senatrice (Senator [fem]), while avoiding articles in some key sections when referring to her 142 F. Formato as Presidente. On the page introducing the Speaker, the website uses the marked masculine when narrating events, as for instance: Il Presidente del Senato alla Conferenza dei Presidenti dei Parlamenti dell’Unione europea (Te [unmarked masc] Speaker of the Senate at the Conference of the Speakers [versatile masc] of the Parliaments of the European Union). Te ofcial Twitter account follows this trend, as for instance: Senato Repubblica @SenatoStampa #25aprile8 73° anniversario della #Liberazione. Il Presidente del Senato #AlbertiCasellati con il Presidente della Repubblica #Mattarella e le più Alte cariche dello Stato all’Altare della Patria (#25april 73th anniversary of the #Liberazione Te [unmarked masc] Speaker of the Senate #AlbertiCasellati with the Head of State #Mattarella and the highest ofcials of the State at the Altare della Patria). Similarly, the website of the Quirinale (the institution led by the Head of State), as well as its Twitter account, uses the masculine generic, as in Mattarella ha afdato il compito al Presidente del Senato di verifcare l’esistenza di una maggioranza parlamentare9 (Mattarella has entrusted the [unmarked masc] Speaker of the Senate to verify the existence of a parliamentary majority). However, some links to videos on the Quirinale website address her with the marked feminine satellite elements as in Il Segretario Generale della Presidenza della Repubblica Ugo Zampetti comunica l’afdamento del compito di verifcare l’esistenza di una maggioranza parlamentare alla Presidente del Senato (Te General secretary of the Presidency of the Republic Ugo Zampetti announces the entrustment to the [marked fem] Speaker of the Senate to verify the existence of the parliamentary majority).10 To those who are unfamiliar with the Italian language and context, it might be difcult to believe that such grammatical inconsistencies, ones which tend to disregard standard grammatical rules, can appear in ofcial websites, sparking such harsh debate. Similar inconsistencies are heard in the news, for instance, Casellati is referred to with the unmarked masculine and one of the Deputy Speakers with the marked feminine in the same report. What is evident, is how language is used to manipulate the role of women in politics (from a personal and a political perspective) and how an ad personam sociolinguistic imaginary (as discussed in Chapter 1), proper to specifc speakers, can reproduce the linguistic and political struggle of the participation of women in the public sphere. To illustrate this, and from a quantitative perspective, below I conduct a study of a specifc form of reference, namely sindac- (mayor). 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 143

Gender Counts: Sindac- as a Form of Reference

In this section, I investigate the job-title sindac- (mayor) as a grammatical root for gendered morphological infections, i.e. unmarked masculine sindaco [singular] and the marked sindaca [feminine], together with other gendered forms used for this job-title (a list of the forms is presented below) when referring to female mayors. Tis investigation follows two previous works undertaken on the same topic; the frst is an investigation into forms of address in parliamentary debates (2008–2011) used by male and female MPs when starting their interventions (Formato 2014, reviewed in Chapter 3) and the second, an examination of the forms of reference Ministra (marked) and Ministro (unmarked) in three daily, widely sold newspapers (Formato 2016). Te fndings portray a ‘male as a norm’ situation, in which unmarked masculine forms exclusively used for women are predominant in both sets of data—parliamentary debates and newspaper articles. Te investigation into Ministra and Ministro also shows that the unmarked masculine is seen as more ofcial, used in conjunction with the name of the ministry—e.g. Ministro dell’Istruzione (Minister of Education)—and the name of the minister—Ministro Maria Elena Boschi. Te unmarked is also used with adjectives that signal status and competence (e.g. com- petente ). On the other hand, the marked feminine form, less widely used, seems to be employed as an anaphoric reference, followed by punctuation or zero (meaning nothing) and employed with adjectives that signal physical appearance, geographical origin and competence. Te marker competence is a gendered one as the terms in this group, for instance, brava (good), collocate with women-related terms when cross- checked in a larger corpus (itTenTen, 2 billion words, accessed through Sketchengine, Kilgarrif 2012), e.g. madre (mother). Tese two studies drove me to investigate more forms used in the media to reference women in specifc political ofces, as, for instance, mayors. Political circumstances, as discussed below, guided my investigation of the gendered term of reference sindac- (root for mayor). I decided to address the following research question: What gendered forms are used in three Italian newspapers to refer to three female candidates for the role of mayor in three pre- and post-elections? 144 F. Formato

In the following sections, I explain in detail how the study has been conducted, starting with the corpus built for this investigation.

Construction of Corpus and Methods

Te corpus for this investigation takes into consideration the relevance of the newspapers in relation to their sales fgures, three female mayors, three diferent periods—preceding and following the election—and a range of gendered forms. I explain the reasons for conducting this investigation below. First, the political circumstances were favourable: in 2016, Rome and Turin, among other cities in Italy, were called to elect their new mayor and, being the capital and one of the major city respectively, extensive coverage was dedicated to the female and male candidates. Two female politicians, Giorgia Meloni (also referred as GM in this chapter)— from the right-wing party Fratelli d’Italia (FDI, Brothers of Italy), and Virginia Raggi (also referred to as VR)—from Movimento 5 Stelle (5 Star Movement, M5S), ran for the role in Rome while only one woman, Chiara Appendino (also referred to as CA)—from Movimento 5 Stelle (5 Star Movement)—ran for the ofce in Turin. Virginia Raggi and Chiara Appendino passed the frst round of the elections (5 June 2016) and became mayor of Rome and Turin respectively, on 19 June 2016. Tey defeated Roberto Giacchetti in Rome and Piero Fassino in Turin, both representing Partito Democratico (Democratic Party). Second, I take into consideration the periods in which these politi- cians11 were engaging with the elections, that is three months before the elections, three months following the elections and the three months (fourth, ffth and sixth month) after the elections. More specifcally the three periods are:

• 1 March–19 June, pre-election, referred to Period 1 in tables and in the chapter • 20 June–30 September, immediately post-election, referred to Period 2 in tables and in the chapter • 1 October–31 December, late post-election, referred to Period 3 in tables and in the chapter 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 145

Te rationale for investigating these periods is to ofer a systematic analysis into changes based on the events that followed the elections, e.g. the accusations made against Raggi of having corrupt activists in her team, and how these might provide insights into the use of unmarked masculine and marked feminine forms used to refer to her. As for Meloni, I can only consider the pre-election period March–June, as she did not pass the frst turn; I include her, however, because I wish to investigate similarities and diferences with the other two female candidates who are representing a diferent political alignment. Tird, I examine three newspapers, each appearing on the list of Italy’s highest selling newspapers (2013), and therefore, those which can be considered as representative of a wide audience across the country. Tey are Il Corriere della Sera (CS henceforth), La Stampa (LS henceforth) and Il Resto del Carlino (RC henceforth). Tese are the same newspapers used to conduct my investigation of Ministra and Ministro (2016). Te dataset was collected through the database Nexis, selecting the names12 of the mayors and the periods of interest within the three newspapers. I considered the occurrences appearing everywhere in the texts. After the texts were collected from the database, I proceeded to clean the corpora by deleting information that was not relevant to the analysis (e.g. dates, categories imposed by Nexis). In Table 4.1, I present an overview of the number of the newspaper articles and the number of words in the three main corpora—Virginia Raggi corpus (also named Raggi corpus), Chiara Appendino corpus (Appendino corpus) and Giorgia Meloni corpus (Meloni corpus)—and their sub-corpora divided into newspapers and periods as explained above. Table 4.1 shows interesting patterns, which can be explained in relation to the newspapers under review. For instance, there is a considerable diference between the articles dedicated to Virginia Raggi and those to Chiara Appendino in CS and RC, while the Turin candidate has more than double the number of articles referring to her in LS. Tis is not coincidental and can be explained by where the newspapers are published. CS and RC are two national newspapers with headquar- ters in Milan and Bologna, respectively—and therefore with little specifc interest in the candidates of Rome and Turin—while LS was frst 146 F. Formato No. of words 239,237 407,644 227,789 874,670 131,993 230,109 126,992 489,094 90,435 1,454,199 Total Articles 538 357 534 767 288 534 298 1120 481 3589 No. of words 23,854 42,240 25,644 91,738 8717 12,640 3935 25,292 27,281 144,311 RC Articles 106 178 108 392 27 58 14 99 133 624 No. of words 47,097 86,678 45,114 178,889 95,263 153,891 103,738 352,892 33,558 565,339 LS Articles 95 179 101 375 219 359 249 827 60 1262 No. of words 168,286 278,726 157,031 604,043 28,013 63,578 19,319 110,910 29,596 744,549 CS Articles 337 559 325 1221 42 117 35 194 288 1703 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 Periods Number of words and newspaper articles divided into mayors, newspapers pre- post-election periods (Candidate) Mayors Virginia Raggi Total VR Total Chiara Appendino Total CA Total Giorgia Meloni GM Total Total (VR, CA, GM) Total 4.1 Table 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 147 founded in Turin (in 1867) and is possibly more inclined to cover, or simply be interested in, events from their own geographical area. In relation to political afliations, one can argue that CS and RC are moderate while LS is left-wing. When I was conducting research on the pair ministro/ministra, I attempted to fnd more information about the political alignment of these printed and online media but encountered difculties as it is the directors and editors who seem to dictate the orientation of the newspapers. In relation to the data, the comparison should have been done between LS and a daily newspaper widely distributed nationally, and with a headquarter in Rome, such as La Repubblica; however, this newspaper is not available to consult (or its articles to collect) from Nexis. Notwithstanding where it was founded, CS seems to have extensively covered the pre- and post-election events of Virginia Raggi. Due to these diferences, normalised frequencies (on the basis of 1000 words) are calculated in order to provide consistent and solid results. Te language investigation includes marked, unmarked and semi- marked gendered forms (see Chapter 2 for an explanation) as listed in Table 4.2, forming the analytical framework for the quantitative analysis: Tese are the forms that were searched in the corpus (and sub-corpora, see Table 4.1), through the corpus tool Lancsbox (Brezina et al. 2015). Sindaca, sindachessa, sindaco, la sindaco and sindaco donna were searched individually, while candidato sindaco, candidata sindaca and candidata sindaco were searched through the wild card *, namely candidat* sindac* was inserted into the search box and then manually coded in its marked (candidata sindaca ), unmarked (candidato sindaco ) and semi-marked (candidata sindaco ) forms.13 It is worth remember- ing that the forms investigated all refer to female mayors, meaning that the same forms used to refer to: (1) male mayors, specifcally in the unmarked terms, e.g. sindaco and candidato sindaco and (2) female mayors, diferent from those whose corpus is based on, e.g. terms referring to Meloni or Appendino in the Virginia Raggi corpus, were manually excluded from the Excel spreadsheet in which the quantitative analysis was conducted, together with those forms which were used inside direct speech (as these might not be the newspapers’ choice). Te use 148 F. Formato Semi-marked Social marking Marked Marked Marked Unmarked Unmarked Semi-marked Semi-marked Masculine singular (noun), feminine (modifer) Grammatical marking Feminine singular Feminine singular gender agreement between the two forms Feminine singular, Masculine singular Masculine singular (pre-modifer), masculine (noun), masculine gender agreement between the two forms Feminine singular (article) and masculine (noun) Feminine singular (pre-modifer), masculine (noun), no gender agreement between the two forms Gendered forms investigated in the corpus of three newspapers, periods and female mayors (lady mayor) Gendered form Sindaca (mayor) Sindachessa (mayor) Candidata sindaca (candidate mayor) Sindaco (mayor) Candidato sindaco (candidate mayor) La sindaco (the mayor) Candidata sindaco (candidate mayor) Sindaco donna/donna sindaco 4.2 Table 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 149 of sindaco as referring to the job itself (a phenomenon that is labelled as personalised masculines in Chapter 2), namely without reference to a name, and the occurrences of these forms to debate the use of the feminine or masculine forms were also excluded. Examples of these are as follows:

Di quante persone ha bisogno un sindaco per fare un sindaco? How many people does a mayor [masc] need to perform their role as a mayor [masc]? LS, Period 2, Appendino corpus Quindi non c’è alcun dubbio: per la lingua italiana e le più recenti indicazioni della Crusca, Virginia Raggi è la sindaca di Roma. Terefore, there is no doubt: for the Italian language and the most recent recommendation of the Academia della Crusca, Virginia Raggi is the mayor [feminine] of Rome. CS, Period 2, Raggi corpus

Tese two examples show that the analysis is committed to exclusively examine the forms which refer to the female politicians. In relation to ideological production, as discussed above in the case of choices made by Boldrini and Casellati, Virginia Raggi suggests that, in an interview given to CS (seen in the sub-corpus for period 3), her population seems not to be concerned by the debate on feminine (or masculine forms), avoiding the need to question whether she prefers the feminine or the masculine form.14 At the moment of her election, Raggi explained that she was planning to be the sindaco di tutti (mayor [unmarked masculine] for everybody) However, her Twitter account carries the marked feminine form sindaca.15 In relation to the mayor’s ideological production, there is no indication of the choice between the feminine or the masculine in the corpus of Chiara Appendino, therefore, I refer to her Twitter page to provide a hint for which forms she is likely to adopt for herself. She indicates her role with the marked feminine.16 It is difcult to say what forms Giorgia Meloni would have adopted as she did not become mayor and no indication is given in the corpus collected, however, she uses the feminine politica (politician [marked feminine]) in her Twitter profle. Te information about 150 F. Formato these politicians’ ideological productions could be useful in relation to the results, as considering the hypothesis that journalists might use the forms that these (candidate) mayors prefer, cannot be ruled out. It is unavoidable to note that, similar to the previous analysis, grammar is manipulated to ft within personal ideologies. Other forms that could be used to address these politicians do not form part of this study, e.g. la grillina (the grillina, lit. little grillo [feminine]) for Raggi and Appendino, an adjective grammaticalised into a noun, which originates from the name of the leader of the 5 Star movement, Grillo. To recap, the corpus includes three newspapers, LS, CS, RC, three periods, pre- and post-elections, and three female politicians who ran for the ofce as a mayor in Rome and Turin. Tis corpus is investigated in relation to marked, unmarked and semi-marked forms of references with the aim to provide answers to the research question formulated above.

Quantitative Results

In this section, I present the results of the investigation, the methods and dataset of which are presented above. For ease of discussing a solid argument, I divide the results into three subsections, one dedicated to each female politician, before drawing some broad conclusions on gendered forms used in these newspapers when referring to Virginia Raggi, Chiara Appendino and Giorgia Meloni.

Giorgia Meloni

Te frst politician for whom I present the results is Giorgia Meloni, from the right wing Fratelli d’Italia. In relation to sexist remarks, a male politician aspiring to be the mayoral candidate for the right coalition at the time of the election, suggested that Meloni would not run for mayor as her role as mother-to-be would confict with the role as a mayor, which he described as difcult and busy. Solidarity with Meloni was expressed broadly from other women already in politics and from the other candidates. She received 265,736 votes, being the 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 151 PTW 0 0.09 0.14 0.24 Total AF 0 9 13 22 PTW 0 0.14 0.07 0.21 RC AF 0 4 2 6 PTW 0 0 0.05 0.05 LS AF 0 0 2 2 PTW 0 0.16 0.30 0.47 CS AF 0 5 9 14 Results of gendered reference forms used to refer Giorgia Meloni in the pre-election period three Gendered forms Marked Candidata sindaca Unmarked Candidato sindaco Semi-marked Candidata sindaco Total 4.3 Table newspapers 152 F. Formato third highest candidate in the run for this ofce. It is for this reason that I have only collected newspaper articles for the pre-election period, namely March to June 2016. Analysis on how Meloni is referred to in the newspapers seems not to provide interesting insights into how she is addressed, as the job-title is used to refer to her only 22 times. As per the 22 occurrences, she is addressed with marked, unmarked and semi-marked forms, presented below in absolute frequencies (AF) and normalised frequency for 1000 words (PTW), based on the number of words of each sub-corpus, as follows. As we can see from Table 4.3, the most used form is the semi-marked candidata sindaco (13 AF, 0.14 PTW), specifcally in CS (0.30 occurrences in 1000 words), as in the following example:

La candidata sindaco e leader di Fdi è tornata poi ad attaccare la data del voto, che probabilmente sarà fssata al 5 giugno. Te candidate [marked feminine] mayor [unmarked masculine] and leader of FDI (Fratelli d’Italia ) criticized the date of the vote again, which will probably be 5th of June. CS, Period 1, Meloni corpus

While the marked form is never used, the second highest form employed is the unmarked masculine, with similar frequencies as in:

Il candidato sindaco di Roma Giorgia Meloni ha incontrato i vertici della comunità ebraica capitolina Te candidate mayor [unmarked masculine] of Rome, Giorgia Meloni, has met the leaders of the capital’s Jewish community. CS, Period 1, Meloni corpus

Te numbers of occurrences found in this analysis are small, yet can be compared with the two M5S mayors in the pre-election period.

Virginia Raggi

Virginia Raggi is a lawyer and female activist of the M5S; in her late 30s, she is the frst ever woman to be the mayor of the capital and her 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 153 programme, stemming from the movement she belongs to, focuses on fghting corruption17 (of which the former mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino, was accused, leading to his resignation). However, Raggi was at the centre of a discussion about her own anti-corruptions ideals, when one of her Council Member’s, Paola Muraro—responsible for the environment—was given a notice of investigation for alleged environmental crimes. Muraro later resigned, with the approval of Raggi, who had at frst attempted to defend Muraro’s position. In Table 4.4, I present the results of the investigation of gendered forms used to refer to Raggi in the three newspapers and three periods under examination. I consider the most-used forms, namely unmarked sindaco, marked sindaca and other semi-marked forms in the two periods following the election18 and the marked, unmarked and semi- marked forms of candidat* sindac* in the pre-election period. Te following table includes absolute frequencies (AF) and normalised frequencies per 1000 words (PTW) based on the number of words for each sub-corpus (as presented in Table 4.1. When only one period is investigated, I proceeded with the normalised frequency of the corresponded sub-corpus or when only two periods out of the three are present in the table, I consider the total results normalised based on the sum of the number of words of those two periods only). Table 4.4 shows interesting patterns. If we start with marked, unmarked and semi-marked forms used for Raggi, we notice that the fully marked candidata sindaca is only used in the second period, i.e. immediately after the post-election, while the unmarked is used more consistently in the frst and the second periods (only CS) and, the semi- marked in the three periods (CS, RC, LS). A plausible explanation to use forms which refer to a mayor in ofce still as a candidate, is to recall the events or promises made, as in the following example (of marked form):

Il 20 marzo l’allora candidata sindaca di Roma Virginia Raggi prom- ise: «Una cosa che faremo di sicuro è cambiare il management di Acea». On 20th March, the then candidate [feminine] mayor [feminine] of Rome Virginia Raggi promised: “we will defnitely change the management of Acea”. LS, Period 2, Raggi corpus 154 F. Formato 2.51 0.03 0.004 0.03 0.07 1.86 2.66 2.49 0.02 0.53 0.41 0.84 0.10 0.06 0.008 0.007 0.22 0.01 0.002 0.03 0.004 0.004 PTW 2198 33 1 13 19 1629 606 1017 6 466 95 346 25 58 2 3 53 10 1 9 2 2 AF Total 3.22 0.14 0 0.02 0.50 1.51 1.87 2.15 0 1.42 1.55 2.05 0.16 0.14 0 0.02 0.50 0 0 0 0 0 PTW 296 13 0 1 12 139 48 91 0 131 40 87 4 13 0 1 12 0 0 0 0 0 AF RC 2.63 0.06 0.02 0.05 0.12 2.07 3.21 2.58 0.06 0.43 0.31 0.71 0.04 0.04 0 0 0.16 0.01 0.01 0 0.01 0.01 PTW 472 12 1 5 6 372 145 224 3 78 14 62 2 8 0 0 8 1 1 0 1 1 AF LS 2.36 0.01 0 0.02 0.005 1.85 2.63 2.51 0.01 0.42 0.26 0.70 0.11 0.06 0.01 0.007 0.19 0.05 0 0.05 0.003 0.003 PTW 1430 8 0 7 1 1118 413 702 3 257 41 197 19 37 2 2 33 9 0 9 1 1 CS AF 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 2 1 2 Periods Gendered forms used to refer mayor Virginia Raggi in CS, LS and RC one pre-election period two Overall total Total Semi-marked La Sindaco, Donna Sindaco/sindaco donna Total Marked Sindaca Total Unmarked Sindaco Total Semi-marked Candidata Sindaco Total Unmarked Candidato Sindaco Total Marked Candidata Sindaca Gendered forms 4.4 Table post-election periods 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 155

While there are only few occurrences of this in the whole Raggi corpus, the most frequent occurrences of these forms can be found in period one, across all newspapers, particularly in its semi-marked form. Tis, as also described in Chapter 2, seems to be a compromise between the fully marked or unmarked forms; however, it is the job-title which goes unmodifed, therefore the half-way in which the speakers meet feminine forms, is the pre-modifers—candidat*—which have less gender weighting with respect to the job-title—sindac*. RC uses more semi-marked forms (PTW 0.50), followed by CS (0.19) and LS (0.16). RC is also the newspaper which exclusively uses the semi- marked form—one example of which is presented below, as marked and unmarked are never used:

La conferma arriva da Virginia Raggi, la candidata sindaco di Roma, l’unica che il leader abbia incontrato a lungo prima dello spettacolo di giovedì sera Te confrmation arrives from Virginia Raggi, the candidate [marked feminine] mayor [unmarked masculine] who was the only one to have prolonged contact with the leader before the show on Tursday night. RC, Period 1, Raggi corpus

CS is the only newspaper that uses unmarked forms for the candidate mayor of the Italian capital, employed together with semi-marked ones. Tese are also used in Meloni corpus, as investigated above. If we move to the second and third period, therefore forms of references used after the elections (from 20th June until December), the results show that the feminine form is the most used, i.e. across the three newspapers, sindaca is used more than sindaco (period 2: 2.49 PTW for the marked form, 0.84 for the unmarked, period 3: 2.66 for the marked, 0.41 for the unmarked). In relation to sindaca (marked form) CS and, particularly, LS, seem to increase its use from period 2 to period 3 (CS- period 2: 2.51, period 3: 2.63, LS- period 2: 2.58, period 3: 3.21) while RC decreases its use (period 2: 2.15, period 3: 1.87). Similarly, the unmarked sindaco shows a decrease in its use in the three newspapers. Tis form is mostly used in RC while there is a substantial diference between the employment of sindaca and sindaco in CS and LS. 156 F. Formato

Chiara Appendino

Chiara Appendino is a M5S activist in her early 30s; with a background in management, she announced her candidacy for mayor in November 2015, having held the ofce of councillor in Turin for 5 years. In the period investigated,19 her mayoralty did not see any major scandal in the period under investigation (unlike in the case of Virginia Raggi), and was in the spotlight mainly for her projects, e.g. Turin as a vegan city. Similar to the study conducted for Virginia Raggi, Table 4.5 presents the results of the forms used to refer to Appendino20 in the three periods and three newspapers. Table 4.5 shows the employment of marked, unmarked and semi- marked forms. Before I compare these with the other two politicians— GM and VR in the pre- and post-election periods—I discuss how the forms are used to refer to the Turin mayor. In the pre-election period, LS seems to prefer the marked forms (LS 0.41 PTW, CS 0.03, RC 0) more than the semi-marked form (0.07) in contrast to both CS and, specifcally, RC which seem to employ this, namely candidata sindaco (CS 0.14 PTW, RC 0.12). None of the three newspapers use the unmarked form candidato sindaco to refer to Chiara Appendino. Only two occurrences of the fully marked candidata sindaco in LS occur in the third period while one occurs in the second period in RC, while most of them are used, as expected, before she undertook this role. If we move to the periods 2 and 3, we see in all three newspapers that the marked form is used more than the unmarked (marked: period 2, 2.49; period 3, 2.66. Unmarked: period 2, 0.84; period 3, 0.41), with an increase in the use of sindaca in all three newspapers from period 2 to period 3 and a decrease of sindaco in the passage between the two periods. Examples of use of sindaca and sindaco are as follows:

L’espressione di voto ha scatenato i commenti, molti a favore della sindaca ma anche alcuni molto duri nei suoi confronti. Te intentions of vote have unleashed some comments, many in favour of the mayor [feminine], others very harsh against her. CS, Period 3, Appendino corpus 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 157 PTW 0.31 0.004 0.01 0.08 0 0 0.09 0 0.02 0.06 0.45 0.17 0.27 0.03 2.31 3.1 1.9 0 0.008 0.007 0.006 2.3 AF Total 41 1 2 44 0 0 12 0 12 9 105 22 136 5 532 394 931 0 2 1 3 1126 PTW 0 0.07 0 0.03 0 0 0.12 0 0.03 0 0.63 0.5 0.03 0 1.1 2.28 0.9 0 0.07 0.25 0.07 1.46 AF RC 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 8 2 10 0 14 9 23 0 1 1 2 37 PTW 0.41 0 0.01 0.11 0 0 0.07 0 0.01 0.06 0.39 0.1 0.22 0.05 2.85 3.31 2.23 0 0 0 0 2.59 AF LS 40 0 2 42 0 0 7 0 7 6 61 11 78 5 440 344 789 0 0 0 0 916 PTW 0.03 0 0 0.009 0 0 0.14 0 0.03 0.1 0.56 0.46 0.43 0 1.22 2.12 1.07 0 0.01 0 0.009 1.55 AF CS 1 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 4 3 36 9 48 0 78 41 119 0 1 0 1 173 Periods 1 2 3 1, 2, 3 1 2, 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 Gendered forms used to refer mayor Chiara Appendino in CS, LS and RC one pre-election period Gendered forms Marked Candidata Sindaca Total Unmarked Candidato Sindaco Total Semi-marked Candidata Sindaco Total Unmarked Sindaco Total Marked Sindaca, Sindachessa Total Semi-marked La Sindaco Total Overall total 4.5 Table two post-election periods 158 F. Formato

Sul sindaco ora è scontro tra donne. About the mayor [masculine], the clash is now between women LS, Period 3, Appendino corpus

Te examples taken from a list of occurrences can only present an initial picture of insights into the morphological infections (either marked or unmarked). In the following sections, I compare the three politicians in relation to pre-election forms and the two activists in the forms used in the two periods following the elections.

Pre-elections

In Table 4.6, I report the normalised frequencies based on 1000 words of the three politicians, GM, VR and CA and investigate whether there is homogeneity in the choice of marked, unmarked and semi-marked forms for the three politicians. When comparing the three politicians, we notice that there are some diferences in the forms used. Chiara Appendino is the only one among the three to be referred to with the marked form sindaca, specifcally in LS which seems to adopt this form consistently (PTW 0.41). Te explanation for this might be, as anticipated, the geographical closeness in relation to where the newspaper is founded and her mayoralty, both in Turin. Te unmarked form is used for GM almost exclusively and, specifcally, in the two arguably moderate newspapers, i.e. RC and CS. Tis form is alter- nated with the semi-marked one which is used more than the unmarked form, in CS and RC. Meloni is a candidate mayor from the extreme right, and the newspaper LS, left-winged based in Turin, dedicates to her marginal attention (only 60 articles in the period March–June 2016 compared with 288 for CS and 133 for RC). As for VR, the form that is preferred by the three newspapers is the semi-marked with the highest normalised frequency in RC. While it is not the focus here to investigate individual newspapers, it is peculiar that Meloni is referred with two forms in RC, the unmarked and the semi-marked, while Raggi and Appendino only with the semi-marked. My speculation is that this either has to do with the very masculine space of the party led by Giorgia Meloni, a post-fascist party, or with the personal choices of journalists who write for this newspaper. 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 159

Table 4.6 Frequencies for thousand words of marked, unmarked and semi- marked forms in the three newspapers Markedness CS LS RC Marked GM 0 0 0 VR 0 0 0 CA 0.03 0.41 0 Unmarked GM 0.16 0 0.14 VR 0.05 0 0 CA 0 0 0 Semi-marked GM 0.30 0.05 0.21 VR 0.19 0.16 0.50 CA 0.14 0.07 0.12

Post-election

I here move the focus to the comparison between Raggi and Appendino, the two elected mayors of Rome and Turin respectively, in the post-election periods. Te table presents the results in the three newspapers and the commentary underneath aims to provide insights into the diferences and similarities found. I focus on marked (sindaca ) and unmarked (sindaco ) as semi-marked in the two post-election periods are not widely used: Table 4.7 introduces some of the diferences between the use of marked and unmarked forms in the corpus of VR and in the one of CA. Marked forms—i.e. the feminine one—rises more sharply used than unmarked form—i.e. the masculine ones in the three newspapers and the two periods under investigation. Te tendency for VR is that the marked forms increase from period 2 to period 3 in CS and LS, but they decrease in the chronological passage between the second and the third periods in RC. Te unmarked forms decrease in all newspapers between the frst three and the second three months of her mayoralty in Rome. As for the unmarked forms, VR seems to be referred to with these more specifcally in RC (PTW 2.05), as the results are almost equal to those for the marked option. Te trend is more stable for CA, with the use of marked form always dramatically higher than the unmarked form in the three newspapers, the former surging from one period to the other, the latter decreasing from period 2 to period 3. 160 F. Formato

Table 4.7 Frequencies per thousand words of marked and unmarked forms for Raggi and Appendino in the post-election periods in the three newspapers CS LS RC 2 3 2 3 2 3 Marked VR 2.51 2.63 2.58 3.21 2.15 1.87 CA 1.22 2.12 2.85 3.31 1.10 2.28 Unmarked VR 0.70 0.26 0.71 0.31 2.05 1.55 CA 0.56 0.46 0.39 0.10 0.63 0.50

Discussion of Results

In light of these results, I provide the answer to the research question What gendered forms are used in three Italian newspapers to refer to three female candidates for the role of mayor in three pre- and post-elections? Te results show that semi-marked forms are used in the pre-election period—i.e. candidata sindaco—while marked forms are used in the two post-election periods, i.e. sindaca is preferred. Te use of sindaco in the semi-marked form and the use of sindaca in the marked form from before and after the election, can be read in relation to the use of sindaco as a false neutral, based on historical understanding that the role is male and that this represents the norm, while the use of sindaca in the following periods can be related to the person (referred to as candidata ) in the pre-election period. Te change from the unmarked masculine to the marked feminine for sindac- lies in the ‘imagined role’ referred to with the masculine and the gender of the person covering that role referred to with the feminine (but not always) for female mayor. Tese results are diferent from those of ministr-, for which the masculine form was statistically signifcant in three newspapers, and in the months and years under investigation. Tis is interesting from several points. First, it demonstrates how gendered language can be and is used in the media, yet nuances of what roles are more acceptable for women might be taken into consideration. In the idea of prototypes for social categories, afecting the ways in which gendered language is used, speakers might assign diferent roles and acceptance for these roles to women and men. In other terms, what seems less likely—a woman in the role of minister—is refected in the higher use of unmarked masculines, while what 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 161 could be perceived as more likely—a woman in the role of a mayor— encounters fewer linguistic obstacles. I emphasise fewer as, for instance, Virginia Raggi was still asked if she preferred the feminine or the masculine form, and unmarked masculines still appear in the three corpora, particularly in the case of Giorgia Meloni. To conclude this investigation, I accept that marked feminine forms can be fairly used to refer to female politicians, as in the case of sindaca in the corpora explored above. However, as other investigations found diferent results, I was moved to consider if there could be a specifc intention, in some cases, if not all, to use feminine forms to comment on the wrongdoings of, or signal a negative perception towards, the female politicians. With this doubt, I attempted to explore positive and negative prosodies although quantitatively unsuccessfully. Te coding to unravel the perception of the journalist proved to be difcult and replicability of the investigation was seemingly impossible to guarantee. Considering what was discussed in the qualitative analysis of il presidente and la presidente and the manipulation that followed by the media, I rest my case in the possibility that feminine forms are used, yet with a likely derogative re-semantisation, a term which I use originating from semantic derogation. Semantic derogation occurs when “terms which have been associated with women or with femininity have historically become pejorative” (Mills 2008, p. 56). In my data the historical dimension is not as strong, as I have discussed how these terms have recently appeared and made the news, however, one cannot exclude the need to manipulate the feminine to give the audience another chance to blame women through language (while in appearance pleasing them with the form), therefore labelled as a derogative re-semantisation. Tis can be seen as pessimistic, yet the social and grammatical climate in Italy seems to hint at this possibility.

Gender Counts: Sexual Sexist Terms

Te shift from ideological production, as discussed above, to representation is made relevant in the analytical framework created to investigate sexual terms to attack female politicians in Italy (Formato 2017). Te 162 F. Formato rationale lies in developing a consistent method that categorises language and what it constructs and represents in relation a social positioning of women in the public sphere, more specifcally in politics. I have explained that Italy seems to have an obsession with female beauty, this leading to an objectifcation of women. However, I do not disregard that sexism is alive and well when judging women in politics worldwide, as investigated, among others, by Bengoechea (2011), Garcia-Blanco and Wahl-Jorgensen (2012), and Cameron and Shaw (2016). For these reasons, I argue that this framework can be used and adapted to investigate other social and cultural contexts. Italy, quite properly, received international and national, assiduous attention when Silvio Berlusconi was Prime Minister, in relation to the sexist remarks he would make in public (against women and LGTB people) as well as the scandals that erupted in 2011 (see Chapter 1). Other sexist incidents which, as discussed below, involve members of other political parties, similarly constructing the imbalance between men and women, these last perceived as unsuitable to operate in the public sphere. At the core of the attacks, there is an accepted arrangement of gendered roles, women in the house/men in powerful public spaces which is, in the view of many, allegedly subverted by women who enter politics. Journalist Filippo Maria Battaglia published a book titled Sta zitta e va’ in cucina. Breve storia del maschilismo in politica da Togliatti a Grillo (2015, Shut up and go to the kitchen. [A] Brief history of male chauvinism in politics from Togliatti to Grillo) where he chronicles episodes in which women in politics were seen through the lens of their roles as mothers and sexual objects. While his chronicle expands from the beginning of the Italian republic in 1946, we identify and discuss similar episodes which have happened more recently. Te attacks that I discuss, and the systematicity across parties, shows that there is a deliberate defence of the ‘male as a norm’ discourse in which not only are women seen as ‘interlopers’ (Cameron 2006) but also as damaging a natural order in the public sphere. Te sexual terms used and the innuendos made are meant to strike at the dignity of women as a category, in order to prove their inability, based on ‘ofences’ (real or just presumed), to be an active part of ruling institutional bodies. In other words, possible wrongdoings are made relevant 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 163 through language used to attack these politicians in relation to their gender rather than their politics. Language, as discussed below, is only used to address women in politics and no similar examples can be found for men, partly because some terms are gendered and there is no cor- respondence (e.g. puttana/whore), and partly because a man who is involved in sexual activities is seen at the top of his virility (as seen via the support that Berlusconi received during the sexual scandals). One fundamental circumstance is that both men and women use sexist remarks because, however oddly this may appear coming from women, at the core of the attacks there is the ideal male-oriented arrangement, that is also promoted and perpetuated in policies and politics. Te analytical framework takes into consideration two perspectives: on the one hand, the representation of others and, on the other hand, self-representation. Both perspectives address the problematisation of women in the institutional public space. Tis is contextualised in the literature on similar topics. For instance, Cameron and Shaw (2016) investigated the coverage of the election in 2015 in which three women took part as leaders of their party (Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish National Party, Leann Wood, Plaid Cymru and Natalie Bennett, Green Party). Te fndings show that they were described in a variety of negative and positive ways, yet even the positive ways had a patronising undertone. Relating to my study, Cameron and Shaw discuss an image representing Sturgeon “astrid[ing] a wrecking ball dressed in a tartan crop top and knickers” (2016, p. 96), arguing that sexualisation is a known repertoire from which to draw on, as women are oversexualised more broadly in the media (see also Gill 2007). From a diferent perspective, Walh- Jorgensen (2015), in a report on the 2015 UK elections, describes how masculinity is undergoing changes in British politics, with male candidates being shown in their kitchen cooking or preparing meals.

The Analytical Framework

Te framework used to investigate some episodes (from 2011 to 2014, see Formato 2017) is here reproduced and adopted to look at more recent occurrences. Figure 4.1 shows the framework as divided into its core components and information. 164 F. Formato

Communicative function Language Peculiarities

private events that allegedly gossip happened and are known to the general public

presumed events or a traditional understanding of women's Sexual terms stereotypes activities in the public and private spheres

affirmation of women’s subordinate positioning in- self-representation between private and public spaces.

Fig. 4.1 Analytical framework developed to investigate sexual terms used to attack or self-represent female politicians

First, I consider language as a starting point, and in this case a specifc semantic feld, namely Sexual terms or innuendos. Tis constrains female politicians within a social domain of sexual activities, therefore, foregrounding their (factual or alleged) private life. Second, what I refer to as communicative functions—gossip, stereotypes and self-representation. In investigating the episodes, I realised that there was background information which could not be detached by the terms that were used. Tis information was related to the seemingly known (gossip) or expected facts (stereotypes) which could have triggered the use of the sexual term or the innuendo. Tis is a crucial distinction that shows how female politicians are either accused for their actual private life— which becomes public domain and a terrain to interrogate their capa- bility—or accused on the basis of how (part of) society would expect women to behave in their private life, and more specifcally, in relation to entering the public sphere. Both the former—gossip—and the latter—stereotype—are conveyed through language and become currency to evaluate women’s suitability and competence. On this topic, Battaglia (2015, p. 24) reports the experience of Teresa Mattei upon entering the Italian parliament as one of the frst female MPs in 1946; male MPs 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 165 welcomed her and the 20 other female MPs by hinting that there was an “interesse per le più carine, tutto un chiedere con chi erano state a letto per essersi potute guadagnare quel posto” (interest for the ones who looked better, asking who they had slept with to have earned that position). Gossip and stereotypes are purposively used in an arena where speakers and hearers seem to share a known ground. Based on this, I support Mills’ argument on stereotypes, namely “some perceived or imagined aspect of some members of an out-group behaviour is hypoth- esised and then that feature is generalised to the group as a whole” (2008, p. 126). Te other communicative function is self-representation. Tis concerns the representation that female politicians choose for themselves in relation to sexual terms or innuendos. Tis is not to say that they necessarily oppose the gender rearrangement, in fact, I believe that, through the terms used, they reclaim their bodies as well as their sexuality. However, society responds to these women in terms of gossip and stereotypes, in that the women are judged against private sexual life as well as in relation to the use of their body in politics. Te failed attempt to reclaim their body caused misinterpretations which were used to reinforce the discourse that women are unsuitable for politics. I labelled this intricate backlash ‘fe-male chauvinism’. More specifcally, women reclaiming their body and sexuality are a sort of double-edged sword which has a receptive contrasting efect in relation to the one thought originally.

Older and More Recent Episodes

Before I delve and investigate more recent episodes, I summarise the episodes which are discussed more widely in Formato21 (2017) in Table 4.8. As can be seen above, there is a wide range of episodes which have a similar aim, namely that of de-stabilising the increase of women in politics—seen as a masculine space—and to re-establish a gendered order. Tis cannot be detached from what has been discussed elsewhere in this volume. Social gender is made relevant through language in an existing discourse which is reproduced through this language. 166 F. Formato (continued) Gossip Gossip Gossip Stereotype Stereotype Communicative function - Berlusconi’s party member Guzzanti Berlusconi’s wrote a book titled Mignottocrazia (Whore-ocrazy) accusing Mara Carfagna parlia - (Minister of Equal Opportunity, ment XVI, 2008–2011) of being appointed in the role because of her alleged affair with Berlusconi Female MP Angela Napoli, possibly refer ring to Mara Carfagna and other MPs in party Berlusconi’s 2011 Former singer, then Councillor of Tourism then Councillor of Tourism Former singer, for Sicily attacking female MPs 2013 Cartoon published by left-wing sati - representing the 2011–2013 rist Vauro Enza Fornero, as a Minister of Labour, prostitute accompanied by the verbal pun squillare (to ring), squillo (whore) M5S leader Beppe Grillo attacks one of his activists (Federica Salsi) for attending a left-wing political talk show 2012 People involved Is it acceptable or not, in a hypothetical democracy, that a head of government appoints ministers whose only merit is having served him, excited him or satisfed personally? I cannot preclude the possi - bility that female MPs have been elected after prostituting themselves There are whores in parlia - ment that would do anything, they should open a brothel Fiat Marchionne Fornero: “I am waiting for the phone to ring” The “ringing” (whore) minister The G-spot, the one that gives you the orgasm on TV Translation - - - persone che persone che Episodes investigated in the article published Gender and Language of sexual terms used to attack or ministro Non escludo che senatrici o dep - utate siano state elette dopo essersi prostituite ci sono troie in giro Parlamento che farebbero di tutto, dovrebbero aprire un casino Fiat Marchionne Fornero “Aspetto che il telefono squilli” La Ministra Squillo Il punto G quello che ti da l’ or gasmo nei salotti del talk show Sexual term È ammissibile o non ammissi bile, in una democrazia ipotet ica, che il capo di un governo nomini hanno il solo e unico merito di averlo servito, emozionato, soddisfatto personalmente? 4.8 Table self-represent female politicians 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 167 Communicative function Stereotype Stereotype Stereotype Self- representation Self- representation People involved M5S MP De Rosa attacked female MPs from the Democratic Party during a con - frontation in the parliament 2014 M5S leader Beppe Grillo wrote this post the Speaker of to attack on Facebook, Laura Boldrini, unleash - Lower Chamber, ing a series of violent comments. 2014 M5S communication manager in the Lower Chamber writes a tweet following response on the incident Laura Boldrini’s described above in which she suggests that all those who commented to the post were “potential rapists” 2014 Berlusconi-affliate and Councillor in Berlusconi-affliate Minetti, council wears the Lombardy’s, poli - A left-wing with this slogan. a T-shirt in a regional council tician brings a T-shirt assembly which reads Se non vedo credo (Seeing is believing) M5S Female candidates presenting them - selves as the “new” force in Italian parliament 2014 Translation You women from the PD You [Democratic Party] are here only because you are good at blowjobs What would you do if found Boldrini in your car? Dear Laura, I am here to reas - sure you, you would not be at risk even if we were potential rapists I look even better without a T-shirt The Italian parliament will be orgasm (like) a women’s (continued) Sexual term voi donne del PD [Partito Democratico] siete qui perché siete brave solo a fare i pompini Cosa succederebbe se ti trovassi la Boldrini in macchina? Cara Laura, volevo tranquil - lizarti [sic] … Anche se noi del blog di Grillo fossimo tutti potenziali stupratori … tu non corri nessun rischio! Senza T - shirt sono ancora meglio Il parlamento Italiano sarà un orgasmo femminile 4.8 Table 168 F. Formato

To provide more examples of this, I now analyse in detail some episodes which occurred in the period 2013–2016. I continue to categorise the episodes via the three communicative functions established above. In relation to gossip—that is when sexual terms are used to hint at known afairs—Virginia Raggi, the mayor of Rome, was talked about as Patata Bollente (Hot Potato, where potato is used purposively for its poly- semy, e.g. problem and/or female genitalia) in a right-wing newspaper, Il Giornale. Tis is a sexual innuendo used in relation to allegedly favouring the political career of a male colleague, formally accused of corruption by the Italian court. Te sexual term used is further explained in the subhead- ing: la sindaca di Roma nell’occhio del ciclone per le sue vicende comunali e personali. La sua storia ricorda l’epopea di Berlusconi con le oggettine che fnì malissimo (the mayor of Rome is in the eye of the cyclone in relation to her mayoralty and personal troubles. Her story recalls Berlusconi’s epic with the olgettine22 which ended badly). Te newspaper seems to hint that Raggi also has a personal afair with this politician. It also refers to Berlusconi’s scandals for which women who had afairs with him were favoured in their political careers, as for instance Minetti (discussed above, see Table 4.8). People from Raggi’s party, as well as other female and male politicians, among whom her rival in the run to Rome’s mayoralty, Giacchetti, expressed solidarity with the mayor and labelled this title as sexist. In June 2013, the then minister of equal opportunities, sport and youth, in the Letta government (2013–2014), Josefa Idem, was asked to resign following allegations that she had evaded taxes. Her attempt to remain in ofce failed when she decided to step back at the end of that month. Borghezio, a politician from the right-wing and secession- ist Lega Nord (North League), stated in an interview: Io non ce l’ho con la signora Kyenge, ce l’ho invece contro questa ministra Idem. Forse le vere puttane non sono quelle che esercitano la professione, sono quelle piene di ipocrisia, politicamente parlando, che dicono una cosa e ne fanno un’altra. (I am not opposing Mrs Kyenge23 but I am doing so against the minister [marked feminine] Idem. Maybe the real whores are not those who are in this profession but those who are hypocrites in politics, those who say something and do something else). Borghezio seems to acknowledge later in the interview that both men and women can be political whores but the mention of two female politicians, and more directly the 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 169 reference to minister Idem, seems to indicate that the target of his argument is women. Tis instance of the sexual term—puttane (whores)— is categorised as stereotype as there is no hint to personal afairs but it is used as a judgement on the mandate of the minister. It is also telling that he uses the marked feminines ministra (for Idem) and signora (for Kyenge, another minister in the Letta government). Both seem to be used to undermine women and their role (in what I refer to derogative re-semantisation). Te recurrence of sexual terms is arguably not coincidental; it seems to fulfl the purpose of attacking a gendered group—women—who has been culturally and socially seen as objects from the other group—men. In January 2017, a male politician from the North League—the same party of Borghezio—declares: fnalmente cucciare piselli guadagnandone un riconoscimento instituzionale non sarà più un privilegio di Ministri e sottosegretari (obtaining institutional acknowledgments through blow jobs will not just be a privilege of Ministers and undersecretaries). Te sentence is written on his Facebook page commenting on a post written by Maria Elena Boschi (also minister of Equal Opportunities, in the Gentiloni government, 2016–2018) about the approval of fnal touches to the law for civil unions for same-sex couples that was approved in May 2016. Te male politician, Gasperini, attacks Boschi hinting at her entrance to politics, and at the same time, sends a political message about his alignment on the topic—civil unions. When asked why he had used the expression ciucciare piselli (to give blow jobs), he uses a very common justifcation,24 that of banter, attempting to contextualise his language saying noi toscani siamo un popolo abbastanza fantasi- oso (We are creative people here in Tuscany). I include this episode in the category stereotype because the reference does not seem to be linked to any known episode but was used to attack a female politician. Te communicative function ‘self-representation’ includes episodes in which women, in a plausible attempt to reclaim their bodies, use sexual terms or innuendos to represent themselves in political or politicised contexts. Te former—political—as in the episode described below, refers to institutional spaces, the latter—politicised—is intended to cover other spaces in which these women still operate politically, e.g. the media. Maria Elena Boschi, who is the focus of the attack described above, is 170 F. Formato at the centre of an episode which I categorise as self-representation. She entered national politics when Renzi became Prime Minister (March 2014), being appointed as Minister for Constitutional Reforms and Relations with the Parliament. When Renzi resigned following defeat in a constitutional referendum in December 2016, Boschi was appointed as the frst female Under-Secretary of Council of Ministers by the Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni. In a speech during the Scuola di Formazione Politica (politics school) of the PD (Partito Democratico), Boschi comments on the bustle in the room following her taking of her jacket; she says laughing: non sono rimasta nuda, eh son vestita, […] ho solo tolto una giacca. Tranquilli (I did not get naked, I am still dressed […], I just took of my jacket, stay calm). She seems to acknowledge that the audience is constructing her as a sexualised being and is vocal about it. Her response—Non sono rimasta nuda! (I did not get naked!)— seems to contextualise the bustle within a societal common understanding that sees women as sexual objects. She clearly attempts to reposition herself within her role as politician, however her laughs (together with tranquilli ) seem to carry an acceptance that this behaviour is, after all, culturally tolerated within an imbalanced gendered society. Tese episodes, together with those investigated in my Gender and Language paper (2017), are indicative of the acceptance of women as sexualise-able beings in the public sphere, as well as the institutional undermining of women in position of power. Research on gender and politics (Garcia Blanco and Walh-Jorgensen 2012; Bengoechea 2011) has shown how women were usually seen in relation to their suitability in domestic roles (mainly in the kitchen) and my argument moves the focus from this to the bedroom (as a symbol of traditional ideas about heterosexual couple’s activities) which seems to be another apt house (therefore private) space to which women should be brought back. Te confned and limited space of the house—the bedroom—in which women are seen as operating according to the episodes investigated, is either that of a powerful man (in the case of gossip) or that of female politicians (in the case of stereotypes). One quibble worth noting is that the powerful men, through whose bedrooms women access politics, are not labelled or targeted as unsuitable, feeding into the stereotyped 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 171 masculinist and machista culture of Italy. As for self-representation, the sexualised nature represented by the female politicians, positions themselves at the overlap between their private and their public dimensions. Terefore, the shift from the domestic role of chaste housewives to hyper-sexualisation does not contribute to a re-evaluation of women in politics, whose participation is increasing, in fact it produces a new set of meanings in order to prototype (creating a model for the future) women in the public sphere. On this topic Battaglia (2015) suggests that women are uniquely seen as a category bound to remain a minority, as Italy seems to fail to acknowledge that the role of these women— as politicians—can foreground the one as women. Tis has to be viewed in line with what Cameron and Shaw (2016) discuss, namely that sexualisation of women is a repertoire which is widely used in the media in general, and therefore in the specifc, i.e. female politicians.

Gender Counts: noi Forms

So far, I have mainly dedicated this chapter to language preferred by speakers and the media and have discussed how this can result in misunderstanding or specifc constructions of the category ‘women in the public sphere’. In the investigation presented below, I give voice to the who, in other terms female (and male) speakers, with the aim of exploring constructions of women inside and outside the public sphere through the use of frst person plural forms, here labelled noi forms (we forms). Tis is interesting as it bridges identities built with grammatical gender, as some of the forms are followed by the infected adjective tutt- (all), and discursive identities, these based on who the noi-forms include (and exclude). To explain this linguistic phenomenon, I review fundamental notions in gender studies, e.g. the seminal work on Community of Practice (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet 1998, 2003, 2007, CofP) relating these to language deemed proper to politics and, specifcally, in gendered parliaments. I anticipate that the dataset used is formed by parliamentary debates in the Italian Legislatura XVI (2008–2011) on the topic of violence against women. I divide the sections as follows: 172 F. Formato discussion of collective identities in politics and gender, data and methods and results of the investigation.

Linguistic Collective Identities in Gendered Political Spaces

Previous studies have paid attention to pronouns used in politics (Bazzanella 2002, 2009; Bloor and Bloor 2007; Bull and Fetzer 2006; Helmbrecht 2002; Mühlhäusler and Harré 1990; Proctor and I-Wen Su 2011; Pyykkö 2002; Quirk et al. 1985). In the methodology section, I briefy outline the properties of the Italian noi and its related form while here I discuss how, more broadly, the second person pronoun has been studied as constructing collective identities. In defning the linguistic phenomenon under consideration, I use the defnition provided by Wales (1996, p. 1), that is “standing for a noun or a sub- stitute for a noun”, transferring it to the understanding that the noun has social, political and cultural dimensions. Based on this, Koller (2014) discusses how language construction of collective identities has the potential to shed light on “social identities, intra- and inter- group relations, stereotypes, or ideal types, as well as the organiza- tion of social relations in groups based on ethnicity, sexual identities, age, consumption, etc.” (2014, p. 163) and, in the case of my study, also political identities. It goes without saying that the collective identities constructed in the ‘we’ are seen as “united by common ideological goals or interest” (Pyykkö 2002, p. 233) and, importantly, these forms can help to discuss “the way people see themselves in relation to others and to society at large” (Bloor and Bloor 2007, p. 20; see also Wales 1996). All noi-forms investigated here are interpreted on the basis of properties and characteristics embedded within the in-group (Bazzanella 2009) as well as, arguably, latently outlining the characteristics and properties of the (opposite) out-group. On this topic, Iñigo-Mora (2004) describes inclusion and exclusion as the speakers’ search for ‘information territory’ or ‘space’ in which “they claim their own presence and exclude others” (2004, p. 35; see also Pennycook 1994). Tis becomes more specifc in political contexts, e.g. 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 173 parliaments, where oppositions are at the core of these institutions and the pronominal choice, specifcally ‘we’, can be used

[w]ith such manipulative possibilities provided by the pronominal system as it operates in context, [that it] is not surprising to fnd that politicians make use of pronouns to good efect: to indicate, accept, deny or distance themselves from responsibility for political action; to reveal ideological bias; to encourage solidarity; to designate and identify those who are supporters (with us) as well as those who are enemies (against us); and to present specifc idiosyncratic aspects of the individual politician’s own personality. (Wilson 1990, p. 76, my emphasis)

All these possibilities have to be seen within the understanding of the Italian parliament as a Community of Practice, as argued in gender studies by Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (1992, 1998, 2007). All MPs share practices proper to the political arena among which is language; Walsh (2001) emphasises the importance of the term ‘practice’ because it “extends to the whole range of discursive compe- tencies by which members of a CofPs construct their individual and collective identities, including their gendered identities” (2001, p. 4). Tese are also negotiated within a broader social fabric (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet 2007, p. 32) in which CofPs were born and continue living. Based on this, gender seems to appear at diferent levels that are: (1) Gendered communities of practice; (2) Gendered force within CofP, and (3) Te relation with a gendered society. In relation to 2, many scholars (Baxter 2006; Cameron 2006; Shaw 2000; Walsh 2001) agree that men have been (and still largely are) the traditional workforce and are therefore seen as ‘core members’ of specifc spaces in the public sphere such as institutional public spaces, in which they have invented (Shaw 2000) and perpetuated male-oriented rules (gender as intended in 1). While noi-forms are not part of discursive practices which can be attributed to women or men (e.g. emotive vs aggressive language), they are discussed as having the potential to rec- reate the core/peripheral members divide, where women are peripheral because of the opportunities they have had in entering and operating equally in an institution that has been the preserve of men for many 174 F. Formato decades (gender as intended in 1). Another level is the gendered topic of the parliamentary debates (described in detail in the methodology section), that is in this case violence against women. I show how this is brought within the Italian parliament, creating gendered groups that bridge and unite women and men inside and outside the political arena. Based on this reasoning, I defne the groups constructed by the noi-forms as discursive, providing the term discursive groups and its defnition as follows:

Discursive Groups are expression of speakers’ dynamic afliations with social groups, these including some people perceived as similar based on gender and/or political membership (and implicitly, excluding some others who are seen as diferent), with the purpose of constructing themselves within meaningful groups.

I accentuate that these groups are meaningful as they exist in the parliament (in the case of noi forms being used to construct afliation to political parties) or outside the parliament (e.g. women facing/fghting violence) and the speakers dynamically negotiate these groups with the parliament as a CofP and the gendered society. From a theoretical point of view, the notion of meaningful also entails what social psychologists Brewer and Gardner (1996) argued, namely the twofold legitimisation of the self, and the others the self is grouping with. Tey divide the collective identity into impersonal and social (1996, p. 83), emphasising the former as being based on the bonds of attachment (mostly relationships among lovers or family members) while the latter as being based on identity traits (e.g. gender). Prentice et al. refer to these as common bonds and common identity, stressing the diference between a bond formed between the self and the others or a bond formed on “one’s commitment to the identity of the group” (1994, p. 485). Furthermore, another dimension is that of a social motivation that seems to glue the members of the group, one of these being gender, as discussed below. While the studies based on these theories are top-down experiments, I consider the implications of this debate and the notion of ‘meaningful’ with a bottom-up approach that is to start from language that has occurred rather than elicited from participants. 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 175

To explain more clearly how these can occur in language, in the following subsection I present the debate on the second person plural pronoun and other forms. While the previous subsection has shown how the pronoun ‘we’ contributes to the construction of identities, I outline here how to consistently and solidly look at its linguistic properties. To start with, Italian is a pro-drop language, where for instance, the use of pronouns is not compulsory; other linguistic forms are able to express the notion of collective identities of ‘I plus another person’. When present, the pronoun noi is conceived as a ‘meccanismo di intensità’ (‘intensity device’; Bazzanella 2009, p. 4), because speakers (and writers) seem to use it to emphasise who is doing the action. In the list below, I list all linguistic second person plural forms that form part of the investigation:

• Subject pronoun, noi (we) • Prepositional and direct/indirect object pronouns, i.e. tra noi (between us), di noi (of us), con noi (with us), in noi (in us), da noi (from us), a noi (to us), per noi (for us) • Refexive (in both forms: attached or disjointed to the verb), direct/ indirect object pronoun, i.e. ci • Direct object pronoun (in double pronoun constructions), i.e. ce • Verb ending (present tense, present perfect, imperative), i.e. -iamo • Possessive (adjective and pronoun), i.e. Nostro, nostra, nostre, nostri (our), la nostra, il nostro, i nostri, le nostre (ours)

In terms of discourse, I operationalised the literature on the frst-person pronoun presenting the notions borrowed from the literature and adapted to my investigation, that is inclusion and exclusion to signal who—in terms of social referents, i.e. gender—is or is not part of the groups referred to in both female and male politicians’ use of noi forms.25 Based on these two accounts—the grammatical one and the available discourse one—I built an analytical framework that includes gender as a discursive identity constructed by the noi forms. Tis is explained in detail in the following section where the corpus of data used is also discussed. 176 F. Formato

Data and Methods

Tis dataset has been used in Formato (2014) to investigate three linguistic phenomena—noi forms being one of them (the other two are reviewed in Chapter 3). It has proven to be an interesting collection of texts from which to start exploring gendered language and an element to build upon in further studies, some of which are presented in this volume. Te rationale behind collecting parliamentary debates on a specifc topic—violence against women—lies in the several layers of gender: the speakers, the topic and, possibly, the language. Te 13 debates that have been used to build the corpus form part of the frst three years of parliament XVI (May 2008–December 2011), when Silvio Berlusconi was Prime Minister and the government was a right-wing one. Te data were retrieved from the website of the Camera dei Deputati (the Lower Chamber of the Italian parliament) and were part of a bigger corpus collected under the search term pari opportunità which was then recon- sidered for the scope of the research.26 In Table 4.9, I summarise the number of speakers and contributions that were investigated to fnd instances of noi forms. From the table, it can be seen that while the number of male politicians is double the number of female politicians, the percentages show that almost half of the women elected in that parliament had a say on a topic that is arguably close to them. Te number of words presented here does not include (1) ritual linguistic devices used to regulate the work of the political arena, e.g. la camera approva (the chamber approves) and (2) para-linguistic comments, e.g. reports of applauses. Another detail about this data is that among all the MPs, 124 are from the left party PD—Partito Democratico. Based on the literature

Table 4.9 Number of politicians with percentages, number of interventions and words in the corpus Number of MPs Number of MP % MPs Number interventions of words Female MPs 65 267 48.5 83,304 Male MPs 141 361 28.4 105,408 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 177

on we and noi, I built an analytical framework which could be used to investigate discursive groups. My interest was in the construction of gendered groups within and outside the parliament. In this section, I only reproduce results, as well as analysis, that explains gender (inside and outside the parliament) through linguistic forms related to frst person plural, specifcally, the discursive groups:

• ‘same gender group’, i.e. women or men, • ‘same gender group politicians’, i.e. male MPs or female MPs, and • ‘female and male politicians’, i.e. the gendered groups together.

Te analytical framework used comprised a more detailed investigation into how these linguistic forms construct other meaningful discursive groups, examining rhetorical and national groups (as discussed above), e.g. ‘all MPs’, ‘Italians’, ‘coalition’. Te exemplifcations of how noi forms have been coded according to the gendered groups provide a clearer picture of how linguistic phenomena can explain gender. Linguistic clues that followed or preceded the noi forms were useful to investigate gendered patterns, e.g. the use of noi tutte e tutti (we all [fem] and all [masc]) or feminine or masculine infections in the sentences where noi forms where used. Tese forms were also investigated in a wider language context with the purpose of detecting who the forms were including. I conducted corpus searches with Wordsmith 5.0 (Scott 2008) as indicated in Table 4.10, where I include what grammatical forms these searches cover.

Table 4.10 Corpus queries used to investigate noi forms Corpus query Grammatical forms (and examples) Noi Subject pronoun, prepositional and direct/indirect object pronoun ci / Ci Refexive, direct/indirect object pronoun = = = = ce / Ce Direct object pronoun (in double pronoun constructions), e.g. = = = = ce lo auguriamo tutti (we all wish this for us) *ci Refexive, e.g. e.g. ribellarci (we rebel) *iamo Verb ending (present tense, imperative, past participle) Nostr* Possessive (adjective and pronoun) 178 F. Formato

Tese queries provided interesting insights into how noi forms are used, as shown in the subsection that follows.

Gendered Discursive Groups

Te results, as discussed in Formato (2014), show that the MPs investigated tend to afliate themselves with political groups such as ‘All MPs’ and ‘MPs from the same party’, predictably constructing and foregrounding their political identities over their gender one. However, my interest is in discussing how gender is constructed in the Italian parliament through these forms and how this is relevant when constructing a relation between the inside and the outside of the political arena. In Table 4.11, I present the results for the whole investigation. Te number of occurrences that forms part of this investigation, regardless of the gender of the speaker, at this stage is 42. In Table 4.12, I provide a clearer understanding of who used the noi forms which construct the gendered discursive groups. I calculate the percentages (%) based on the total of the forms taken into consideration in this chapter while also presenting the absolute frequencies (AF). In Table 4.12, the frst interesting result is uncovered. Female MPs do tend to construct gendered discursive groups more than their male

Table 4.11 Absolute frequencies and percentages of politicians’ affliations with political and gender groups through noi forms Discursive groups Total % All MPs 1442 43.93 MPs same party 1138 34.67 Italy/Italians 502 15.29 Committee/Specifc MPs 78 2.37 Politicians/Politics 48 1.46 Same gender group 22 0.63 Coalition (different parties) 18 0.54 Same gender group politicians 14 0.42 Government 13 0.39 Female and male politicians 6 0.18 Other 2 0.06 Total 3283 100 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 179 % 52.38 33.33 16.28 100 AF Total 22 14 6 42 % 40.47 33.33 14.28 88.09 Female politicians AF 17 14 6 37 % 11.90 0 0 11.90 Male politicians AF 5 0 0 5 Absolute frequencies and percentages of gender groups noi forms used by female male MPs Same gender group Same gender group politicians Female and male politicians Discursive groups Gender-related noi forms Gender-related Gender Gender plus politics Total 4.12 Table 180 F. Formato counterparts in the three variants: whether it is the group ‘women’, the group ‘female MPs’ or the joint ‘male plus female MPs’.

Te Discursive Group ‘Men’

It is unsurprising that a space that has been created and mainly inhabited by men for centuries does not see its core members legitimating and specifying their presence through language (in relation to a meaningful absence). It is treated as a given, and there seems to be no urgency to remind society that men are and operate in there. However, from the discursive group ‘men’ an interesting insight emerges. Looking qualitatively at the data gives an overview on dispersion. For instance, the fve occurrences are all uttered by Gabriele Cimadoro from the political party Italia dei Valori (IDV, left-wing):

Infatti, da adesso in avanti non sappiamo più come comportarci o comunque i ragazzi già non hanno più questa possibilità, perché hanno superato questa fase: introducendo l’articolo in esame, se solo mettiamo una mano dove non dobbiamo metterla o paghiamo 1.000 euro di multa o ci asteniamo. Precisely, from now on we do not know how to behave; young men do not even have this possibility: by introducing this article, if we misbehave acting as we should not, either we pay 1000 euros or we refrain. Gabriele Cimadoro, IDV

In the extract above, the stress is on the diference between (young) men who would behave in an inappropriate way and the ones who, unintentionally, may give the impression of misbehaving. Cimadoro gives a sort of justifcation for some acts, i.e. se solo mettiamo una mano dove non dobbiamo metterla (content-based translation, ‘if we misbehave’, which literally reads ‘if we only put a hand where we must not’). He says this to confront those who have approved the article in the bill to tackle violence against women, by including himself in the ‘men’ group outside parliament. With a single example, it is difcult to gen- eralise on the construction of the gender group ‘men’, but it is interesting to see the MP’s attempt to explain (and underestimate) violence against women in relation to an accepted way to behave in male/female 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 181 intimate relationships. At the moment of writing, the Me Too movement has emerged and the debate about to what extent and how men (are allowed to) firt, is rewriting their practices.

Te Discursive Group ‘Female and Male Politicians’

Before delving into the construction of the discursive group ‘same gender group politicians’, I fnd the use of ‘gender split’ forms of noi particularly interesting. By using what I refer to as noi gender split form—masculine and feminine terms in the same grammatical construction surrounding noi forms—I present some excerpts in which female politicians construct the discursive group ‘female and male politicians’. Gender split forms contribute to making female politicians— alongside male politicians—visible through motivated gender-specifc language which, as extensively argued in this volume, can contribute to changing perspectives and attitudes about women in society and in the public sphere. Tese forms are purposively used to stress female MPs’ involvement in the topic discussed. Below, I present an extract in which a female MP refers to both the female and male MPs in the chamber, yet restricts the in-group to the left-wing coalition (PD plus IDV):

Signor Presidente, sarò brevissima. Voglio ricordare una cosa all’Aula, e cioè che, anche se polemizziamo - le colleghe della Commissione giustizia lo sanno - noi donne e uomini del Partito Democratico e dell’Italia dei Valori abbiamo a cuore questa legge. Mr Speaker, I will be brief. I want this chamber to remember that even if we quarrel – the colleagues [feminine] of the Justice Committee know about that – we women and men of the Democratic Party and Italy of Values agree on this bill. Anna Paola Concia, PD

Te female PD MP, through the use of the subject pronoun noi and the following donne e uomini del Partito Democratico e dell’Italia dei Valori (women and men of the Democratic Party and Italy of Values) stresses her membership not only of the party but of the group of people who, regardless of their gender, have engaged in the proposal and 182 F. Formato subsequent parliamentary work on the approval of the bill. Tis noi gender split form is an example of female frstness, possibly because the MP is a woman. Other reasons why she uses the feminine frst could be the attempt to legitimise the female MPs and their commitment in the chamber. Te legitimisation of the female workforce is further constructed by the explicit reference to the female colleagues—colleghe. She explains that, notwithstanding some quarrelling about other topics—anche se polemizziamo (even if we quarrel)—men and women of the two parties are united in the approval of the bill under discussion (in what seems to be a fragile coalition between the two parties, the PD and IDV). From the same political party, the PD, another female politician, Daniela Melchiorre, uses a noi gender split form:

Però andiamo adesso ad esaminare un disegno di legge che non rispond- erà allo scopo che noi tutti e noi tutte ci poniamo, e cioè di prevenire fenomeni di violenza, anche perché il diritto penale non ha - e non deve avere - una funzione preventiva: il diritto penale non ha questa funzione, ma quello che semmai si poteva fare per prevenire certi comportamenti è altro. Let’s now move to look into a plan for a law that will not respond to the purpose that we all [masc] and we all [fem] have, that is, to prevent violent acts even because the criminal law has not – and is not supposed to have – a precautionary function: the criminal law does not serve this function, it is something diferent to what could have been done to prevent some kinds of behaviour and others. Daniela Melchiorre, PD

Te female MP specifes that everybody in the room—both women and men—shares the same goal, that is, to approve this bill for the next stage in the legislative procedure. By fagging both plural gender forms—i.e. tutti [masc] and tutte [fem] in male frstness—there seems to be an intention to make visible the presence of female MPs, for a long time relatively included in the versatile masculine (tutti ). 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 183

Te Discursive Group ‘Female Politicians’

Female MPs who speak in these debates also tend to construct membership together with other female politicians in the arena. Besides, the topic of the debates, which explicitly mention donne (women) in relation to violence, calls for the possibility of constructing gender ties between the women in the chamber (discursive group ‘same gender group politicians’) and those outside, who are subject to violence. Te female MP, Emilia De Biase from the PD, constructs the discursive group ‘female politicians’:

Vorrei infne segnalarle che noi siamo naturalmente disponibilissime a svolgere un lavoro comune, anzi, ritengo che il Parlamento debba darsi uno strumento comune di lavoro poiché solo l’unità delle donne potrà consentire dei passi in avanti, in particolare sotto il proflo della legislazione (nella scorsa legislatura, abbiamo presentato diverse proposte di legge: innanzitutto sullo stalking e una più complessiva sulla violenza contro le donne e contro i minori). I would also like to bring to your attention that we are very willing [fem] to undertake a common enterprise. Precisely, I believe Parliament should have a common working tool because only the unity of women will allow us to move forward, especially as far as the legislation is concerned (in the past parliament we proposed various bills: above all on stalking and a more comprehensive one on violence against women and children). Emilia Grazia Di Biase, PD

Te female MP constructs the group based on (her) gender plus her role within the parliament, not only with her party peers but also with other women in the same and diferent roles (e.g. the Minister). First, the MP Di Biase addresses her speech to the Minister of Equal Opportunities, Mara Carfagna (in ofce from 2008 to 2011), through the pronoun—le (to you)—attached to the verb segnalare (to bring to somebody’s attention) in Vorrei infne segnalarle (I would also like to bring to your attention), building rapport with an institutional representative. In constructing a closeness to the minister (who is a member 184 F. Formato of the right-wing Partito della Libertà, PDL, politically opposed to the left-winged Partito Democratico, PD), I speculate that the MP does so in search of creating a better understanding between them. Te MP asks for the political divisions to be healed in favour of a common goal. Interestingly, she frst associates noi with female MPs—this being conveyed through the use of disponibilissime (very willing), possibly including the MPs who are working together in the committee (Commissione Giustizia). She conceptualises how the parliament can reach an agreement through women’s unity only: ritengo che Il Parlamento debba darsi uno strumento comune di lavoro poiché solo l’unità delle donne potrà consentire dei passi in avanti (I believe the Parliament should have a common working tool because only the unity of women will allow us to move forward). Tis further contributes to establishing an instance of the concept of ‘discursive group’: through their use of noi forms and surrounding elements in their contributions, female MPs are seeking legitimatisation, visibility, and constructing their skilled, active—therefore dynamic—participation in the chamber. In order to support my idea, namely that female MPs, regardless of their party, tend to construct gender and political groups inside the chamber, I present what was said by Barbara Saltamartini, from the right-wing party PDL, who directly appeals to women to join a common team so as to achieve the fnal goal, that is, passing the bill to stop violence against women:

L’impegno che quest’Aula si assume oggi, grazie alla presenza delle donne in quest’Aula (perché questo è risultato di noi donne in quest’Aula), credo sia anche la migliore premessa afnché su tutte le norme che ci stiamo per apprestare a votare le donne sappiano ancora una volta unirsi afnché i diritti delle donne stesse non siano più violati, ma tutelati a par- tire dal Parlamento sovrano. Te commitment that this chamber assumes today, thanks to the presence of women in the chamber (because this is the result of us women in this chamber), I believe is the best introduction so that for all the bills we are about to vote on for women will know how to join together one more time because women’s rights will not be violated anymore, but safe- guarded by the sovereign parliament frst of all. Barbara Saltamartini, PDL 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 185

Te use of noi donne (we/us women) seems to be a reproach to male MPs about their (lack of) participation in the decision-making process. Not only does this extract strengthen the analysis of the construction of women as MPs; it also provides an interesting insight into the thread between these women, inside and those outside the parliament, with the use of i diritti delle donne stesse (women’s rights). I believe that stesse (themselves, feminine plural) functions as a device that unites the two groups of women. Below, I present another excerpt taken from these debates in which the same female MP constructs the discursive group ‘women’ within politics and within society:

Ringrazio quindi, colleghi, il Governo e in particolare il Ministro per le pari opportunità per l’impegno che oggi, con l’espressione del voto favor- evole sul dispositivo, assume in quest’Aula. Nello stesso tempo ribadiamo, caro Ministro, la nostra più totale disponibilità come donne, come esponenti politici e come rappresentanti dei cittadini in quest’Aula a col- laborare fattivamente nella realizzazione del piano di azione contro la violenza sulle donne. Hence, I thank the colleagues, the government and the Minister [masculine] of Equal Opportunities in particular for the commitment made by the chamber with the positive vote on the measure today. At the same time, we repeat, dear [masculine] Minister [masculine], our availability as women, as political representatives and as representatives of citizens in this space in order to collaborate together toward the realization of an action plan against violence against women. Barbara Saltamartini, PDL

Tis shows how the MP constructs her identity, and possibly other women’s in the chamber, through the use of two noi forms, ribadiamo (we repeat) and nostra (our). Besides, in her list of identities, she men- tions her gender, i.e. donne (women), then her role (and the role of the other women like her), i.e. esponenti politici (political representatives) and then their task as politicians, i.e. rappresentanti dei cittadini (people’s representatives). As esponenti and rappresentati (translated as representatives) are both epicene nouns, it is impossible to argue in favour of 186 F. Formato the use of marked forms with respect to the versatile masculine or the reference to and additional inclusion of both gender groups. While the topic plays a huge role in the construction of themselves, it is interesting to notice that female MPs mark their own commitment towards the topic of violence against women, further signalling a lack of commitment from male MPs on a topic that does not seem to include them (and therefore one they do not engage with) as much as women, as can be seen below:

Lei lo sa, Ministro, lo sanno le colleghe, perché ci arrivano le grida dei centri antiviolenza che vengono oggi costretti alla chiusura di un sostegno, l’unico vero e reale, che costruisce e sedimenta consapevolezza di sé, capacità e soggettività delle donne di « auto misurarsi » in questa vicenda e di trovare il senso del proprio essere complessivo ed una dimen- sione esistenziale. Ciò può avvenire soltanto attraverso quello che il mondo delle donne ha costruito con una splendida espressione: la relazione fra donne. You know, Minister, the female colleagues know, because we get the calls from domestic violence centres that do not receive the one and only, support that builds and gives self-awareness to women: the subjective capacity of women to understand what is happening around them and to fnd their own existential place. Tat can only happen through what women have built: a relationship among women. Sesa Amici, PD

Te indirect object pronoun ci in ci arrivano le grida dei centri antiviolenza (we get the calls from domestic violence centres) refers to her and her female colleagues—colleghe—in what can be interpreted as solidarity within the parliament, which is further put forward in ciò può avvenire soltanto attraverso quello che il mondo delle donne ha costruito con una splendida espressione: la relazione fra donne (Tat can only happen through what women have built: a relationship with each other). In another extract, from the female MP Marina Sereni, there is a similar construction, namely women are seen as those committed to tack- ling the social issue at hand: 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 187

Vogliamo essere molto nette sul giudizio, perché non si può giocare con un tema così delicato come questo. We want to be very sure [feminine plural] of the judgement, because we cannot play with a delicate topic like this is. Marina Sereni, PD

Te occurrence of vogliamo (we want) is followed by the intensifer plus adjective molto nette (very sure), where the adjective is used in its feminine plural form. Tis highlights the specifc and limited group of referents, that is, the female MPs. In the following extract, I analyse an interesting case of construction of female politicians by the then Minister of Equal Opportunities, Mara Carfagna. Tere is a reproach for the lack of solidarity and joint commitment within the group of female politicians:

Quello che stiamo dando oggi è un bruttissimo spettacolo, perché tra donne sarebbe necessaria un’alleanza sentita e vera. La notizia è che oggi le donne avranno uno strumento in più per potersi difendere dalle violenze e di questo le donne dovrebbero essere fere ed orgogliose, acceler- ando le procedure per approvare questa legge. Non mi sembra che stiamo dando uno spettacolo dignitoso. What we are putting on today is a poor spectacle, because among women a deep and true alliance is necessary. Te (good) news, instead, is that today, women will have an extra way to defend themselves from violence and women should be extremely proud [fem] of this, speeding up the procedures to approve this bill. I do not think we are putting on a dignifed spectacle. Mara Carfagna, PDL

At the contextual level, Carfagna has been attacked by other female MPs for not having granted money for domestic violence centres in her institutional role as the Minister of Equal Opportunities. Both occurrences of stiamo dando (we are putting on) refer to the female MPs who were criticising the Minister’s work by contrasting what was done with what the female MPs were expecting. 188 F. Formato

Another speaker—MP Maria De Torre—constructs herself within two groups, i.e. women inside and possibly outside the chamber. Both groups are perceived as a homogenous unit that can act inside and outside the chamber, as shown in:

In un momento di crisi profonda della società e della politica italiana, stavo dicendo che noi donne potremmo fare la nostra parte per aiutare l’umanità a non decadere. Potremmo portare la qualità del rapporto tra uomo e donna al centro di una società che si scrolla di dosso maschilismo e predominio, una società più sicura e più giusta, più libera, più fraterna dove l’obiettivo non è essere donne perfette né uomini di successo, dove anche chi è debole o temporaneamente in difcoltà trova accoglienza come persona. In such a critical moment for Italian society and politics, I was saying that we women could do our part to help humanity not to decline. We could argue in favour of bringing the quality of the relationship between man and woman to the centre of a society that should abandon male chauvinism and supremacy: a safer and fairer society, freer and more fraternal where the goal is not to be perfect women or successful men, where even weak people or those who have difculties can be welcomed. Maria Letizia De Torre, PD

Te noi is accompanied by donne (we women) which not only has as referent their role in politics (this is why it was included in this discursive group) but also in society, as highlighted by società e politica italiana (in Italian politics and society). Te extract is interesting as it further hints at the accepted construction not only of women but also of men in a male-dominated world, where there is asymmetry between the two groups in terms of achievement (beauty or job, respectively): donne perfette (perfect women) and uomini di successo (successful men).

Female MPs’ Construction of the Discursive Group ‘Women’

In terms of asymmetry between men and women, there seems to be a relation with the social and cultural atmosphere in Italy at the time. On the one hand, former Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi’s sexual scandals 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 189 contributed to stereotype women and female politicians as sexual com- modities. On the other hand, women joined in committees to reverse the stereotype and promote the fairer treatment of women in the workplace, in public spaces, and in the media. In the following extract, I show an example involving noi donne (we women) within this specifc social and cultural atmosphere:

So di toccare un tema delicato, che rischia di essere frainteso e magari di spostare l’attenzione dal tema che stiamo afrontando; corro però questo rischio, perché non posso esimermi dal porre una questione fondamen- tale, ovvero se il comportamento del Presidente del Consiglio ormai di dominio pubblico (perché in questi giorni ne abbiamo sentite veramente di cose) abbia arrecato o meno danno all’immagine e alla credibilità di noi donne. I know I am dealing with a delicate topic, easily to be misunderstood and possibly move the attention away from what we are discussing: I will take the risk because I cannot avoid talking about something important that is, whether the Prime Minister’s behaviour, as everybody knows (because we heard many things in the last few days) has damaged the image and credibility of us women. Silvana Mura, IDV

Te reference to Berlusconi is made clear in the use of Presidente del Consiglio as the one who potentially contributes to damaging the image and credibility of noi donne (we women). Here, the extended reference to all women is justifed by Berlusconi’s occasional jokes and explicit references, not only to female politicians but also to other women in their public role. Te following excerpts describe Italian society on the topic of violence against women, particularly in relation to women’s status as victims. I present and discuss two excerpts that show the use of gendered noi, conveyed through noi donne (us women):

È, infatti, fn dall’inizio dell’esistenza del genere umano che la donna è stata considerata prima al pari di un oggetto, del quale l’uomo poteva disporre in maniera incondizionata, e poi come sesso debole, come una 190 F. Formato

persona che in teoria avrebbe avuto gli stessi diritti e gli stessi doveri degli uomini, ma che, in pratica, doveva afdare ad essi la tutela e la possibilità di esercitare appieno i propri diritti. Si tratta di secoli e secoli di discriminazioni tra uomo e donna presenti in tutte le civiltà, in tutte le culture e in tutte le religioni che si sono succedute nel corso della storia. Sono queste discriminazioni, ormai sedimentate, che producono, in gran parte, i problemi con i quali ancora oggi noi donne siamo costrette a confrontarci. Indeed, since the beginning of the existence of humankind woman has been considered as an object, at men’s unconditional disposal; and also as the ‘weak’ sex, as a person that in theory has the same rights and the same duties as men, who, however, practically has to entrust her safety and the possibility of having the same rights to them. It is about centuries of discrimination between men and women in all societies, cultures and religions that has succeeded in the course of history. It is this discrimination, established by now, that mainly produces the problems which we women are still forced to face. Silvana Mura, IDV

By including herself in the noi donne (us women), the female MP Mura attempts to reconstruct a history that has been biased against women’s rights and positioning in society. Te group she constructs seems to include all women across the globe as discriminated against and sees them as struggling to achieve equality. MP Concia includes herself in the ‘women’ noi in a less straightforward manner:

Signor Ministro, non ce la possiamo cavare con i codici. Non possiamo pensare di educare solo la difesa delle donne o almeno non solo. Dobbiamo imprimere un cambio di marcia, signor Ministro, e afrontare il problema sotto il proflo sociale e culturale. Non dobbiamo solo rep- rimere perché noi donne - care colleghe, voi lo sapete - ci siamo stancate di sentire parlare di noi soltanto come vittime. Mr Minister, we cannot solve (problems) with codes. We cannot think it is enough to educate people to defend women. We have to promote a gear change, Mr Minister, and see the problem in relation to its societal and cultural profle. We do not have to solve the problem by exclusively punishing violent people because, we women – dear colleagues 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 191

[feminine], you know – are tired of being talked about as if we were just victims. Anna Paola Concia, PD

Tis occurrence of noi donne (we women), together with ci siamo stancate (we are tired of) and sentir parlare di noi (being talked about), seems to be limited to the Italian context, in comparison to the previous excerpt. Te noi form is followed by care colleghe, voi lo sapete (dear colleagues [feminine], you know), where PD MP Concia appeals to female MPs. Tis seems to support the argument that women act for women (Catalano 2009) more generally, and that in this specifc case the purpo- sive ‘inclusion’ (and possible ‘exclusion’) is with who is most committed politically. If we consider the whole extract we can see the change of referents, i.e. the shift from one identity to another; at the beginning of the sentence and by appealing to Signor Ministro (using the unmarked masculine title and job-title) the speaker includes herself with other people in the chamber, more broadly, with the expectations she has for the role of MPs: non ce la possiamo cavare con i codici (we cannot solve problems with codes), non possiamo pensare (we cannot think); also, by using epistemic modality, possiamo (we cannot) the speaker argues for what she thinks should be the case. To conclude this investigation into noi forms and discursive groups, women seem to realise that their role within the public sphere is not a given, and through language they attempt to legitimise their presence not only for themselves but for those women outside the parliament, who are in need of political assistance on the issue of violence against women. Te focus on specifc discursive groups, whether only inside, or both inside and outside the chamber, given by female MPs, is to be considered a strategy adopted to make gender relevant. To return to defnitions and notions used in the literature review, I argue that while the group ‘female and male MPs’ and ‘female MPs’ are based on a common identity—that is the commitment to a group—the group ‘women’ is grounded in what seem a common bond (Prentice et al. 1994, p. 485), where there is the speakers’ intention to build a closer bond with the women outside the Community of Practice, on the basis of the positioning of women in the issue of violence against them. 192 F. Formato

Conclusions

I can argue that this chapter has, as its central focus, linguistic choices made by specifc speakers and the media by or about women in the institutional public sphere. Te two—by and about—concern ideological productions about the self or reception and representation by others. Language used shed light on gendered grammar (the presidente quarrel, sindac-), prototypes (sexual terms) and constructions (noi forms). Tese three are strongly linked with the notion of availability (discussed in Chapter 2). Precisely, speakers’ choices within a pool of available terms are not coincidental or casual, they are motivated texts that all pertain to either aligning with or attempting to subvert the status quo (discourse), therefore become actions which are in contrast with each other. Tis volume has so far shown that the existing discourse tends to hide or to undermine women and some choices by and about women in the public sphere—e.g. il presidente and sexual terms—seem to confrm that. Other choices, such as Boldrini’s battle to be addressed la presidente, contrast the existing discourse but found an unfavourable reception, the same reception that women who entered the public sphere received; somehow seen as forcing a gendered order in politics, but being reminded of the divide of the original scheme—men/public, women/private. Feminine forms used in the media, e.g. sindaca, seem to rest their case somewhere in the middle between reafrming known realities and providing a fairer alternative (while others as ministra are clearly reafrming the superiority of the masculine turned unmarked forms). Te construction of female MPs together with other female or female and male MPs, as well as in association with other women outside the institutional arena, emphasises an unconventional role in a space that has been historically inhabited by men. Women choose to become visible and vocal, to legitimise their role, construing themselves and once again subverting the status quo, e.g. men do not mark themselves as visible because they are the norm. Norm, and all norms which can be seen regulating the choices of these chapters, is seen as static, precisely in relation to a seemingly static reality that for a long time has been the only one for Italian speakers. Tis is the reason why those who have 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 193 attempted to challenge it, in language or behaviour, have, to diferent extents, seen a backlash and have been re-positioned in what is known. To conclude, this chapter has discussed how the struggle between two worlds can be seen in practice through language as discourse and ideology.

Notes

1. http://presidenteboldrini.camera.it/. Accessed 5 April 2018. 2. Grammatical gender attribution to loans/borrowing from other languages seems to be arbitrary and mainly based on how it would sound. 3. https://video.repubblica.it/politica/senato-casellati-chiamatemi-presidente-e-non-presidentessa/300676/301309. Accessed 5 April 2018. 4. http://www.liberoquotidiano.it/news/politica/13322242/la-casellati-polverizza-laura-boldrini-chiamatemi-presidente-non-presidentessa. html. Accessed 5 April 2018. 5. http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/politica/casellati-presidentessa-no-chiamatemi-presidente-1508983.html. 6. https://www.facebook.com/corrieredellasera/videos/18616777 20550551/. 7. Te Treccani encyclopedia suggests that ‘vetero’ is used as prefx to indicate “correnti di pensiero o posizioni politiche legate al rispetto, se non alla sottomissione dogmatica, della tradizione e del passato” (political trends or positions linked to, or related to a dogmatic compliance of, the traditional values and the past), http://www.treccani.it/magazine/ lingua_italiana/domande_e_risposte/lessico/lessico_221.html. Accessed 1 May 2018. 8. On 25th April, Italy celebrates the end of the fascist regime and the victory of the Resistenza. 9. http://www.quirinale.it/elementi/Continua.aspx?tipo Notizia&key = = 82460. 10. http://www.quirinale.it/elementi/Continua.aspx?tipo Video&key 26 = = 91&vKey 2417&fVideo 7. = = 11. I use politicians to refer to the three female candidates (Meloni, Raggi and Appendino) while I switch to political activists when considering the two politicians from Movimento 5 Stelle (Raggi and Appendino) 194 F. Formato

only as this is how the parts of the movement ask to be referred to in their manifesto. 12. I searched for the name and surname pair, e.g. Virginia Raggi and, her surname only, Raggi, with the aim of collecting as many articles as possible in the three newspapers. 13. Tese forms have only been investigated when candidat* occurs as a pre-modifer of the job-title. Occurrences of candidat* as an adjective/ past participle have not been taken into consideration, e.g. candidata a sindaco (candidate to become mayor). Tis is considered as a mis-match rather than a semi-marked form. 14. Both forms—unmarked masculine and marked feminine—appear on her page of the city council website, https://www.comune.roma.it/pcr/ it/il_cam_sind_.page. Accessed 8 June 2017. 15. https://twitter.com/virginiaraggi. Accessed 27 May 2018. 16. She is referred to with the unmarked masculine in the page of the city council, http://www.comune.torino.it/sindaco/. Accessed 8 June 2017. 17. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/07/world/europe/italys-fve-star- movement-leads-in-romes-mayoral-election.html?_r 1. = 18. Te marked and unmarked forms of sindac- are also used in the pre-election period in chunks such as il sospetto di una [fem] probabile primo [masc] sindaco [masc] di Roma, grillino [masc] and donna (the suspect of a possible frst mayor of Rome who is from M5S and woman). 19. In June 2017, she was accused of mismanaging the security of an event in the main square in Turin where several people were injured following the Champions League Final between Juventus and Read Madrid, which was shown on screens in the square. 20. Tere is only one occurrence of sindachessa (mayor-ess). 21. Tese episodes have been reported in the news: https://www.lafel- trinelli.it/libri/paolo-guzzanti/mignottocrazia/9788874245796, https://www.corriere.it/politica/10_settembre_08/napoli-depu- tate-prostituzione_23e5a79c-bb4d-11df-993b-00144f02aabe.shtml, http://www.ilsussidiario.net/News/Politica/2013/3/26/BATTIATO- Video-in-Parlamento-ci-sono-troie-che-farebbero-di-tutto-Boldrini- parole-inaccettabili/377378/, http://www.liberoquotidiano.it/news/ politica/1079499/Elsa-diventa-ministra-squillo--Polemiche-sulla- vignetta-del-Manifesto.html, http://www.beppegrillo.it/il-talk-show-ti- uccide-digli-di-smettere/, https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2014/01/30/ 4 Women in the Public Sphere: Gendered Language 195

m5s-il-deputato-alle-colleghe-pd-siete-qui-perche-brave-solo-a-fare-i- pompini/862937/, https://www.ilmessaggero.it/primopiano/politica/ grillo_boldrini_macchina_insulti_sessisti-278307.html, http://www. repubblica.it/politica/2014/02/02/news/boldrini_a_grillo_odio_e_rab- bia_come_in_dittatura-77520988/, http://www.diredonna.it/nicole- minetti-senza-t-shirt-sono-meglio-52142.html. Accessed 12 June 2018. 22. Te olgettine are the women who took part in Berlusconi’s bunga bunga parties and were allegedly given money to testify in favour of Berlusconi in the trial of the Ruby’s case. https://en.wiktionary.org/ wiki/olgettina. 23. Te then Minister of Integration, the frst female and black Minister in the history of the Italian republic who was often attacked by Lega Nord. 24. http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2017/01/17/boschi-ciucciapiselli-lim- probabile-difesa-del-leghista-e-una-battuta-toscana-frenze-vuol-dire-ju- ventino/3322041/. 25. In the investigation carried out in my Ph.D (obtained at Lancaster University in 2014), I explored a wider range of discursive groups, as mentioned in the data and methods sections. For those groups, I focused on the notions of: Rhetorical we (Quirk et al. 1985, also defned as patriotic we, Wales 1996) or National we (Pyykkö 2002) where both are meant to express a collective sense of the nation; and, Ideological we (Pyykkö 2002) refers to members or supporters of a political side. 26. Details on the corpus and rationale for research can be found in the thesis published online by Lancaster University: http://eprints.lancs. ac.uk/71736/1/2014formatophd.pdf.

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In memory of Sara and all victims of femminicidio

In the introduction, I explained that this volume is divided into two parts, connected by a shared focus, the investigation of how, to various extents, gender operates in Italy, explored with same methods (e.g. corpus linguistics) and theoretical underpinnings (ideology, discourse). To introduce this section, I move the focus from the public sphere—which has been central to my investigation of language used to refer to, insult, and construct female politicians, as explored in Chapter 4—to gender in the private sphere. One cannot say that there is a clear-cut division between the two domains, because women have been historically positioned in the private sphere, and they are often misconceived when they attempt to move into the institutional, public arena. As argued in the previous chapter, attempts to reposition women and to return them to the private space, have been undertaken with the implication that this is where they naturally belong. I here conceive of the ‘private’ according to two diferent perspectives: specifcally, on the one side, the space to which women have been assigned, and, on the other, the dimension of private feelings in (heterosexual) relationships. One cannot disregard that both—the space and

© Te Author(s) 2019 199 F. Formato, Gender, Discourse and Ideology in Italian, Palgrave Studies in Language, Gender and Sexuality, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96556-7_5 200 F. Formato the emotional dimension—have created gendered roles, roles that are constantly reinforced in our society (through daily practices as well as products of the media, Larcombe 2005). Romantic love is habitually seen as a universal experience and a “human staple” (Monckton-Smith 2012, p. 43). However, love has been used in society to also express an acceptance of violence and to “provoke[e] behaviours and actions which are extreme” (Monckton-Smith 2012, p. 43). Heterosexual love and relationships are part of institutionalised discursive practices and, in them, men and women are given roles which could be seen as strict and hierarchised: to some extent, there seems to be an agreement that men are in charge and women are subservi- ent (Monckton-Smith 2012; Ingraham 2006). Starting from this, I here explore a gendered crime, labelled as femminicidio. Te term relates to women killed by their ongoing or former partners, husbands or boyfriends. I will show how the parliament and the media have reported femminicidio so as to link it to, and to reinforce and reproduce, the accepted position of women (and in binary opposition, the accepted position of men) within heterosexual relations. I frst review the existing interdisciplinary literature on Italy’s female-oriented private sphere and then move to present data and information about femminicidio in Italy. With this in mind, I here give a general overview of the methodology of the analyses that follows. Tese concern parliamentary acts (mozioni ) from the period 2013 to 2017, newspaper reports from the period 2013 to 2016, and an XML mark-up investigation of a specifc femminicidio, that of Sara Di Pietrantonio.

A Gendered Private Sphere

In Italy, women have been historically portrayed and constructed as stay-at-home mothers and wives, where the only public concessions given were to those in the roles of teachers and carers and, as presented before, a career in the entertainment industry (with the aim to please the gaze of men). Tis also forms part of the fascist era representation, when women were celebrated as sposa e madre esemplare (bride and model mother, Dittrich-Johansen 1995, p. 812) through Mussolini’s 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 201 speeches1 and reproduced in cultural artefacts such as advertising. In an interview given in 1932 (Emil 1970, p. 32), Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy, Benito Mussolini (also known as Dux, in power from 1923 to 1943) states:

La donna deve obbedire. […] Essa è analitica, non sintetica. Ha forse mai fatto dell’architettura in tutti questi secoli? Le dica di costruirmi una capanna, non dico un tempio! Non lo può! Essa è estranea all’architettura, che è la sintesi di tutte le arti, e ciò è un simbolo del suo destino. La mia opinione della sua parte nello Stato è in opposizione ad ogni femminismo. Naturalmente essa non dev’essere una schiava, ma se io le concedessi il diritto elettorale, mi si deriderebbe. Nel nostro Stato essa non deve contare. A woman must obey. […] She is analytic, not synthetic. Has she ever done architectural work in all these centuries? Ask her to build a shed for me, I am not saying a temple! She cannot! She is extraneous to architecture, that is the synthesis of all arts, and therefore this is a sign of her destiny. My opinion about her role in the State is in opposition to [the one promoted by] feminism. Naturally, she does not have to be a slave, but if I had to give her the right to vote, people would ridicule me. In our state, she must not count.

More than 80 years have passed since this interview and, in Italy, women were only given the right to vote in 1945. However, as shown in the previous chapters, some remnants remain as for what professional and non-professional environments women are deemed more suitable. Tis introduction advocates that historical facts should never be disregarded in relation to how women were framed and, to various degrees, continue to be so in present society.2 I commence with a study of a law that appeared in the ventennio fascista (the two fascist decades) and de-construct it through a study of the extensive literature on violence against women. It was only on 5 September 1981 that the Republic of Italy changed the so-called delitto d’onore (honour killing [law]), this being part of the Codice Rocco. Te Codice Rocco, named after the Minister of Justice in the Mussolini government, Arturo Rocco, is formed of the Codice penale italiano (penal code where laws on the subjects are collected) and the 202 F. Formato

Codice di procedura penale italiano (code of penal proceeding, namely the code that includes the laws which regulate penal trials in Italy), both approved in the 1930s. In one of the sections, the code deals with honour killing, marking the diference between murder caused by ofence to honour and murder for other reasons (as regulated under existing laws on murder). In relation to the former, the law reads:

Chiunque cagiona la morte del coniuge, della fglia o della sorella, nell’atto in cui ne scopre la illegittima relazione carnale e nello stato d’ira determinato dall’ofesa recata all’onor suo o della famiglia, è punito con la reclusione da tre a sette anni. Alla stessa pena soggiace chi, nelle dette circostanze, cagiona la morte della persona che sia in illegittima relazione carnale col coniuge, con la fglia o con la sorella. Whoever causes the death of the spouse, the daughter or the sister, is punished with a 3/7-year sentence in prison if the accused had learnt that the victims were being in an illegitimate sexual relationship and if he has acted in the state of anger determined by the ofence bore to his honour or to that of his family. Te same sentence is given to whom, in these circumstances, causes the death of the person who is in the illegitimate sexual relationship with the spouse, the daughter or the sister. Articolo codice penale 587

Tis article of the penal code is a self-explanatory example of the political structure in respect of its institutionalised attitudes towards women, and one can assume that, while the law was abrogated, the understanding of honour to be attributed to men remained in the imaginary for longer, as the systematic analysis below shows. In relation to the gendered language used, it is interesting to note that while daughter and sister (fglia and sorella ) are in their feminine forms—discursively constructing that only women can bring shame to a man or his family—coniuge (spouse, an epicene noun) is preceded by the masculine article (attached to the preposition di, di + il del, of, of+the of the). = = While a certain ambiguity can be seen in this—where both men and women can be victim of a spouse—no ambiguity is ofered in the case of a sister or a daughter. Tis seems to be one of those cases where, as Wykes put it, the law, through language, “may, through the symbolic 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 203 legitimation of masculine violence, culturally support male violence” (1995, p. 55). I mentioned that this law was changed in 1981 and while it could be considered as a victory (as honour was no longer justifed as a defence in murder cases), male violence towards family members did not stop. Of course, this is not to say that violence is not committed by women. However, as has been widely researched, there is no evidence of a similar female version of the phenomenon as that which sees violent men perpetrating systematic atrocities against women. Te United Nations3 frmly asserts that violence against women is a violation of human rights, stressing the structural powerless role that women seem to have in the world. In their facts and fgure list, the UN suggests that “35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/ or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point in their lives. However, some national studies show that up to 70 per cent of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime” (United Nations 20174). It is safe to conclude that gendered violence exists and is perpetrated in relationships. Among the scholarly work on this subject, Monckton- Smith describes how gender is intertwined with what she refers to as ‘intimate homicide’, suggesting that this “is a gendered problem, not just in the sense that it is mainly perpetrated against women, or that the motivations to kill intimates of men and women are usually vastly different, but that gender belief systems are crucial in understanding and deconstructing what happened and why” (2012, p. 2). Terefore, the debate around the social and cultural, rather than the biological, position of men is a paramount aspect. From the same perspective, Dobash and Dobash (1998) found that women are punished for failing to meet men’s expectations in relation to their physical, sexual or emotional needs (1998, p. 359). Wood (2001) argues that men who do not feel that they are conforming to the traditional idea of masculinity can be prone to re-establish the connection with manhood by controlling others (more specifcally those who are physically less strong than them). Tere seems to be a wide agreement on this topic, for instance, Schrock and 204 F. Formato

Padavic (2007, p. 628) point out that “men who harm women often do so when their sense of traditional manhood – such as breadwinner or having women meet their often-unspoken needs – is threatened”. Te notion of seeing their manhood threatened is also discussed by Monckton-Smith who contends that “there is a logic which says that where a man has been provoked by infdelity, desertion or even failure to observe gender roles, then there is the potential danger that he will respond with fatal violence. Te same is not believed of women” (2012, p. 3). In line with this, Boonzaier (2008) supports the view that male violence is strictly connected with men accomplishing or doing gender (or rather masculinity); in this, men’s sense of insecurity and powerless- ness leads to a gender crisis and “women become the targets of the man’s attempt to re-assert his masculinity/identity” (2008, p. 201). In Chapter 1, I provided a defnition of patriarchy based on the seminal work of Walby (1990); in relation to violence, she suggests that this is related to how men, particularly, have operated and continue to do so in society, e.g. prone to settle disputes with violence, brought up to be macho (Walby 1990, p. 134). She also discusses how, in relation to the criminal justice system, the state has tended to disregard women from an economic and welfare point of view. On the same topic, Hearn (2004) agrees that, structurally, men are dominant in several spheres of life and are largely unchallenged on this. Ideas around the social positioning of men as a gendered group are also expressed by Wood who investigates women’s accounts of the violence they were subjected to. She convincingly argues that “widespread violence defes individualistic explanations” (2001, p. 241) and that culture is to be taken into consideration as it brings with it a set of values and meanings. However, in a paper exploring ‘citizen journalism’ (here intended as people who contribute unsolicited comments to news on the internet), Bou-Franch (2013) found that those commentators who initially supported male violence through, for instance, minimising the seriousness of domestic abuse, and/or by putting blame on the victims, eventually came to consider each case on its own merits. Tere is a connection to be made here between internalised, publicly defned gendered prototypes and the violence these behaviours might produce in the private (the private sphere seen as a setting where 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 205 happiness and safety are at the core of the relationship among those who dwell in it, Pahl 2016)—and the phenomena of violence against women as a public terrain, where the state as well as society have to intervene. Te prevailing perspective on violence against women at the intersection between public and private, as presented in this section, is in line with that argued in previous chapters: an imbalanced gender(ed) world where men are in control. When men lose this control, they often seek to regain it by placing the ‘blame’ on women: professional women such as those in politics, and female victims (or survivors) in relation to violence. Te shifting of gender and violence from the private space where it occurs, to the public space where it is discussed, should also be seen in relation to representations of it in the media. Such depictions act as a means by which to reproduce an institutional power imbalance between men and women within both the private and public spheres (see also Wykes 1995). Tabbert suggests that the analysis of how crime is reported in the media “provide[s] a valuable insight into how society views crime” (2016, p. 3); the media construct the news and with it they rebuild realities (and truths as intended in the relation between language and discourse). More importantly, what appears in the newspapers is, presumably, what is editorially seen to be of interest to the reader (Tabbert 2016; Busá 2014). Having laid the foundations, I now move on to discuss the specifc gendered crime of femminicidio and its deep-rooted connections with history, society and gender, in the private and public sphere.

Femminicidio

In the cultural and social scenario discussed above, several forms of violence emerge; among these femminicidio is known and debated, yet not ofcially recognised by the criminal penal code of Italy. Karadole (2012) attempts to explain that there is a diference between the term femicide and feminicide. Te diference lies in the former (femicide ) being the killing of a woman, while the latter (feminicide ), is meant to include several crimes such as rape, and psychological violence. Tere seems to be an agreement in Italy that femminicidio is the term used to refer to 206 F. Formato the criminal phenomenon in which women are killed by someone from a former or current relationship. Tere are several terms in academic literature that describe this crime. Monckton-Smith (2012) uses ‘intimate partner violence’ or ‘intimate partner femicide’; Wykes (1995) terms it ‘intimate murders’ (for both female and male perpetrators); and Johnson (1995) defnes it as ‘patriarchal terrorism’ (later renamed ‘intimate terrorism’). Each term originates from the idea that male violence forms part of the male’s desire to gain or retain control. Uxoricidio, in English ‘uxo- ricide’, is the legal term used to refer to the murder of one’s wife, but a term that does, as explained by Dobash and Dobash (1998), is likely to be based on a biological rather than embodying the symbolic defnition of gender. I use the term femminicidio here, as it has now entered the vocabulary of the Italian media, particularly in relation to the ‘politics’ of gender violence, and the work of activists in this area. Returning to the lack of state intervention as discussed by Walby (her work taking place prior to the 1990s) since this time there has been neither a consistent or robust political response to femminicidio in Italy. Tere is no mention of the term (and therefore of the specifc crime) in the Italian penal code and, institutionally, only half-hearted attempts have been made to deal with this matter. Te law of 2013, Legge 15 ottobre 2013, n. 119, was meant to address this specifc social issue, however, this law fails to use the term femminicidio, preferring to replace it with other terms such as violenza di genere (gendered violence) or violenza domestica (domestic violence). Tis creates an interesting scenario: while the media seems to acknowledge this term, in line with public opinion, politics and the interconnected legal domain5 lags behind. Te document Femminicidio. Stalking, malamore, maltrattamenti e altre violenze di genere: i primi dati della Commissione parlamentare d’inchiesta (Femminicidio. Stalking, sick love, abuse and other gendered violence: the initial data from the Parliamentary Committee6) published by the Senato della Repubblica in April 2017 confrms that

La legislazione italiana non contempla una defnizione di femminicidio inteso come uccisione di una donna per questioni di genere, cioè come un omicidio in cui l’appartenenza al genere femminile della vittima è causa essenziale e movente dell’omicidio stesso. Non è stato previsto 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 207

nemmeno, fno al Piano d’azione straordinario contro la violenza sessuale e di genere adottato nel luglio 2015, un sistema integrato di raccolta e di elaborazione dei dati sul fenomeno. Per questa ragione il numero di femminicidi accertati diferisce a seconda del soggetto rilevatore e dei crit- eri di classifcazione seguiti. In particolare, i dati forniti dalle forze dell’ordine si riferiscono a tutti gli omicidi con vittime di sesso femminile e non solo a quelli nei quali il movente del reato è costituito dal genere (ovvero i femminicidi in senso proprio). Te Italian legislation does not contemplate a defnition of femminicidio intended as the killing of a woman because of gender, that is such a homicide for which the belonging of the woman to the gendered group is an essential cause and motive of the homicide. An integrated system for collecting and elaborating data has not been put in place before the extraordinary action plan against sexual and gendered violence adopted in July 2015. For these reasons, the number of femminicidi ascertained difers based on those who have collected the data. More specifcally, the data provided by the police forces refer to all the homicides with female victims and not only those for which the motive is a gendered one (that is what is meant by femminicidio ). Senato della Repubblica, 2017

How widespread is this criminal phenomenon? Diferent sets of data available are reported in Table 5.1 with the aim of ofering an overview of a period of 12 years. It is impossible to state that this data is conclusive and ofcially recognised, as also confrmed by the extract above: as there is no defnition of this crime in law, no one has been formally sen- tenced for committing femminicidio. Te data are drawn from instances provided by Eures,7 an institution for social and economic research, and those published by Senato della Repubblica which has disclosed lists of the number of femminicidi, collected from diferent institutions in the period 2013 to 2016—i.e. the police, the carabinieri (part of Italian police force under the authority of the Ministry of Defence), and Casa delle donne per non subire violenza (an association that works to help survivors of domestic violence).8 While I could comment on increasing and decreasing numbers of femminicidi (shown in Table 5.1), I prefer to withdraw from such considerations as counting victims would somewhat emphasise the ‘mathematical’ 208 F. Formato

Table 5.1 Number of femminicidi from 2005 to 2016 provided by Eures and Senato della Repubblica Year Eures Senato (Polizia di Senato (Arma dei Senato (Casa delle Stato) Carabinieri) Donne) 2005 84 2006 102 2007 103 2008 113 2009 121 2010 129 2011 130 2012 126 2013 134 180 153 134 2014 115 153 151 115 2015 143 136 117 2016 149 135 121 aspect of the issue, and possibly give rise to a concomitant tendency to attribute positive values to the lowest quotas. My personal view is that every single one of these murders should count as an individual history of a woman who was killed because she was trapped within fxed and proto- typed gendered roles; because of this, femminicidi should not be hidden in sums. Tese statistics are meant to introduce this phenomenon, show that it exists and that it needs broader attention, from both institutions and communities. While the aforementioned Senato document seems to acknowledge the failings of politics and the law with regards to femminicidio, one can hope that the work to establish a relation between (some) homicides and gender continues in future parliaments. A glimpse of this hope can be seen in the work undertaken by the parliament (Legislatura XVII now terminated) which approved a law titled Modifche al codice civile, al codice penale, al codice di procedura penale e altre disposizioni in favore degli orfani per crimini domestici (Amendments to the civil code, the penal code, the code of penal procedure and other measures in favour of the orphans for domestic crimes).9 However, the document insists on using the plural crimini domestici (domestic crimes). On 25 November 2017, the Camera dei Deputati organised an unprecedented event on violence against women. Speaker Laura 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 209

Boldrini gathered women who had experienced violence (directly or indirectly) to sit in the Chamber to discuss their ordeal in the context of a society that is sexist and, to various extents, misogynistic. Te event—called #inquantodonna (#justforbeingawoman)—saw 1300 women attend. In her introductory speech,10 Boldrini states: “Ogni due giorni e mezzo una nostra concittadina viene uccisa per mano di chi dovrebbe amarla. Ma sbaglia chi pensa che la violenza sia una questione che riguarda esclusivamente le donne. No, no, no, riguarda il Paese e sfregia tutta la nostra comunità. Questo fa la violenza: non è una questione di donne, è una questione che riguarda tutto il Paese” (one Italian woman is killed every two and a half days at the hand of [one] who should love her. Tose who think that violence is only a matter that concerns women exclusively are mistaken. No, no, no, it concerns the country and hurts all our community. Tis is what violence does: it is not a woman’s issue, it is an issue that concerns the whole country). With this background as my starting point, I now outline how I investigated the three datasets, frst providing an overview of overarching methods and methodologies, then providing an exploration of parliamentary acts, and fnally, the media.

Overarching Methods and Methodologies

To investigate femminicidio I decided to explore datasets and comment upon them from the perspective of Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (henceforth, CADS, Partington et al. 2013) for several reasons. Firstly, it switches the focus from corpus linguistics as a method for solely obtaining quantitative data; secondly, I draw on sources of information outside the corpora to both justify the research and to explain how these corpora are meaningful in relation to a discourse-type (this being data on the topic of femminicidio); thirdly, I use specialised corpora to investigate a socio-cultural phenomenon. To ofer a wide overview of how this topic is dealt with in Italy, I explore three datasets: (1) Parliamentary acts, in the form of mozioni; (2) 210 F. Formato

Newspaper articles on femminicidi reported in the news in the period 2013–2016; and (3) Newspaper reports of a specifc femminicidio, a case which has captured the attention of the media and public opinion because of its cruelty. Te aim of this investigation is to uncover “construction[s] of ideological meanings” (Jefries 2015, p. 381) with regard to the gendered crime itself and those who are part of it. For this reason, I focus on different datasets and diferent aspects (politics, the crime, and one specifc femminicidio ). I am particularly interested in how the news outlets, as Fairclough (1995, p. 4) puts it, “decide what to include what to exclude, and what to ‘foreground’ and what to ‘background’”. Specifc to the news, I emphasise patterns of inclusion and exclusion, of ways in which participants are represented and the crime narrated. I also discuss the extent to which these narrations become, in efect, ‘sensus communis’ (Schaefer 1990, p. 2), that is a created common understanding and consensus amongst people. I consider this here in two diferent ways: on the one side, reproducing the ‘sensus communis’ outside the texts, and, on the other, strengthening it through repetition (Meyers 1997). Te ‘sensus communis’ concerns expectations about how gender operates in the public sphere and helps to create the public view on this matter. On this topic, Fagoaga (1994) argues that there has been a thematisation and routinisation of gender-based violence. Te research questions of this chapter are as follows (details on defnitions used will be provided in the relevant sections):

1. How do parliamentary acts deal with the topic of femminicidio? a. Are there diferences and similarities between the left leaning parties and the right leaning ones? 2. How is femminicidio described in a corpus of Italian newspapers in the period 2013–2016? a. What forensic narratives are used to construct femminicidio in the Italian news reports in the period 2013–2016? b. Who do headlines blame for the femminicidio in the newspaper articles in the period 2013–2016? 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 211

c. Are there diachronic changes in the use of the term femminicidio in the years 2013–2016? 3. How is Sara Di Pietrantonio described in the news of her femminicidio?

Tese research questions are dealt with in three sections—parliamentary acts; femminicidio in the news; and, the femminicidio of Sara di Pietrantonio—and are linked to specifc datasets and literature backgrounds.

Parliamentary Acts: Rationale, Methods and Methodology

In October 2013, the Gazzetta Ufciale, an institutional publication that announces new legislation, publicised a new law, Legge 15 ottobre 2013, n. 119, that stemmed from a decree-law (that is, an intervention of the government on an urgent matter) which was signed in August of the same year. Te law did not directly deal with femminicidio—as already mentioned, a term that is never used—but instead modifed previous articles of the penal code that related to crimes committed by a parent of a minor toward the other parent. Amendments were also made in relation to harsher punishment for those who perpetrate crimes against people who they are or have been in afective relationships with. Te law also included a piano d’azione straordinaro contro la violenza sessuale e di genere (extraordinary action plan against sexual and gendered violence); this was intended to educate men and boys in interpersonal conficts, to warn the media to use a fair representation of gender, and to promote school projects on the topic. Tis forms part of my rationale for investigating the political debate on femminicidio and violenza di genere (gendered violence) in the Camera dei Deputati from 2013. I originally thought of investigating parliamentary debates (as in my Ph.D., Formato 2014). However, because the topic is not debated in the Chambers, I decided to explore other parliamentary acts, namely what is referred to as mozione parlamentare. Te mozione parlamentare11 is defned by the Camera dei Deputati as: 212 F. Formato

[un intervento con il] quale è possibile proporre un dibattito e una deliberazione in Assemblea e che contiene una determinata direttiva al Governo.

[an intervention that] proposes a debate and a vote in the assembly which contains a defned direction to the government.

Te reason why I chose this type of parliamentary act lies in the act’s structure and its function. It is a deliberate document proposed by one MP who has been supported by, either other MPs of the same party— as is mainly the case in the mozioni investigated here—or by a range of MPs from diferent parties (signalled as ‘several parties’ in the list in Table 5.2). As such acts occur at the beginning of the parliamentary procedure, its structure and its function is that of highlighting a theme to compel the attention of the government. Terefore, these acts contain ideas about the theme rather than strict information about laws and bills. Te dataset of mozioni has similarities, e.g. the topic, and differences, e.g. the audience, with the news corpora investigated below. To collect the dataset, I consulted the available database of the website of the Camera dei Deputati (http://aic.camera.it/aic/query.html): I searched for the term femminicidio, selected the parliament—XVII from 2013 to 2018—and opted for ‘mozioni’ in the menu of the options for parliamentary acts. I then read the 25 documents obtained to decide whether the main topic was femminicidio or if the term was used to support another topic, as in the case of some mozioni that, for instance, dealt with female genital mutilation. In Table 5.2, I list the mozioni that made the selection, and details of the date, the MP who presented it in the parliament, their political party and their political orientation. Tese details were collected with the aim of ofering an overview on possible diferences in the treatment of the topic based on political ideologies. Te political orientations of the Italian parties range from left and right, to centre-left and centre-right, ‘other’, as in the case of M5S,12 that is an emerging movement of citizens turned politicians, and ‘mixed’, which refers to the gruppo misto, a parliamentary group formed by MPs who do not belong to other groups and those who, being dissatisfed with their afliation, changed it to join the gruppo misto. 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 213 Centre-left Mixed Other Left Right Mixed Centre-right Centre-left All parties Right Right Other Left Centre-left Centre-right Centre Political orientation Partito democratico Misto Movimento 5 stelle Sinistra italiana Lega nord Misto Area popolare NCD-UDC Partito democratico Several parties Fratelli d’italia Lega Nord e autonomie Movimento 5 stelle Sinistra ecologia e liberta Partito democratico Il popolo delle liberta Scelta civica Political party F F F F F F F F M F M F M M M F Gender DI SALVO TITTI DI SALVO BECHIS ELEONORA SPADONI MARIA EDERA SPADONI BRIGNONE BEATRICE SALTAMARTINI BARBARA SALTAMARTINI BINETTI PAOLA BINETTI PAOLA IORI VANNA SPERANZA ROBERTO MELONI GIORGIA RONDINI MARCO MUCCI MARA MIGLIORE GENNARO SPERANZA ROBERTO BRUNETTA RENATO BRUNETTA BINETTI PAOLA Presented by 26/10/2017 25/10/2017 23/10/2017 18/10/2017 17/10/2017 17/10/2017 09/05/2016 25/02/2015 04/06/2013 03/06/2013 03/06/2013 16/05/2013 16/05/2013 15/05/2013 15/05/2013 14/05/2013 Date in the 2013–2017 parliament divided into gender, List of parliamentary mozioni on the topic femminicidio in 2013–2017 parliament divided into gender, MOZIONE N° 1/01742 MOZIONE N° 1/01740 MOZIONE N° 1/01737 MOZIONE N° 1/01734 MOZIONE N° 1/01733 MOZIONE N° 1/01732 MOZIONE N° 1/01254 MOZIONE N° 1/00743 MOZIONE N° 1/00067 MOZIONE N° 1/00065 MOZIONE N° 1/00063 MOZIONE N° 1/00042 MOZIONE N° 1/00043 MOZIONE N° 1/00039 MOZIONE N° 1/00041 MOZIONE N° 1/00036 Act reference number 5.2 Table political party and orientation 214 F. Formato

While I discuss the political orientation later, it is interesting to note that 11 out of the 16 mozioni are led by female MPs. In a study on the UK parliament, Catalano (2009) discusses the relation between female MPs and topics which could be thought of as women related, e.g. health, and suggests that there is a correlation between participation of women and these topics. Tis was also seen when investigating violence against women during my Ph.D. studies, where 48.5% of female MPs intervened on the topic and only 28.4% of the men were involved (as explained in the investigation of noi forms in Chapter 4). Te individual fles were converted from PDF into text fles; the fnal number of the individual fles, as well as the total divided into political afliation, is shown in Table 5.3. Te corpus is overall a small one, one that could be defned as ‘oppor- tunistic’, that is “represent nothing more nor less than the data that it was possible to gather for a specifc task” (McEnery and Hardie 2011, p. 11). It was carefully chosen and collected to be investigated according to the topic of femminicidio. Similarities in the number of words occur between the two main political alignments—left and right—with smaller sub-corpora oriented towards other ones. One way to look at these similarities is that the topic is transversally relevant. In the analysis, I investigate whether left and right treat femminicidio diferently, prioritising some discourses over others. In relation to gender quotas, female MPs lead the number of mozioni presented in the parliament, having initiated this topic 11 times (male MPs 6 times). More specifcally, Binetti Paola has asked the Camera dei Deputati to debate on this topic three times; what is telling is that she presents mozioni having moved from one party to another (in 2013 she belonged to the centre party Forza Civica, in 2016 she moved to Area Popolare NCD-UDC, aligned towards the centre-right and, fnally in 2017, to the mixed group). While I believe that this is unsurprising in Italian politics where changes in political afliation are common, this might complicate the quest for a stable and solid picture in relation to left- and right-led mozioni on this topic. Once the mozioni were collected, I created 6 sub-corpora, which could be investigated together as one corpus or as split sub-corpora 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 215

Table 5.3 Number of words of mozioni divided into political orientation Political orientation Number of words Act reference number Left-leaning Centre-left 2104 MOZIONE N° 1/00039 Centre-left 1593 MOZIONE N° 1/00743 Centre-left 2602 MOZIONE N° 1/01742 Left 1357 MOZIONE N° 1/00043 Left 1984 MOZIONE N° 1/01734 Total 9640 Right-leaning Centre-right 1735 MOZIONE N° 1/00041 Centre-right 3091 MOZIONE N° 1/01254 Right 2121 MOZIONE N° 1/00063 Right 1226 MOZIONE N° 1/00065 Right 1424 MOZIONE N° 1/01733 Total 9597 Centre Centre 1717 MOZIONE N° 1/00036 Total 1717 All parties All parties 708 MOZIONE N° 1/00067 Total 708 Mixed Mixed 1526 MOZIONE N° 1/01732 Mixed 896 MOZIONE N° 1/01740 Total 2422 Other Other 687 MOZIONE N° 1/00042 Other 1763 MOZIONE N° 1/01737 Total 2450 Overall Total 26534 based, and the fles were named as left, right, centre, all parties, mixed, other. Te analysis is corpus-driven, starting with the creation of a wordlist, and investigating keyness and multi-words on the online corpus tool Sketch Engine (Kilgarrif 2012). I provide more details about each of these methods in the discussion of results below. 216 F. Formato

Results and Discussion

I started the investigation into the mozioni by checking which are the most used terms, producing a word list, namely a list of the most frequent words in a corpus. In Table 5.4, I list those words which are relevant to this chapter—therefore removing grammatical words— according to their absolute frequency (AF) and frequency per one million words (PMW). From the Table 5.4, we see that violenza (violence, 15,49 PMW) is used much more often than femminicidio (1,48 ptw). Tis might suggest that the MPs want to deal with this topic in a broader way rather than just referring to one of its forms, which, it is worth remember- ing, does not exist in its own right in the penal code and, as explained below, is not accepted by all speakers. It could be that violenza carries greater authority, one that could convince the parliament to tackle the phenomenon. Another interesting result is the presence of those who are victims, i.e. donne (women) but no mention of those who are alleged to have committed the crime, i.e. men. Men are invisible in the wordlist (and in the concurrent conceptualisation of violence). While I present the systematic investigation of the news in the following sections, I here use the news corpus collected (331 articles on

Table 5.4 Absolute frequencies and frequencies per million words of salient words in the mozioni corpus Term Translation AF PMW Violenza Violence 469 15,49 Donne Women 413 13,64 Vittime Victims 107 3,53 Genere Gender 90 2,97 Convenzione Convention 77 2,54 Fenomeno Phenomenon 76 2,51 Prevenzione Prevention 69 2,27 Sessuale Sexual 64 2,11 Donna Woman 49 1,61 Contrasto Contrast 47 1,55 Femminicidio Femminicidio 45 1,48 Domestica Domestic 44 1,45 Total 1.417 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 217 femminicidio in the 2013–2016 period) as a reference corpus, that is a corpus used for comparison, with the aim of investigating keywords, defned here as “[a] word which appears in a text or corpus statistically signifcantly more frequently than would be expected by chance when compared to a corpus which is larger or of equal size” (Hardie and McEnery 2006, p. 97). One important point to be made about keywords is that they are words (or expressions for multi-words) “which occur with unusual frequency in a given text. Tis does not mean high frequency but unusual frequency” (Scott 1997, p. 236). Tese words (or expressions) being unusual, become typical of the corpus under investigation. I have compared the news corpus with the mozioni corpus via Sketch Engine (Kilgarrif 2012), focusing on relevant multi-words, namely those key ‘compound’ words that could, arguably, replace femminicidio. Tese are listed in Table 5.5; those selected had a keyness score above 100. Tese terms seem to encompass more than homicide (or the crime of femminicidio as such), indicating that women are subject to several forms of violence: (1) some specifc, e.g. violenza fsica (physical violence), violenza sessuale/violenze sessuali (sexual violence); (2) some more generic, e.g. those with forma (type), forma di violenza, forma di discriminazione, forme di violenza, forma di abuso; and (3) Tose referring specifcally to gender, e.g. violenza di genere (gendered violence),

Table 5.5 Multi-words with keyness score above 100 in the mozioni corpus Term Translation Keyness score AF Violenza domestica Domestic violence 715.10 39 Violenza di genere Gendered violence 642.61 43 Forma di violenza Type of violence 400.05 20 Forma di discriminazione Type of discrimination 373.56 17 Violenza sessuale Sexual violence 368.21 34 Forme di violenza Types of violence 289.02 12 Violenza maschile Male violence 243.91 9 Violenza fsica Physical violence 212.59 11 Discriminazione di genere Gendered discrimination 197.99 7 Violenze sessuali Sexual violences 135.05 6 Forma di abuso Type of abuse 123.50 4 218 F. Formato discriminazione di genere (gendered discrimination), violenza maschile (male violence). Based on the notion of keywords and the diference in genre between the two corpora investigated (the mozioni vs the news), we can see that violence is presented as an abstract phenomenon rather than actions committed by humans against others, confrming the absence of the terms uomo and uomini (man/men) in the word list discussed above. Tis is, however, not unexpected; in previous work, I investigated violence metaphors used in debates on violence against women in the 2008–2011 period and found similar results (Formato 2014). Tis can also be because these texts tend not to include specifc events but instead talk about the topic more broadly. In the multi-words list there is only one term that refers specifcally to those who (are likely to) commit violence against women and that is ex partners (with 6 occurrences and a key score below 100). With the aim of investigating diferences between the left-wing and right-wing parties, I compared the two sub-corpora based on political afliation, those that have more mozioni, e.g. left leaning (5 mozioni, 9640 words) and right leaning (5 mozioni, 9597 words). I examined the frst 25 multi-words as generated by Sketch Engine (Kilgarrif 2012). I then proceeded to categorise the multi-words in groups according to similar aspects with the aim of exploring diferences and similarities between the two political orientations; the quantitative data are shown in Table 5.6, divided into the category, the number of multi-words (NM), the absolute frequency of the multi-words (AF) and the percentages (based on the categories).

Table 5.6 Number and absolute frequencies of multi-words and percentages of content categories in the mozioni corpus Categories Left leaning Right leaning Total NM AF % NM AF % AF Law/parliament 8 22 32 15 42 60 64 procedures Culture 4 11 16 1 7 4 18 Institution 4 10 16 0 0 0 10 Violence 3 17 12 7 32 28 49 Victims 2 8 8 0 0 0 8 Facts and fgures 2 4 8 1 2 4 6 Setting 2 4 8 1 2 4 6 Total 25 76 100 25 85 100 161 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 219

Before commenting on the diferences and similarities between the two political orientations, I here note that the highest number of multi-words can be found in the group law/parliament procedures, as one would expect for the arena where these texts are presented. Linee guida (guidelines), decreto legislativo (decree law), concreta attuazione (real actuation), azioni per i centri (measures for the centres) appear in the centre-left corpus; while delitto di atti persecutori (crime within persecutory acts), atto di indirizzo (measure addressed to), presente atto (current measure), custodia cautelare (cau- tionary custody), appear in the centre-right corpus. Terms from several felds are used by the centre-left, e.g. ‘culture’ (parità di genere/ gender equality, cultura patriarcale/patriarchal culture), ‘institutions’ (commissione europea, commissione parlamentare ) and, more importantly, ‘victims’ (a term which does not appear in the centre-right, i.e. minori vittime/victim minors, vittime di violenza assistita/assisted violence victim). In the right-centre, the group ‘violence’ covers the 28% (12% in the centre-left) of terms that convey a wide range of types of violence (episodi di violenza/violent cases, violenza sessuale di gruppo/gang rape, aborto forzato/forced abortion, atti sessuali/sexual acts). I now draw some conclusion and answer the research question: How do parliamentary acts deal with the topic of femminicidio in the parliament XVII? Generally speaking, the criminal phenomenon of femminicidio is seen within a broader understanding of violence as an abstract phenomenon and its main focus is on women (as victims) rather than men (as perpetrators). Te answer to the research question—Are there diferences and similarities between the left-leaning parties and the right-leaning ones?—do right-leaning parties seem to focus more on what procedures can be taken in the parliament and the types of violence, while left-leaning ones seem to have a broader view of the phenomenon in relation to other institutions, victims, and diferent aspects of the culture surrounding femminicidio. Tis word does not appear in the 25 highest keywords in any of the two larger sub-corpora. 220 F. Formato

Femminicidio in the News

Literature already exists on language used in the media to describe crime: with some references to gender (Tabbert 2016), gendered violence (in Spain, Santaemilia and Maruenda 2014), and rape (O’Hara 2012; Ehrlich 2003). Abis and Orrú (2016) published a qualitative analysis of 143 new reports (in the period 2010–2015) on the topic of femminicidio, investigating descriptions of: (1) Victims (accounts of their role within the relationship and their physical traits); (2) Extenuating circumstances portrayal of their professional status (alleged) mental health issues and how these are used to describe what led to the crime); (3) Motives (jealousy); and (4) Violence. Tey admit that “dagli articoli che abbiamo raccolto non è in sostanza possibile interpretare la violenza sulle donne da un punto di vista sistemico” (from the articles that we have collected it is not possible to interpret violence against women from a systemic point of view, 2016, p. 31). Starting from this claim, I aim to ofer a systemic view of how femminicidio is constructed in the news, by using methodological tools—e.g. keyword analysis and collocations—which could function as a guarantee for systematicity. Systematicity is also found in Santaemilia and Marueda (2014) who, through corpus methods, investigated the Spanish daily broadsheets—El País and El Mundo—on the topic of violencia de género (gendered violence), violencia doméstica (domestic violence) and violencia machista (sexist violence), in the period 2005–2010. Tey conclude that the newspapers focus on the objectifcation of the victims who are in need of protection (from the institutions), while male perpetrators seem to be hidden, almost always excluded, and certainly backgrounded. In the section on parliamentary acts, I review the law promulgated in 2013, which, among other measures, proposed to educate the media on how to report the violence phenomenon fairly, and, above all, remain mindful of the women involved. Tis is why my dataset starts from 2013. In addition, I also review public voices and opinions raised on how to, and how not to, depict violence. For instance, the activists of Non una di Meno13 write that, in some media: 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 221

C’è una straordinaria coerenza di costruzione discorsiva, in cui la violenza sulle donne è raccontata dal punto di vista di chi la esercita e sublimata come parte del mito fusionale, dell’ideologia dell’amore romantico/passionale: l’uomo che agisce violenza viene rappresentato come ‘innamo- rato’ della vittima, il movente è la gelosia, ritenuta una “passione sana” (al contrario della violenza che è morbosa od eccessiva) oppure l’incapac- ità di accettare la separazione, raccontata con modalità che producono empatia ed assoluzione, deresponsabilizzando e legittimando l’autore della violenza. Un altro frame spesso impiegato è quello della relazione confittuale, che giustifca una violenza letale come reazione a una discus- sione e sposta la responsabilità dall’aggressore all’intera dinamica di coppia, di fatto alludendo alla corresponsabilità della vittima. In ogni caso, nonostante l’impiego del termine femminicidio sia aumentato da 4 articoli nel 2006 a 5000 articoli nel 2013, il modo di afrontare e descrivere il fenomeno rimane ancorato alla percezione della violenza come questione individuale Tere is a strong coherence of the discursive constructions in which violence against women is told from the point of view of those who commit it and seen through the lens of the fusional myth,14 [perceived] as part of the ideology of romantic and passionate love: the men who use violence are represented as ‘in love with’ the victim, the motive is jealousy seen as a healthy element (contrarily, violence is seen as morbid or extreme) or [it is described in relation to] the incapacity of accepting the end of the relationship, constructing empathy and acquittal [towards men], denying responsibility and legitimating the author of the violence. Another frame used is that of the confict within the relationship, as a justifcation for a lethal violence caused by an argument moving the responsibility from the male perpetrator to the couple dynamic, hinting at the shared responsibility of the female victim. All in all, while the use of the term femminicidio increased from 4 articles in 2006 to 5000 articles in 2013, the way of facing and describing the phenomenon is still tied to the perception of violence as an individual matter. Non una di meno, 2016

Tis extract is one of great interest as it summarises how femminicidio is seemingly treated in the media, and it justifes a systematic CADS investigation into the themes implied, e.g. the shared responsibility of 222 F. Formato the victim, a cultural rather than an individual phenomenon, and, motives behind the killing. However, it was impossible to have a comprehensive picture of their study (e.g. number of articles) and how they conduct what seems a linguistic analysis. More recently, a group of female and male journalists—under the name GiULiA—composed a set of guidelines on how to report femminicidio and, more broadly, gender-related news, in the press. Teir work is collected in a booklet titled Stop violenza: le parole per dirlo (Stop violence: the words to say it), published in 2017, in which they outline 10 rules to be followed. Tose that are relevant to this chapter are listed below, with the original numbering:

2. adottare un comportamento professionale e consapevole per evitare stereotipi di genere e assicurare massima attenzione alla terminologia, ai con- tenuti e alle immagini divulgate. 5. utilizzare il termine specifco ‘femminicidio’ per i delitti compiuti sulle donne in quanto donne e superare la vecchia cultura della sottovalutazi- one della violenza: fsica, psicologica, economica, giuridica, culturale. 10. nel più generale obbligo di un uso corretto e consapevole del linguaggio, evitare: b) termini fuorvianti come ‘amore‘, ‘raptus’, ‘follia’, ‘gelosia’, ‘passione’ accostati a crimini dettati dalla volontà di possesso e annientamento. d) di suggerire attenuanti e giustifcazioni all’omicida., anche involontar- iamente, motivando la violenza con ‘perdita del lavoro’, ‘difcoltà eco- nomiche’, ‘depressione’, ‘tradimento’ e così via. e) di raccontare il femminicidio sempre dal punto di vista del colpevole, partendo invece da chi subisce la violenza nel rispetto della sua persona. 2. to adopt a professional and informed manner [when writing] to avoid gender stereotypes and to pay meticulous attention to terminology, contents and images used. 5. to use the specialized term femminicidio for crimes perpetrated on women as women and to overcome the old culture of underestimating physical, psychological, economic, juridical and cultural violence. 10. In the wider duty of using a correct and informed use of language, one should avoid: 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 223

b) misleading terms such as ‘love’, ‘burst’, ‘insanity’, ‘jealousy’, ‘passion’ to describe crimes which are guided by possession and annihilation [of those murdered]. d) to suggest extenuating circumstances and justifcation for the perpetrator, even if done unintentionally, motivating violence with ‘loss of job’, ‘economic problems’, ‘depression’, ‘cheating’ and so on and so forth. e) to always narrate the femminicidio from the perpetrator’s point of view, focusing instead on those subject of violence, respectful of them. (GiULiA 2017, p. 82–83)

Both the work undertaken by Non una di meno and GiULiA focus on an aspect that has been dealt with in the literature on gendered violence in the UK, that is, the centrality of love as a justifcation and explanation for acts of violence (Monckton-Smith 2012, p. 3). Starting from observed patterns, it seems paramount to dedicate part of this study to what Monckton-Smith (2012) refers to as forensic narratives developed in the media, more specifcally newspapers, in order to consider discourses about and around gender (in both private and institutionalised/public arenas) arising from this dataset. Monckton-Smith (2012) explains that this is an umbrella term to defne “those crime narratives used in formal legal processes to establish what happened and why and are constructed in police, and prosecu- tion and defence case fles” (2012, p. 73). From her background in the police, Monckton-Smith explains that facts collected become a narrative which is useful in court, more specifcally for the jury, and therefore they contain moral stances and ‘sensus communis’ beliefs about crime and those who commit them. Terefore, forensic narratives concern how the characters are positioned within data (newspaper articles in her case)— for instance, whether they are positioned as a couple or as individuals— as well as what recurring themes and subtle clues can be found (Haaken 2010). Tese forensic narratives are never conceptualised outside a historical, political and cultural background, and this is why I believe that this term and its notion can be useful to investigate the 2013–2016 news. Borrowing this term from Monckton-Smith, I adapt it to refect how I 224 F. Formato explore the people involved and other insights into how femminicidio is described and provide the following defnition of the term:

Forensic narratives arise from the investigation of systematic linguistic patterns which are used to describe 1. those involved in the femminicidio and 2. Apparent reasons, motives, explanations about why the crime has occurred. Tese narratives shed light on ideological stances about cultural understandings of gender within heterosexual relationships in a gender-imbalanced social and cultural context, which may be, nonetheless, perceived as ‘sensus communis’.

Tere is one crucial point to make on this defnition and on the oper- ationalisation of it. Forensic narratives is a term which is analysis-led. Tis means that the systematicity of the results produce forensic narratives in what can be described as a bottom-up approach. In other words, it is the investigation of these newspaper articles that gives rise to forensic narratives based on several stories. Forensic narratives are not stories of individual femminicidi but a construction of how gender is seen through femminicidio. I use diferent corpus linguistics methods: single word, multi-word analysis and collocations (defned in the analysis below) to explore these narratives.

The News Corpus

I collected the data via the Nexis database with the intent to investigate femminicidio from 2013 to 2016. Te news corpus and sub-corpora of this section consist of articles which Nexis found to contain the expressions femminicidio OR delitto passionale (crime of passion) in Italian language news. I chose these two terms based on the intuition that they could be used interchangeably or, to some extent, had a similar meaning. Te period I investigate commences from the 1 January to 31 December of each year considered, that is 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. While I do not necessarily see this study as a diachronic one— namely, an examination of how the narratives changes (or does not) in the years—I take into consideration that a debate on good practices when writing about femminicidio could have been taken on board; for 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 225 this reason, I explore whether there have been changes throughout the years, specifcally in relation to use of the term femminicidio. Once the data were collected through the database, I proceeded to clean the data, focusing on some criteria which would match the aims and research questions of this chapter. Te corpus collected contains newspaper articles which recount: (1) episodes of women killed by somebody whom they knew, most often a(n ex-)partner, a(n ex-) husband, or someone whom these women had expressed the intention/desire not to be with and (2) details of the trials in which the male perpetrators are accused of murder or manslaughter. Tis corpus does not contain: (1) Editorials on the theme, that is opinion pieces where journalists or experts explain what this phenomenon concerns; (2) Events which are related to this phenomenon, e.g. exhi- bitions, launches of books on the subject; (3) Accounts of episodes where women survived the violence, as this would be connected to other parliamentary and legal procedures, namely, atti persecutori (harassment) and stalking; (4) Episodes of femminicidio regarding women killed outside the national border of Italy; and (5) Political views of the episodes, e.g. politicians releasing statements on specifc women killed or on the progress of the law in the parliament. In cleaning the data, I realised that the perfect dataset does not exist. I was required to make clear choices in deciding what newspaper articles to consider in respect of the list above. Te articles have been published in several newspapers or press agencies, more specifcally Il Giorno, il Giornale, il Resto del Carlino, il Corriere della Sera, Ansa. Terefore, the corpus includes a variety of press outlets; given the difculty in sometimes tracing this information, political alignment is not taken into consideration. Te following have been cleaned to contain only the newspaper articles, while noise such as metadata (date of the publication, newspaper, etc.) has been removed, see Figs. 5.1 and 5.2. In Fig. 5.2, I show the elements that have been removed in order to systematically investigate the newspaper articles. More specifcally, I removed the information relevant to section, length, dateline, newspaper title, date, load-date, language, publication-type and journal-code (which appear in Fig. 5.1). Some other newspaper articles contained 226 F. Formato

1 of 499 DOCUMENTS

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano

June 30, 2013 Sunday 11:29 PM CET

ANSA/ UCCIDE LA EX MOGLIE A COLPI DI PISTOLADAVANTI ALLE AMICHE E SI ARRESTARE. UXORICIDA TITOLARE DI AZIENDA AUTOTRASPORTI

(ANSA) - 30 GIU -E' andato dalla ex moglie ''per parlarle'' e, al suo rifiuto, prima l'ha colpita con un pugno e si e' allontanato, ma per prendere la pistola con la quale pochi minuti dopo l'ha uccisa. A compiere l'uxoricidio, nella zona residenziale di Bra (Cuneo), e' stato un autotrasportatore, contitolare di una piccola azienda, di 59 anni, Michele Bambino, arrestato in serata dai carabinieri. A cadere sotto i suoi colpi Marta Forlani, che l'uomo aveva sposato oltre vent'anni fa e da cui si era separato quattro- cinque anni fa. La coppia aveva due figlie, di 23 e 20 anni.Un delitto con un movente ancora da decifrare, ma che sarebbe riconducibile a dissaporilegati a questioni finanziarie dopo la separazione che con il tempo non si erano sopiti. Molto resta ancora da chiarire sull'ennesimo caso di femminicidio perche' l'uxoricida si e' chiuso nel piu' assoluto silenzio.Benche' separati, i coniugi continuavano a vivere vicini: avevano diviso la villetta in strada Crosassa, ricavandone due abitazioni distinte. Ed oggi mentre Marta Forlani chiacchierava con tre amiche, l'uomo e' arrivato chiedendodi parlarle. La donna - secondo la ricostruzione dei carabinieri del nucleooperativo provinciale di Cuneo che coordinano le indagini -avrebbe rifiutato. Michele Bambino l'ha aggredita, sferrandole un pugno e dopo qualche minuto e' tornato con una Beretta, che avrebbe rubato nel 2006, ferendo la donnamortalmente. E' stata una delle amiche della vittima a dare l'allarme, ma quando e' arrivata l'ambulanza ogni sforzo dei soccorritori e' stato vano. In serata, dopo il nulla osta del magistrato, il corpo e' stato portato all'obitorio di Bra.

L'uxoricida si e' lasciato ammanettare senza opporre resistenza. Quando i carabinieri sono arrivati nella zona periferica di Bra, era poco lontano dal luogo del delitto, seduto su un muretto di recinzione della villa. Ma non avrebbe aperto bocca perspiegare i motivi deldelitto.

LOAD-DATE: June 30, 2013

LANGUAGE: ITALIAN; ITALIANO

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Agenzia Stampa

JOURNAL-CODE: QB

Fig. 5.1 Sample of newspaper article before removing noise other information, which, similarly, has been removed, e.g. section, highlight. A copy of the full set of uncleaned data was kept in order to be used for insights where needed. I left in the article headlines and conducted a study on these too. Having explained how the corpus has been built, I present the number of articles and the number of tokens for each year, in Table 5.7. Tere is a discrepancy in the number of newspaper articles across the years. It is difcult to predict the reasons for this as incidences of 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 227

UCCIDE LA EX MOGLIE A COLPI DI PISTOLA DAVANTI ALLE AMICHE E SI ARRESTARE. UXORICIDA TITOLARE DI AZIENDA AUTOTRASPORTI

E' andato dalla ex moglie ''per parlarle'' e, al suo rifiuto, prima l'ha colpita con un pugno e si e allontanato, ma per prendere la pistola con la quale pochi minuti dopo l'ha uccisa. A compiere l'uxoricidio, nella zona residenziale di Bra (Cuneo), e' stato un autotrasportatore, contitolare di una piccola azienda, di 59 anni, Michele Bambino, arrestato in serata dai carabinieri. A cadere sotto i suoi colpi Marta Forlani, che l'uomo aveva sposato oltre vent'anni fa e da cui si era separato quattro-cinque anni fa. La coppia aveva due figlie, di 23 e 20 anni. Un delitto con un movente ancora da decifrare, ma che sarebbe riconducibile a dissapori legati a questioni finanziarie dopo la separazione che con il tempo non si erano sopiti. Molto resta ancora da chiarire sull'ennesimo caso di femminicidio perche' l'uxoricida si e' chiuso nel piu' assoluto silenzio. Benche' separati, i coniugi continuavano a vivere vicini: avevano diviso la villetta in strada Crosassa, ricavandone due abitazioni distinte. Ed oggi, mentre Marta Forlani chiacchierava con tre amiche, l'uomo e' arrivato chiedendo di parlarle. La donna - secondo la ricostruzione dei carabinieri del nucleo operativo provinciale di Cuneo che coordinano le indagini - avrebbe rifiutato. Michele Bambino l'ha aggredita, sferrandole un pugno e dopo qualche minuto e tornato con una Beretta, che avrebbe rubato nel 2006, ferendo la donna mortalmente. E' stata una delle amiche della vittima a dare l'allarme, ma quando e' arrivata l'ambulanza ogni sforzo dei soccorritori e stato vano. In serata, dopo il nulla osta del magistrato, il corpo e' stato portato all'obitorio di Bra.

Fig. 5.2 Sample of newspaper article included in the news corpus after noise has been removed

Table 5.7 Number of articles and words in the news corpus (2013–2016) and sub-corpora divided by years

2013 2014 2015 2016 Total Number of articles 108 120 49 54 331 Number of words 45,466 44,873 19,300 21,394 131,033 femminicidi are, on the whole, similar across these years (as shown above). It is possible that these newspapers dedicate less space to a phenomenon which has somehow become normalised in society and, therefore, less episodes are reported. Santaemilia and Maruenda (2014, p. 257) show that, likewise, their datasets alternate the three terms used (violencia de género, violencia doméstica violencia machista) and that increasing and decreasing trends can be seen across the 5-year period. In their dataset, violencia machista (sexist violence) seems to have increased over the years (especially in 2009). Te articles I collected are investigated according to diferent quantitative and qualitative methods. I ofer specifc details on each method 228 F. Formato used within the relevant analysis sections, with the aim of giving a step- by-step overview of how the results were gained. However, I anticipate that the methods to investigate forensic narratives is through corpus-driven approach (Tognini-Bonelli 2001), that is to investigate the corpus without prior assumptions and expectations. McEnery and Hardie defne a corpus-driven approach as “a corpus method that is entirely bottom-up” (2011, p. 242), this serving the investigation of forensic narratives.15 A qualitative analysis of telling single and multi-words is provided; these are explored according to corpus linguistic functions, e.g. collocations and concordance lines. In the second part of the analysis, I isolate the headlines of the newspaper articles; in the third, I investigate whether the term femminicidio has changed across the 4-year period, before drawing conclusions on this dataset. Te overarching research question for this study is: How is femminicidio described in a corpus of Italian newspapers in the period 2013–2016?

Single Words

In this section, I present and discuss the results of the analysis of single words in the news corpus. I conducted keyword analysis through the corpus tool Sketch Engine (Kilgarrif 2012) to extrapolate statistically signifcant lexical items—on their own, i.e. the single word and in a lexical group, i.e. multi-words (discussed in the following section)—comparing the news corpus with a reference one—in this case itTenTen16 (4,972,350,335 words). It proved difcult to collect data and to build a representative corpus that could be compared with the news corpus, e.g. news reporting other crimes (e.g. homicides which did not have a gendered dimension). For this reason, I used itTenTen 16 as a reference corpus as it contained texts about gender and gendered violence (the focus of the news corpus); this also helping to overcome the differences in genres between the two compared corpora (itTenTen16 contains texts collected from the internet); furthermore, the availability of the corpus on SketchEngine and the year in which it was collected (2016) meant that it was suitable for this research. Te results have been 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 229 ordered according to their keyness scores (Kilgarrif 2012)16; a list of the scores and frequencies is available in Appendix 1. In selecting the frst 50 keywords, I have decided to remove names and surnames of people involved (for both victims and perpetrators) as they are related to single stories, while I am here interested in forensic narratives (as explained in the methodology section above). However, I have left nomination strategies used to group some people (for instance, nationality) as such groups have a potential to provide insights into cultural and social typi- fcation e.g. romena (Romanian). I have grouped the keywords to form a scenario of femminicidio as recounted in the relevant newspaper articles (Table 5.8). It is unsurprising that terms that relate to the murder of the women are prominent (feminine endings), e.g. uccisa (murdered), ammazzata (killed), as well as the means used to cause the death, e.g. coltellate (stab- bing), pistola (gun). In relation to the people involved, we see women addressed (according to the keywords) as badante (care giver), romena (Romanian) and convivente (cohabitant, an epicene noun), this last also used for the male perpetrator to indicate the relationship between the two (signalled with (!)). Te male perpetrators are similarly referred to by the role they play within the couple, i.e. fdanzato and fdanzatino (sweetheart—ino is a sufx used to add emotive connotation to a word). While he is described as omicida (killer) and assassino (murderer), terms are also used related to the action of killing—uccide (kills) and ucciderla ([to] kill her)—with regards to his role in the femminicidio. Language used to describe the relationship prior to the murder (‘pre-killing relationship events’) suggests confict, clashes that, it is implied, lead to the killing: lite/litigio/litigavano (arguments, quarrels, they used to fght). Monckton-Smith (2012), as reviewed at the beginning of this chapter, discusses the problematisation of placing blame on the failed relationship (and therefore the couple) rather than on those who commit the crime. Moreover, as argued by activists of Non una di Meno and GiULiA, the reasons for the murder stand out in this corpus. We fnd the perpetrator described as in love with the victim, suggesting ‘love’ as a justifcation for the killing, a consequence and demonstration of it, e.g. gelosia (jealousy), geloso (jealous), passionale (passionate). Likewise, we fnd the 230 F. Formato

Table 5.8 Single words, ordered in descending order, grouped according to aspects of the femminicidio in the news corpus Single words Criminal phenomenon Femminicidio (femminicidio ), delitto (crime) omicidio (homicide), premeditazione (premeditation), premeditato (premeditated), femminicidi (femminicidi), stalking (stalking) Murder-related terms Victim Uccisa (killed [fem]), strangolata (strangled [fem]), accoltellata (stabbed [fem]), ammazzata (killed [fem]), massacrata (battered [fem]), cadavere (corpse), uccise (killed [fem]) Perpetrator Omicida (killer), assassino (murdered), ucciderla (kill her), confessato (confessed[masc]), uccide (kills) Weapons/injuries Coltellate (knife wounds), Mozzate (cut off), fendenti (downward blow), coltello (knife), pistola (gun) Perpetrator markers Convivente (!) (co-habitant), fdanzato (boyfriend) fdanzatino (sweatheart), geloso (jealous) Victim markers Convivente (!), bandante (care giver), romena (romanian [fem]) Reason for the murder Raptus (burst), movente (motive), gelosia (jealousy), passionale (passionate) Post mortem Autopsia (autopsy) Police/court related terms Abbreviato (summary), investigatori, inquirenti (investigators), ergastolo (life sentence), interrogatorio (questioning), GIP (preliminary investigation judge), GUP (preliminary hearing judge), provvisionale (provisional), aggravanti (aggravating) Couple dynamics Litigio, lite (fght), litigato (fought), litigavano (they used to fght) Other Fiaccolata (torchlight procession) killer being guided by a temporary condition—raptus (burst)—one that seems to lessen his responsibility for the act. In other words, perpetrators are not seen as consistently violent people. In the following sub-section, I investigate the two terms gelosia and raptus, as well as the relationship between the two. 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 231

Gelosia and Raptus

In order to investigate the two terms in more detail, I checked the concordance lines of each term with Sketch Engine (Kilgarrif 2012) and then performed collocational analysis with the function graphcoll on Lancsbox (Brezina et al. 2015). Collocation is the “co-occurrence relationship between two words. Words are said to collocate with one another if one is more likely to occur in the presence of the other than elsewhere” (McEnery and Hardie 2011, p. 240, see also Glossary 2). As for gelosia (jealousy), I investigated collocates in a span of minus 2 on the left, as intuitively the term was going to be preceded by an article or articulated preposition (and this preceded by a noun) and zero on the right, as relevant elements were thought to appear before. Te results allow for further discussion on this term, as presented in Fig. 5.3. I now comment on the collocates with the aim to shed light on how gelosia (jealousy) is used as a term by the media, and how, specif- ically, it occurs in this corpus. I decided to examine collocates based on their frequency, starting from the list produced according to the Mutual Information score which measures the strength of the collocations.17 Te defnition of the term gelosia is as follows: “Stato emotivo di dubbio e di tormentosa ansia di chi, con o senza giustifcato motivo, teme (o constata) che la persona amata gli sia insidiata da un rivale”

Fig. 5.3 Collocations of the node gelosia in the news corpus 232 F. Formato

Table 5.9 Concordances lines of the node per gelosia in the news corpus Avarello di 65 anni. Ha ucciso per gelosia impastata con un malsano per senso di possesso inquirenti aveva confessato di per gelosia averlo fatto con lei e che l’ha uccisa per gelosia al culmine di una lite furibo- nda. Un otto gli occhi del padre Una per gelosia Era convinto che la moglie lo mattanza, in casa, tradisse e l’ha

(Treccani,18—emotive state of doubt, tormented anxiety of those who, with or without justifed reason, fear or certify that the loved person is harrassed by a rival—my emphasis). Tere are, in this defnition, two implied gendered elements, one is the indirect object pronoun gli (masculine object pronoun) that seems to emphasise that the harassment is hurting a man, meaning, by assumption on heteronormativity, that the loved person is a woman. What is interesting here is that the sentence would make sense even without the pronoun, as in che la persona amata sia insidiata. Te other indirect implication comes via the masculine indeterminate article un which precedes the epicene rivale. Both—gli and un—could be, as described in Chapter 2, used as generics.19 If we move on to the denotation of the term, this seems to conceptualise jealousy as a sort of rivalry between two people, one inside and the other outside of the couple relationship, where the other half of the couple is loved by one and harrassed by someone else. Starting from the understanding that these news articles deal with heteronormative couples, it seems that masculinity (and the threat of one man over another one), is part of the femminicidio; therefore, the woman seems to be passive (and) caught in the middle of the rivalry. Te closest and most frequent collocate is the preposition per (for, 28 occurrences) which indicates a corresponding ‘cause’, suggesting that the killings here are caused by the jealousy (of the man towards the woman), as shown in the sample concordance lines in Table 5.9. In these concordances, we read that the cause that led the man to kill the woman (uccidere per/to kill for, fare per/to do something for ) was indeed jealousy. Tis is confrmed by the verbs which appear in the graph above, i.e. acceccato (blinded by), scatenato (triggered by), 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 233

Table 5.10 Concordance lines of the node gelosia in the news corpus ad ucciderla, magari in un raptus di gelosia sono gli elementi dell’ennesimo essere stato colto da un raptus di gelosia piano, e uccisa, per un raptus di gelosia che in preda ad un raptus di gelosia il 27 dicembre 2011, ha ucciso a ossessionato (obsessed by), together with the nouns tarlo (seeds of) and lite (argument), and the adjective ossessiva (obsessive). However, there is a recognisable diference between ossessionato/ossessiva (obsessive), tarlo (seeds of) and acceccare (blind by) which are killer-oriented, and scatenato (triggered by) and lite (an argument for) which seem to be event-oriented. Another interesting preposition is dalla (from the) as it positions jealousy as separate from the person, indicating something that comes from the outside: verbs that precede the construction dalla gelosia, are ossessionato (obsessed) and acceccato (blinded by). Among the collocations of gelosia, raptus (burst) also appears. Here, I frst investigate the relation between the two, discussing raptus and its other collocations later in this section. Te defnition of raptus (burst) in the Italian dictionary is “[i]n psichiatria, impulso improvviso e incontrol- lato che, in conseguenza di un grave stato di tensione, spinge a comportamenti parossistici, per lo più violenti” (Treccani,20 in psychiatry, a sudden and uncontrollable burst which, consequently, to a grave state of tension, pushes [the person to have] paroxysmal behaviours, mainly violent ones). Te nature of this term as sudden and uncontrollable, originated in a state of tension, does not seem to link with what has been discussed above; for instance, terms which indicate that the person had a prolonged issue with jealousy (obsessed, blinded by, etc.) (Table 5.10). Te concordances above use the term raptus paired with gelosia, seemingly as pertaining to the legal discourse, sentencing perpetrators based on the motive: the women were killed because of the sudden and incon- trollable ‘burst’ of men. To gather more information on how the term raptus is used. I searched for its collocates, in the span zero (on the left) and 2 (on the right); the collocations are shown in Fig. 5.4. 234 F. Formato

Fig. 5.4 Collocations of the node raptus in the news corpus

It is not surprising that gelosia appears in the graph. Te two other nouns which collocate with raptus, following the preposition di (of) which introduces a complement of specifcation, are violenza (violence) and follia (insanity). Tese two terms are quite diferent in nature, with the frst based on action and the second based on mental dysfunction. Terefore, violenza (3 occurrences) seems to explain the behaviour that follows the sudden and uncontrollable change of state in one person, while follia (5 occurrences) seems to aggravate that sudden and uncontrollable change, into something that seems a long-standing mental illness. Te two—follia and raptus—appear to contradict each other, one being a sudden realisation and the other an established condition of an alteration of reality. Arguably, one is more likely to be forgiven, based on the understanding that the behaviour is a one-of, but the pair raptus and follia indicates a diferent picture. Te overall analysis of this term shows how problematic the use of the term raptus can be. Tis has been seen in prior studies, as Wykes (1995) found, men were discussed in the media as “hav[ing] acted in the heat of the moment” (1995, 54) when discussing intimate murders in the UK media. Similarly, Monckton-Smith (2012) reports that ‘just losing it’ is a common (and accepted) narrative in cases of intimate partner femicide. 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 235

Multi-words

With the aim of investigating signifcant pairs in news corpus, I examine the function multi-words ofered in Sketch Engine (Kilgarrif 2012). Te multi-words analysis provides further insights into the forensic narratives that appeared with the single word examination. Tese are the frst 50 multi-words processed by Sketch Engine (Kilgarrif 2012, function: keyword terms: the table with the scores is presented in Appendix 2). As for the analysis above, the reference corpus is itTenTen16. Starting from the results, I reconstruct the forensic narratives before comparing them to the previous fndings. Phases—pre, during and after violence, characteristics of the crime, nominalisation of the protago- nists, and police and court-related terms—are taken into consideration for the scenarios presented in the 4-year news corpus. I also comment on dispersion, that is, I check that these terms are not used in one case only, but are used sparsely across the corpus (Table 5.11). Starting from this table, one notes some similarities (e.g. the focus on passionale fagging the link between love and femminicidio and on the role in the relationships of the two parts involved) and diferences with the single word analysis. Precisely, I investigate the categories that, I argue, are more relevant in constructing a coherent forensic narrative, more specifcally, the criminal phenomenon together with murder related terms and people markers. I then move to investigate in detail a term that occurs in diferent pairs, namely ennesimo (umpteenth).

Criminal Phenomenon and Murder-Related Terms

In relation to the criminal phenomenon, we fnd patterns indicating a repetition; more specifcally, both nuovo (new) and ennesimo (umpteenth) contextualise the crime as a pattern: while the former seems more neutral, the latter refers to something that has an indeterminate number, and yet a very high one (as I discuss later); similarly, ultima vittima (latest victim) is referring to the crime as such (rather than exclusively to who has been murdered) and signals a relation with time. 236 F. Formato

Table 5.11 Multi-words, ordered in descending order, grouped according to aspects of femminicidio in the news corpus Multi-words Criminal phenomenon Time related ennesimo femminicidio (umpteenth femminicidio ), ennesimo caso (umpteenth case), ultima vittima (latest victim), nuovo femminicidio (new femminicidio ) Non-time delitto passionale (passionate crime), duplice omicidio (double related murder), incidente domestico (domestic incident) Space Specifc capoluogo giuliano (main city in Friuli Venezia Giulia, that is Trieste) Non-specifc mura domestiche (domestic wall) Murder-related terms Violence furia omicida (homicidal fury), aggressione mortale (mortal agression), stesso coltello (same knife) Reason futili motivi (futile motives), movente passionale (passionate motive) Pre-murder ennesimo litigio, ennesima lite (umpteenth fght) People markers Perpetrator ex convivente (ex-cohabitant), ex marito (ex-husband), ex compagno (ex-partner), ex fdanzato (ex-boyfriend), avvocato veronese (lawyer from Verona), guardia giurata (night guard), primario oculista (Head Optometrist), ex amante (ex-lover), agente immobiliare (estate agent), uccise ex (killed ex) Victim ex moglie (ex-wife), ex convivente (ex-cohabitant), ex compagna (ex-girlfriend), donna uccisa (killed woman), ex fdanzata (ex-girlfriend), donne vittime (women victims), ex amante (ex-lover) Police/court related terms and institutions omicidio volontario (voluntary homicide), reo confesso (recently confessed), parti civili (civil actions), comando provinciale (police station), sostituto procuratore (public prosecutor), comandante provinciale (sheriff), squadra mobile (police team), parte civile (civil action), centri anti-violenza (anti-violence centres), tabulati telefonici (telephone reports), pena esemplare (exemplary punishment) Medical terms perizia pschiatrica (psychiatric appraisal), medico legale (legal doctor), emorragia interna (internal bleeding) Other lutto cittadino (city mourning), nuovo compagno (new partner [masc]), fratello gemello (twin brother), precedente matrimonio (previous marriage) 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 237

However, some multi-words do not contain a numerical recurrence-related element, yet some contain modifers which similarly emphasise the severity of the crime, i.e. duplice omicidio (double homicide). Incidente domestico (domestic incident) seems to be on the opposite scale of severity: in checking the concordance lines, however, it emerges that the killer (as the concordances are referred to one episode only) had pretended that the wife had died following an incident occurred in the house. On the other side, delitto passionale (passionate crime), an expression which has gathered disapproval over the years, reproduces an understanding that men “killed because they loved, which is more for- givable than killing without love” (Monckton-Smith 2012, p. 3). Tis links together with the reasons given for the murder, that is movente passionale (passionate motives) and futili motivi (trivial motives). If we consider the futili motivi (which appears in diferent texts), there seems to be discrepancies between how the violence was used against the victims and the reasons for this violence. On the one side, violence is described as a furia omicida (homicidal rampage), aggressione mortale (fatal aggression), while futili motivi refers to the triviality of the act. Tere seems to be an unbridgeable gap between asserting that the violence was cruel and that the reasons for it were either motivated by love, widely perceived as the opposite of cruel violence, or by solvable problems. While these two seem to attribute the fault to the perpetrator, ennesimo litigio, ennesima lite (umpteenth argument), which precedes the murder event, appears to remove the responsibility from one person only and attribute it to the couple’s dynamic, “where love in relationship has broken down” (Monckton-Smith 2012, p. 63). Te terms litigio and lite also appear in the single word list, however, with the multi-words function, we are ofered greater insights.

People Markers

In this category, I grouped the multi-words which referred to the two parties involved: the perpetrator and the victim. It is unsurprising that almost all terms refer to the two people in their past relationships, signalled by ex (ex), for instance ex marito (ex-husband), ex moglie 238 F. Formato

(ex-wife), ex convivente (ex-cohabitant), ex compagno (ex-partner [masc]), ex fdanzato (ex-boyfriend), ex compagna (ex-partner [fem]), and, amante (lover), some of which also appear in the single word investigation. While some terms attributed to perpetrators seem to be relevant to specifc incidents, it is interesting to fnd that these ofenders are often described according to their (privileged) profession, i.e. avvocato (lawyer), guardia giurata (night guard), primario oculista (Head ophthalmologist) and agente immobiliare (estate agent). Tis creates an asymmetry between the two gendered groups, where women are only seen as belonging to the private (in relation to their personal space and their feelings) while men are seen within a public sphere (although, of course, this linked together with their intimate side, the relationship). Speculating on these results, it seems that men, as rounded humans, are foregrounded by having their role in society established, alongside the authority that their position afords. Te roles are indeed very telling: doctor (somebody who should be looking after people), lawyer (somebody who should know what is right and wrong), and a police ofcer (somebody who should fght crime rather than commit it). If we return to the single word study, where women were referred to via their job as care givers, we can speculate on a clear division between the spheres in which men and women are legitimised to operate (and display in the media as a public arena where meanings are negotiated). Te re-occurrence of these terms, and seeing them in groups, provide an interesting insight into Italian society.

Ennesimo (Umpteenth)

Te term ennesimo (umpteenth) appears in the list of the single and multi-words of the news corpus. It refers to something serial that is high, yet indefnite, in frequency21; in itTenTen16, it collocates with caso (case), episodio (episode) and occasione (occasion), shedding light on the relation between ennesimo and events. In a search to make sense of the function of this term in the news corpus, I utilised the framework proposed by Bednarek and Caple on news values, defned as “what’s news” (2017, p. 1). I treated the investigation of ennesimo (and nuovo ) as both 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 239 inherent to the femminicidio as a topic—what Bednarek and Caple (2017, p. 31) defne as ‘event’—and apposite to ‘how’ the news on this topic is reported—defned as ‘story’. I believe that ennesimo builds the relation between the event and the story, and explain so by examining them through the news values of ‘superlativeness’, ‘timeliness’ and ‘consonance’. Te three news values are applied to how the femminicidio is told (in other words, the “story”) but they also lead to an interesting discussion about the “event”. According to the news value framework (Bednarek and Caple 2017), ‘superlativeness’ is expressed through linguistic instances of intensifcation and quantifcation; if we focus on the latter, we can see that ennesimo expresses a vague quantity. Bednarek and Caple argue that the vague quantities “may indicate lack of knowledge but also seem to construct the ensuing number as high” (2017, p. 95). Tis fts particularly well with the lack of ofcially recorded numbers of femminicidi in Italy, as discussed above. However, the terms also have elements of ‘timeliness’. More specifcally, ennesimo (and nuovo ) suggests a link to the past, as well as being the latest in a series of similar events. Opposite to ‘unexpectedness’ which emphasises the surprise generated by the event, ‘consonance’ is the news value that constructs the event as typical, more specifcally, in relation to a comparison with the past and the expectance of “yet another”. Te link between the ‘story’ and the ‘event’ can be found in the uncertainty of the legal status of the crime. As already discussed, the 2013 bill, which many newspapers then labelled as the legge sul femminicidio (law on the femminicidio ), does not include the term femminicidio but focuses on violenza di genere (gendered violence), and violenza domestica (domestic violence), as outlined in the later document published by the Senato in 2017, and in the relevant parliamentary acts. Similarly, the penal code does not contain a legal defnition of femminicidio and/or how this should be treated in criminal cases. Te void left within the law, as well as in the penal code, renders the term ennesimo (and nuovo ) inherent and proper to the “event” rather than merely the “story”. To conclude, I believe that this is further detrimental to the women who have been killed by a toxic, yet accepted, masculinity. 240 F. Formato

The Newspaper Headlines

One of the most commented upon practices among activists concerns the headlines of newspaper articles. For this reason, I decided to explore newspaper headlines and provide an analytical framework which investigates the positions of the participants in them. While some scholars have worked on the styles and functions of the headlines (Ifantidou 2009) criticising the misrepresentation and distortion of events in the story, I adopt a critical stance on language in these headlines as contributing to reproduce specifc ideologies (as in the tradition of Critical Discourse Studies, see Van Dijk 1998; Caldas-Coulthard 1993). Starting from this, I isolated the headlines of the articles of the news corpus, exclusively considering those that mentioned the events, whether in reported speech—as in «Ha ucciso la compagna e la fglia. Date l’ergastolo al primario oculista» (He has killed his partner and the daughter. Give a life sentence to the Head Optometrist)—or in the words chosen by the newspapers—Osses- sionato dalla gelosia accoltella la ex e confessa (Obsessed by jealousy, he stabs his ex and confesses). Some of the newspaper articles did not have a headline, while some other headlines were removed as they: (1) had a general headline, for instance «Vicenda tragicamente attuale» (A tragically timely episode), Marini: Incomprensibile violenza (Marini: incomprehensible violence); (2) referred to the trials and did not contain reference to the story, as in “Ci ha rubato la felicità. Ora date l’ergastolo all’assassino di Lucia ” (“He has stolen our happiness. Now give Lucia’s killer a sentence for life”), L’assassino tenta la carta dell’infermità (Te killer tries to be judged as having mental issues), Uccise 17enne e ferì la sorella. La perizia: “Incapace di volere” (He killed (somebody who was) 17 and injured her sister. Te appraisal: “Unft to plead”); (3) Reported more than one single femminicidio, e.g. Tre ragazze uccise in due giorni. Allarme femminicidio (Tree young women killed in two days. Alert femminicidio ); and (4) did not seem to highlight the ‘love relationship’ between the victim and the killer, as in Uccisa a Cesena da un uomo che poi si tolse la vita in duomo a Cervia (Killed in Cesena 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 241

Table 5.12 Number of newspaper headlines divided by years 2013 2014 2015 2016 Total Headlines 58 69 32 34 193 by a man who committed suicide in the cathedral of Cervia). In Table 5.12, I summarise the number of headlines for each year under investigation. If we look at the number of the headlines that made the headline corpus (investigated qualitatively) with respect to the news corpus which contains 331 articles, we note that only 58% of the headlines strictly give information about the femminicidio. Starting from these headlines, I proceeded to group them. However, categorisation was not an easy task here as some of the elements of interest were found to be over- lapping in the headlines. To explore patterns within them, I decided to build an analytical framework which would investigate who the blame for the femminicidio was attributed to. Blame is “the most proximal attributional determinant in behavioural response, actions, judgments about appropriate punishments” (Rye et al. 2006, p. 639), stressing how it is thought to be related to what follows the event. In other words, newspapers are, arguably, indicating who is to be punished (or has been punished), for what and the extents to. While scholars tend to defne and discuss blame in relation to it being unfairly placed upon women in cases of sexual rape or mis- conduct at the end of men, I here use the term to explore blame laid on either party in the relationship; namely, I do not wish to exclude that blame is used by newspapers to sanction the male perpetrators. Tere is an evident asymmetry, however, of blame being fairly put on the perpetrators and unfairly put on women who are constructed as “trans- gress[ing] acceptable (…) boundaries of dress, behaviour or femininity [this seen as] complicit in what has happened to them, [and as] individually responsible for their fate” (Tapar-Björkert and Morgan 2010, p. 40). Te research question addressed in this section is: Who do newspapers headlines blame for the femminicidio in the period 2013–2016? In Table 5.13, I outline the analytical framework and provide examples for each category. 242 F. Formato - a Stab wound in Genova, he left the heard “she was cheating knife in her, on me. Feed my children” Jealousy burst. He slits his ex’s throat; Jealousy burst. He slits his ex’s Foligno, the man killed himself Shot dead in the square by her ex-husband. Agrigento, a pensioner was arrested. He had never accepted the divorce He kills his ex-wife in Ciociaria and attempts suicide. In Alatri, the woman was 35, they were fghting for fnan - cial reasons He invites his ex to place and kills her; the endless horror Translation He kills his ex-cohabitant in Palermo, caught after feeing. His victim reported him to the police twice then fghting anymore stated they weren’t Sgozza la sua gelosia di Coltellate genova, lascia la lama confccata nel cuore. «mi tradiva. Date il biberon ai bimbi» ex; Foligno, l’assassino si è ucciso Raptus Ammazzata a colpi di pistola in piazza dall’ex marito; Agrigento Arrestato un pensionato. Non aveva mai accettato il divorzio Uccide ex moglie in Ciociaria e poi tenta suicidio; Ad Alatri; la donna aveva 35 anni, lite forse per motivi economici Invita a casa l’ex e la uccide coltellate; l’orrore senza fne Example Uccide ex convivente a Palermo, fermato dopo tentata fuga; Pm, vittima presentò 2 denunce poi sostenne la fne dei dissidi Women described as actively Women rejecting the man or cheat - ing, the linguistic subject is the woman (or discursive one if in passive) Rivalry versus another man or love for the partner How men have felt when rejected or being led to divorce. The linguistic subject is the man (or discursive one if in passive) The couple dynamic as one of the possible reasons for femminicidio The event and the actions of the killer Focus on Women reporting the Women killers to police prior the femminicidio Analytical framework used to investigate blame in the headlines with examples This example is interesting as it comments on the victim’s behaviour (the cheating) opposing it to the one of the mur the of one the to opposing it cheating) (the behaviour victim’s the comments on it as interesting is example This Blame on the woman Women’s behaviour Jealousy or love A male perspective Men’s emotions Killer + the couple Blame on the killer Killer Category Women’s Women’s actions vs killer 5.13 Table derer (who is concerned about their children eating), as reported in the direct speech a 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 243

Te analytical framework consists of 3 main categories—‘blame on the killer’, ‘a male perspective’ and ‘blame on the woman’. In opera- tionalising this framework for analysis, I made some choices based on the linguistic elements that were present. For instance, the frst category is split into two sub-categories: ‘killer’—where the blame is only positioned on the man who committed the crime—and ‘killer plus the couple’—where there were suggestions that the relationship was unstable, or the couple close to legal separation and divorce, therefore hinting at the idea that the couple dynamics contributed to the crime. Te rationale for this is that the blame shifts from the man only to the dynamic of the couple, a dynamic which is seen as being a possible cause for the actions of the man (as also discussed above). Te category ‘a male perspective’ aims to explore how men are viewed when they are react- ing to events in their emotional life, with a focus on how their feelings are hurt upon being rejected, this leading to the crime according to the newspapers. In the sub-categories, I included ‘men’s emotions’ and ‘jealousy’ (which, as argued above, are used to build a specifc masculinity in the rivalry between two men). Te fnal category is ‘blame on the woman’, similarly divided into two sub-categories: the ‘women’s behaviour’ seems to reproduce the imbalanced gendered fxed roles of heterosexual couples, where traditionally the woman is seen as passive and a mere receiver of men’s love and decisions; the second ‘women’s action versus killer’ is based upon the previous actions the woman took to report the (ex) partner’s violence. Te sub-categories ‘men’s emotions’ and ‘women’s behaviour’ difer from one another based on who of the two is the linguistic subject, whether in active sentences (s/ he + action/feeling) or in passive sentences (s/he + passive verb + male/ female receiver). Te analytical framework attempts to systematically investigate the linguistic patterns; however, overlaps within the categorisations, while brought to the minimum, are possible. To overcome the challenges of a quantitative study, I discuss some qualitative highlights after presenting the results, displayed in absolute frequencies (AF) and in percentages (%). Te percentages are based on the year (%Y) and on the 2013–2016 period as a whole (%P); the aim is to see whether there are changes across the years. 244 F. Formato % P 49.74 8.29 58.03 11.39 16.06 27.46 9.32 5.18 14.50 100 AF Total 96 16 112 22 31 53 18 10 28 193 % P 10.36 2.07 12.43 1.55 1.03 2.59 1.03 1.55 2.59 17.61 % Y 58.82 11.76 70.58 8.82 5.88 14.70 5.88 8.82 14.70 100 AF 2016 20 4 24 3 2 5 2 3 5 34 % P 9.32 1.55 10.88 1.03 2.07 3.10 1.55 1.03 2.59 16.58 % Y 56.25 9.37 65.62 6.25 12.50 18.75 9.37 6.25 15.62 100 2015 AF 18 3 21 2 4 6 3 2 5 32 % P 16.06 3.62 19.68 3.62 7.25 10.88 5.18 0 5.18 35.75 % Y 44.92 10.14 55.07 10.14 20.28 30.43 14.49 0 14.49 100 AF 31 7 38 7 14 21 10 0 10 69 2014 % P 13.98 1.03 15.02 5.18 5.69 10.88 1.55 2.59 4.14 30.05 % Y 46.55 3.44 50 17.24 18.96 36.20 5.17 8.62 13.79 100 2013 AF 27 2 29 10 11 21 3 5 8 58 Raw frequencies and percentages of headlines divided into ‘blame’ categories by each year Blame on the killer Killer Killer + the couple Total A male perspective emotions Men’s Jealousy or love Total Blame on the woman behaviour Women’s Women’s actions vs Women’s killer Total Overall Total 5.14 Table 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 245

Fig. 5.5 Percentages of the 6 ‘blame’ sub-categories used to cluster the headlines in the period 2013–2016

Table 5.14 indicates the trends for each year (summarized in Fig. 5.5). Tese show that the newspaper headlines tend mostly to put the blame upon the male ofenders, increasing from 50% in 2013 to 70.58% in 2016 (this being a positive sign in how the crime is narrated). In relation to the male perspective, the motive of jealousy seems to be higher than the men’s emotions except in the case of 2016, where the latter is given slightly more focus than the former. Te blame on the women across the years is the category with the lowest percentages and, while they are constant, in 2016 the percentage is similar to that which indicates the male perspective (14.70%). Interestingly, as far as blame on the woman is concerned, in 2013 and 2016, more focus is put on the actions of the women to report the violent men, while in 2014 and 2015, the headlines describe the behaviour of the woman as a possible cause for the femminicidio. In Fig. 5.5, I present the total results of the 4 years in order to discuss the general trend, before presenting some telling headlines. Tis fgure shows that, overall, newspaper headlines blame the male ofender for the femminicidio. However, there is still some focus placed on men’s jealousy (16%), as, for instance, seen in the following headlines: 246 F. Formato

OSSESSIONATO DALLA GELOSIA ACCOLTELLA LA EX E CONFESSA Obsessed by jealousy, he stabs his ex and then confesses [the crime] UCCIDE PER GELOSIA LA EX A FOLIGNO E POI SI SUICIDA; ROMENO TAGLIA GOLA A CONNAZIONALE, POI SI ACCOLTELLA DOPO FUGA Driven by jealousy, he kills his ex in Doligno and then commits suicide. Romanian slits a co-national’s throat and then stabs himself after feeing

Tese headlines present jealousy as a possible cause for the femminicidio, somewhat justifying the perpetrator’s actions, as also argued in the keyword analysis above. Te category that follows concerns the emotions of the male ofender (11.39%); one cannot exclude that this partially situates blame on the women too, for causing the negative emotions of the men which led to the femminicidio. However, I decided to consider what the language was suggesting, rather than impose extra layers of reading. Headlines with a focus on the emotion of the men—mostly their reactions to rejection— are listed and commented on below:

NON ACCETTA SEPARAZIONE, UCCIDE L’EX MOGLIE E SI SUICIDA; ‘SE TE NE VAI TI AMMAZZO’, AVEVA DETTO. CADAVERI TROVATI DAI FIGLI He does not accept the separation, he kills his ex-wife and commits suicide “if you are leaving [me], I’ll kill you” he said. Corpses found by their kids BIDELLO UCCIDE PROF. A SCUOLA, ‘FERITO DA INDIFFERENZA’; LA AMAVA IN SILENZIO E LEI NON SAPEVA, OMICIDIO PREMEDITATO A janitor kills a teacher in a school, “hurt by [her] indifference’; he loved her and she was not aware, wilful murder «NON LASCIARMI». PAZZO DI RABBIA, DUE SPARI E LA UCCIDE “Do not leave me”. Crazily angry, two shots and he kills her

Te three headlines above attempt to present the perspective of the man who committed the femminicidio, and, specifcally, the emotions the men felt and how these were seen as leading to the crime. As also observed by Monckton-Smith (2012) when analysing murder and gender, the fear of being left or rejected highlights the perpetrator’s implied belief of the right to own a partner, ‘ownership’ seen even in instances of love for someone who was not aware of the killer’s feelings. 9.38% of the headlines describe women as adopting behaviours which place them outside of the traditional view of the woman’s role within a heterosexual-couple relationship. Similar to the headlines that describe 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 247 the emotion of the men, in the following headlines we can see patterns of blaming male ofenders for not managing rejection. However, I focus on the action of the woman, as described by the author of the texts, as in:

IL CUSTODE DELLA SCUOLA UCCIDE LA PROFESSORESSA CHE L’AVEVA RESPINTO; RAGUSA LA DONNA AVEVA 54 ANNI, MARITO E DUE FIGLI The janitor of the school kills the teacher who had rejected him; Ragusa, the woman was 54, she had a husband and two children VOLEVA LASCIARLO LUI LA ACCOLTELLA PER UN MESSAGGINO She wanted to leave him. He stabs her for a text

We see that in the frst headline, of the story also reported in the headline above, the journalist describes the action of the woman—the woman’s rejection of the man. Tis raises another point observed from reading the headlines on the topic of femminicidio (and many of those which I have investigated), namely the certainty of how events between the ofender and the victim unfolded. Tis is the reason why exploring headlines, prior to understanding how things could be, has to be seen as a quest for unravelling underlying ideologies; the underpinning beliefs, strengthened by a society that still tends to divide men and women and assign roles and behaviours to them. Likewise, the second headline seems to construct a larger story than the one that sees the man killing his partner, by suggesting that the woman had the intention (voleva, wanted) of terminating the relationship. Tis is explicitly linked to the emotion of the man, how he feared rejection and felt entitled to manage the continuity or the end of a relationship, removing the agency of, and power from, the woman. Slightly lower in percentage (8.29%), one fnds the category ‘killer plus the couple’ for those headlines that, while blaming the male ofender, describe the dynamic of the couple as troublesome, in the context of their relationship and/or the event(s) that led to the femminicidio, and during their separation, therefore hinting at a shared responsibility, as seen below:

DONNA UCCISA A SARZANA: L’EX MARITO SI COSTITUISCE A MASSA; IEMMA SI PRESENTA DIRETTAMENTE IN CARCERE.TRE COLPI DOPO LITIGIO Woman killed in Sarzana: the ex-husband turns himself in in Massa; Iemma turns up to the prison. Three shots after a fght UCCIDE MOGLIE DAVANTI AI FIGLI, SI STAVANO SEPARANDO He kills his wife in front of their children, they were separating 248 F. Formato

Te focus on the couple is here used to divert the attention from the male ofenders and enrich the story of the relationship between them and the victims. In the frst headline, it is not clear who has initiated the fght, therefore suggesting that both parties were arguing, and in the second we learn that the couple was separating, conveying a shared willingness to end the relationship. Te last category is ‘woman’s actions vs killer’ and groups together the headlines which recall the actions taken by the victims against those who became their murderers. An example is given below:

UCCIDE LA EX MOGLIE CHE L’AVEVA DENUNCIATO POI SI TOGLIE LA VITA; LECCE, I CADAVERI SCOPERTI DAL FIGLIO 18ENNE He kills his ex-wife who had reported him to the police. Then he commits suicide. Lecce [the location], the corpses found by their 18-year-old son

Tis group also sheds light on the inability of the legal and social system to assist those who are subject to intimate violence, not-withstand- ing that this topic is at the centre of political debate (as shown in the analysis of parliamentary acts) and of activists’ concern. To conclude, the answer to the research questions is that blame is placed mostly on men but headlines seem to carry within them ideological meanings (and alleged stories) which position the parties involved in the femminicidio within fxed understandings of how women and men should behave and ‘feel’ when part of a couple, attributing, to different extents, the blame for transgressing these roles.

Diachronic Change: Femminicidio Across the Years

To conclude this section on newspaper data, I investigate whether there have been changes across the years under investigation, namely from 2013 to 2016. Tis can be seen within a sub-methodology of CADS, defned as Modern Diachronic Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (MD-CADS), as discussed by Partington (2010). While the corpora under investigation are not large in size (as pointed out by Partington, for this kind of studies), this analysis stems from the aim of “track[ing] changes in […] social, cultural and political changes 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 249 as refected in language” (2010, p. 83). Te goal is to check whether the debate surrounding the topic of femminicidio, initially initiated by activists, has been assimilated in the media, or whether similarities can be found throughout. Te research question addressed is: Are there diachronic changes in the use of the term femminicidio in the years 2013–2016? To conduct this segment of research, I compare the keywords of each year (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016) against itTenTen16. I start by looking at how the word femminicidio is used and whether changes to the term’s use have occurred. As discussed above, the term femminicidio is a recent one and has been resisted by some while welcomed by others. An Italian politician and novelist, Michela Murgia, explains this term, reproducing a commonly heard dialogue:

“A cosa serve chiamarlo femminicidio?” – continuano a chiedere alcuni e talvolta alcune – “La parola omicidio comprende già i morti di tutti i sessi”. Sarebbe un’obiezione vera solo se la parola ‘femminicidio’ indicasse il sesso delle morte, laddove invece indica il motivo per cui sono state uccise. Una donna che perde la vita durante una rapina non è femminicidio. Sono femminicidi solo le donne uccise perché si rifutavano di compor- tarsi secondo le aspettative di ruolo che gli uomini e la società patriarcale hanno delle donne. Dire omicidio dice che qualcuno è morto, dire femminicidio dice anche il perché. “Why would we call it femminicidio?” – some men and some women as well continue asking. “Te term homicide includes dead people of all sexes” Tis would only be a real objection if the term ‘femminicidio ’ would be used to indicate the sex of the person who has died, while it indicates the reason why they have been killed. A woman who loses her life during a robbery is not a victim of femminicidio. 250 F. Formato

Table 5.15 Number of femminicidi, absolute frequencies of the term femminicidio and keyness score divided by years NF AF KS 2013 134 132 1033.48 2014 115 126 1006.79 2015 116 39 717.98 2016 120 59 985.29

Femminicidi concern women who are killed because they rejected the expectations of how women should behave set by both men and a patriarchal society. With ‘homicide’ we say that somebody is dead, to say ‘femminicidio’ is to also explain the reasons why. Michaela Murgia (2016)22

In the tradition of CADS, I use this external source of information together with the number of femminicidi (NF) to identify areas for analysis and interpret the data. Table 5.15, I present the use of this term across the 4 years, in relation to its absolute frequency (AF) and the keyness score (KS). From the table, we can see that the term remains stable in 2013–2014 but decreases in number by the year 2016, most sharply in 2015 (together with the number of newspaper articles published on this subject in this year). While femminicidi continues to occur, the attention of the media and, proportionally, the use of the term seems to decrease irrespective of the work undertaken on this by organisations and the media itself. If we link these results to the lack of the term in Italian law and the penal code (as already outlined in this chapter), it is telling that the highest frequency is found in 2013, when the debate on gendered violence found room in a law (as discussed above), and yet decreases as the years go by.

The Femminicidio of Sara Di Pietrantonio

In this section of the chapter, I investigate a specifc instance of femminicidio. Tis was widely reported in Italy because of the cruelty with which a young woman died. On 29 May 2016, Sara Di Pietrantonio was returning home after spending time with her boyfriend when her 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 251 ex-partner chased her by car, strangled her and then burnt her body on the outskirts of Rome. Te killer was initially given a life sentence having been found guilty of murder, but on recent appeal, this was reduced to murder in the second degree and a 30-year term of imprisonment. Perhaps because of the young age of the victim (in her early 20s) and for the cruelty that led to her death, Italy mourned her to an unprecedented level, with the Camera dei Deputati also dedicating a video to her.23 Te interest of the media was also considerable. For this reason, I investigate a corpus of newspaper articles on this case. Te research question I aim to address is: How is Sara Di Pietrantonio described in the news of her femminicidio? Te Sara Di Pietrantonio corpus (Sara corpus, henceforth) has been compiled on the news database Nexis, which produced all newspaper articles in the week following the crime and the week following the sentence of the frst trial. After removing opinion pieces, I was left with 31 newspaper articles which described the act of femminicidio as well as the trial. Te number of words for the Sara corpus reaches 14,612. I investigate the corpus through an XML mark-up that was used prior to this study to investigate female victims of male violence in legal sentences in England and Wales (Potts and Formato forthcoming). In those sentencing remarks, male perpetrators pleaded guilty to the murder or manslaughter of female victims. Te female victims were either known to the killers—sisters, wives, partners and other relatives—or unknown to them—strangers. Te XML mark-up allowed us to search for patterns in relation to nomination strategies and agency of the victims. In practice, this XML mark-up is a way to annotate a text with information which is useful to retrace occurrences of grammatical and discourse phenomena. Te text annotated in the Sara corpus is the one referring exclusively to the victim of this femminicidio. I am interested in exploring ways in which Sara is referred to and whether, and to what extent, she has been given a voice. I explain in detail what the linguistic tags, utilised for the analysis of the Sara corpus, are composed of and how they have been conceived. I expand on the work undertaken on the sentencing remarks, before explaining its adaptation to Italian data. Potts and Formato use the nomencla- ture of grammatical cases, regardless of English (and Italian in my case) 252 F. Formato not being case languages, and adapt cases to complements as they appear in the language(s). According to these complements (investigated as cases), I annotated all elements in the newspaper articles that would refer to Sara, i.e. name of the victims, pronouns, ways in which she is described, etc. Te coding was not always straightforward; English and Italian have two very diferent systems, and adaptations needed to be made, e.g. the coding of the pronoun when it is attached to the verb. Examples of naming conventions and cases are ofered in the tables below, where naming conventions (marked up elements grouped according to their grammatical category, Table 5.16) and cases (the complements that the elements would express, Table 5.17) are

Table 5.16 Naming conventions in the XML mark-up annotation, classifed by grammatical elements and examples Naming convention Grammatical element Example Pro Designates pronoun usage suo/aa (her), Le, la, l’b (her) (pronoun) or possessive adjectives Giv Use of a given name, Sara, Sara Di Pietrantonio (given) which may include title, (reduced) forename, and/ or surname Cat Reference to social studentessa (student), raga- (categorisation) actors through catego- zza (girl) rising naming strategies, foregrounding some type of identifcation or functionalisation Zero Dropped pronouns or Forse zero non considerava (Adapted for Italian) given names or types of l’uomo pericoloso (Maybe identifcation where they zero did not consider the would normally appear to man dangerous). Zero can indicate the subject here be replaced with lei (she), Sara (given name), la ragazza (categories) aIn Italian the possessive adjectives agree with the possession that follows in relation to number and gender while in English it agrees with the gender of the possessors bWhen preceding a verb that starts with a vowel the pronoun drops the vowel 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 253

Table 5.17 Case tags in the XML mark-up annotation with functions and explanations Mark-up of case Function Explanation nom Nominative Sara is the subject or ‘doer’ in the clause acc Accusative Sara is the object or ‘receiver’ in the clause dat Dative, ablative, Sara is the indirect recipient/benefciary/ and locative location of an action, most often keyed by preposition phrases gen Genitive/ Sara is the possessor of a noun in the clause possessive voc Vocative Sara is directly addressed by name, but this naming is not embedded in a clause containing a verb phrase adapted from the list of mark-ups used in the English sentencing remarks: Following on from what is presented in these tables, I now show how the text appears without the mark-up (Fig. 5.6) and with it (Fig. 5.7).

Fig. 5.6 Sample of text taken from the Sara corpus before adding the XML mark-up

Fig. 5.7 Sample of text from the Sara corpus after adding the XML mark-up 254 F. Formato

For the sake of clarity, I exemplify one marked-up sentence, presenting what information it contains and discussing the advantages of using this method:

Ma < actor gender “f” case “nom” name “pro” > lei stavolta = = = non è tornata

However < actor gender “f” case “nom” name “pro” > she has not gone back this time

Te tags in this sentence carry the information about the gender of the person in the text (gender f); while I only investigate the female victim, = the tag could contain a ‘gender m’ for men and ‘gender mf’ to anno- = = tate other participants in the data. Te case follows (case ), e.g. lei which = here could be translated as ‘she’, is marked-up with the nominative, being the subject of the sentence. Te fnal information in the tag is the grammatical element (name ), in the case of lei, the abbreviation ‘pro’ which = stands for pronoun. Te richness of information of the tags and the study of its frequencies (based on the grammatical element or on the case) provides a systematic way to shed light on insights of the corpus under investigation. To obtain frequencies, I used Sketch Engine (Kilgarrif 2012), selecting CQL (corpus query language) with default attribute tag. Tis function allowed me to search the tags and have a list of concordance lines.

Naming Conventions

In this section, I investigate the quantitative results and explain them in relation to what was found in the 2013–2016 news corpus. In Table 5.18, I present the number of occurrences and percentages of the naming conventions, divided into absolute frequency (AF) and percentages (%). As can be seen from Table 5.18, Sara is mostly referred to through categorisation. However, the results do not indicate a substantial preference: the pronominal and nominative naming conventions are very close in percentages to the categorising group. Zero only occurs 5.50% in the corpus. In relation to this, it is to be considered that, while the other categories are present in the corpus, zero has been imposed upon it, namely I have inserted the tag in sentences where normally = 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 255

Table 5.18 Absolute frequencies and percentages of naming conventions used in the Sara Corpus Naming convention Tag AF % Categorising Cat 152 32.20 Pronominal Pro 150 31.77 Nominative Given 144 30.50 Zero Zero 26 5.50 Total 472 100 one among pronominal, nominative or categorising would occur. In the next few sections, I investigate the most preferred conventions, starting with ‘nominative’ and then moving on to ‘categorising’. I do not discuss the pronominal choice as the forms in which this occurs in the language cannot provide discursive insights into how the victim has been described.

Nominating Sara

In relation to her given name, and responding to the tag , Sara is referred to in three diferent ways = = in these newspaper articles, as shown in Table 5.19 (presented in absolute frequencies and percentages). In the corpus investigated, the victim is mostly referred to with the frst name, followed by the full name, and only once solely by her surname. Some scholars have studied how proximity and distance (Hook 1984; Leech 1999) are expressed through the use of titles, names and other strategies. However, their focus was based on spoken interaction and mainly referred to the interlocutors in conversations. In this case, we have to consider that the person these newspaper articles is referring to is external to the interaction between the newspapers and its readers. I present some concordances lines of the search for the tag (Table 5.20). = = Using the frst name Sara (80.55%) seems to signal proximity with the referent with an aim to project that proximity to the readers; to make the victim a somebody who could be part of their social circle. Te 256 F. Formato

Table 5.19 Absolute frequencies and percentages of the nominative case in the Sara corpus Nominative Explanation AF % Sara First name 116 80.55 Sara di Pietrantonio First name + surname 27 18.75 Di Pietrantonio Surname 1 0.69 Total 144 100

Table 5.20 Concordance lines of the nominative case in the Sara corpus era intromesso in una sua scenata Sara aveva anche deciso di troncare, di gelosia. Ma davvero, con notturno e l’omicidio. Il telefono di Sara è centrale nelle indagini anche per il luogo del dei due ex fdanzati sul proflo Sara è stata condivisa da centinaia di Facebook di utenti che l’amica della scuola di danza della Sara Ogni volta che uscivo con Sara povera spuntava l’ex compagno di scuola con la Sara aveva intrecciato una relazione da quale meno di tre poi - secondo la ricostruzione della Sara ha riaccompagnato Flaminia a polizia - casa, restando Una vera e propria persecuzione. Sara e Alessandro avevano installato Tanto che un’

name plus surname strategy (18.75%) is arguably in line with newspapers telling the facts of the story, among which are the people involved. Difering from the use of frst name only, this strategy can be seen as distancing both journalists and audience from the victim, giving Sara a legal status: a party involved in and afected by a (non-emotive) fact.

Describing Sara

Te aim of this sub-section is to investigate which categories are used to describe Sara. To make sense of the results, I proceed to a further grouping, in order to ofer an overview of the ways in which the victim has been described (presented in absolute frequencies and percentages). 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 257

Table 5.21 Absolute frequencies and percentages of terms used to describe the female victim in the Sara corpus divided into categories Main category Term Translation AF % Age Ragazza Girl 43 28.28 Giovane Youngster 20 13.15 22enne Twenty22 y.o. person 6 3.94 Ventenne Twenty y.o. person 5 3.28 Giovane universitaria Young university 1 0.65 student Donna Woman 1 0.65 Partial total 76 50 Work-related Studentessa/stu- Student/management 24 15.78 dentessa di Economia student aziendale Partial total 24 15.78 Relationship-related Ex Ex 15 9.86 Ex fdanzata Ex-girlfriend 10 6.57 Fidanzata Girlfriend 2 1.31 Partial total 17 11.18 Murder-related Vittima Victim 15 9.86 Partial total 15 9.86 Family-related Figlia Daughter 10 6.57 Partial total 10 6.57 Total 152 100

Table 5.21 shows that the victim is mainly described according to her age (50%), possibly with the intent of emphasising her youth, and thus creating a specifc empathy in the readers who could feel moved by the loss of such a young woman. Te term ragazza (girl) is the one that is most used (28.28%), followed by giovane (youngster, 13.15%), terms which do not specify her actual age (conversely done by ventenne and ventiduenne—20/22 years of age) yet give an idea of how young she was, as in Poi Paduano incendia l’auto della ragazza (Ten Paduano sets the girl’s car on fre—Paduano being the ex-boyfriend/murderer). Tabbert (2016, p. 76) discusses that mentioning age in news reports could “emphasise [the person’s] vulnerability and innocence”. 258 F. Formato

Unsurprisingly, Sara becomes a specifc side of the story in the category ‘murder-related’ through the term vittima (victim) positioning her in the event rather than who she was before this, and, triggering feeling of empathy in the readers. Te relationship between the two main parties of the story—the male perpetrator and the female victim—is specifed through the terms ex and ex fdanzata (ex-girlfriend), signalling that a decision to terminate the relationship had been made. In two instances Sara is reported as fdanzata (girlfriend) but only one of these suggests that there was an ongoing relationship between the two, the other instance describing her in a new relationship. Tis instance and the occurrences of fglia (daughter) enlarge the circle of people who indirectly sufer because of the event (referred to as indirect victimisation, Tabbert 2016, p. 76). Te work-related terms, i.e. (studentessa/student), seem to de-personify the victim. She is not merely Sara but a set of social identities and, arguably, social expectations, e.g. somebody who is building her future. Tis might refect the pressure to achieve that is put on young women, not just Sara, in many instances.

Investigation of the Cases

Having discussed the naming convention, I now move to explore the marked-up cases. Te aim of this section is to further investigate how Sara is positioned within the text in the newspaper articles. In Table 5.22, I present the quantitative results of the investigation (presented in absolute frequencies and percentages).

Table 5.22 Absolute frequencies and percentages of XML mark-up cases in the Sara corpus Case AF % Gen 164 34.74 Nom 125 26.48 Acc 120 25.42 Dat 61 12.92 Voc 2 0.42 Total 472 100 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 259

While the genitive seems to be the highest in frequency, one has to note that the accusative and the dative are similar in that they position the referent as an object (direct and indirect, respectively), therefore their frequency together (181 in total, 38.34%) is slightly higher than the genitive (164, 34.74%). In the following sections, I explore the nominative and the genitive case to investigate the agency of Sara within her relationship, with elements in the newspaper articles. Tese are the cases that, when studied in detail, produced the most interesting results.

Nominative Case

I begin with the case in which Sara is the doer of the action, that is the nominative case (). Starting = = from the 125 occurrences, I performed collocation analysis to see what actions were attributed to her and to what extent they can suggest her agency. Te collocations were retrieved through Sketch Engine (Kilgarrif 2012; Kilgarrif et al. 2014) with the function collocation, in the span plus 1 on the right. Te cut-of point I considered for the two terms collocating on the basis of Mutual Information score, was set at 3. Results below this cut-of point have been excluded. In Table 5.23, I include the collocations which will form part of the discussion. In exploring the concordances lines of these collocations, I found that sarebbe (would be/would have) expresses the uncertainty of how the facts have occurred, aveva is followed by a past participle that indicates that the victim had left her boyfriend (lasciato/left, 2) or had decided to distance herself from (deciso di troncare/decided to dump, 1) him. Te other occurrences show that she had spoken with her friends about the behaviour of

Table 5.23 Collocations of the nominative case in the Sara corpus, presented in absolute frequencies and MI score Collocation Translation AF MI Sarebbe Would be/have 3 5.098 Aveva Have (+ past participle), used to have, had 18 5.001 Era Was 7 4.048 Lo Him 3 4.562 260 F. Formato her ex-partner (confdato, 2) and reiterated to the perpetrator her decision to terminate the relationship (ribadito/re-afrmed, 1). In another occurrence, aveva (had, in its imperative form) is followed by an adjective, e,g. aveva paura (scared, 1). Tere is also indication of the new relationship she had started, through aveva (has + past participle) (cominciato/begun, intrecciato/build ties with, 2). Tese terms are interesting as they seem to portray her agency mainly in relation to the perpetrator, directly but also indirectly (explaining her fear of him or for having a new relationship). Era (was) is used to describe parts of the event (where she was, 4), who she was (fglia unica/only child, 2) and the history of when she was with the person who then became her killer (stata insieme/been together). Lo (him) describes the relationship between Sara and Paduano and the concordance lines show that she was the one to leave him (lasciato/ left, 2, similar to the verb aveva ) together with the positive opinion she had of him (lo considerava/Sara considered him). For the most part, we can conclude that her agency is mainly seen in her breaking from, and talking about, her relationship with the murderer. One could speculate that the reoccurrence of this agency in relation to the ex-boyfriend could fag his unacceptance of the decision made by Sara to terminate the relationship. Tis is not to say that blame for the femminicidio is put on the victim, but certainly, there seems to be a tendency to describe the events from the side of his hurt feelings.

Genitive Case

Te annotated occurrences of the genitive present the possessions of the victim (). Its examination is fruitful = = in describing personal and other links, as shown in Table 5.24. Similar to the nominative case, an MI score of 3 is the cut-of point for the collocations (in the span minus 3 on the left, to take into account that the node would be followed by an articulated preposition). As we can see from the table below, we have objects and people collocating with the victim, mainly in relation to how the criminal episode unfolded, e.g. zio (uncle) and madre and mamma (mother and mum), fdanzato (boyfriend, referring to the perpetrator preceded by ex, and the one Sara currently had a relationship with, preceded by nuovo ) as well as the people who participated 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 261

Table 5.24 Collocations of the genitive case in the Sara corpus, presented in absolute frequencies and MI score Collocation Translation AF MI score Zio Uncle 4 6.373 Vita Life 8 5.525 Corpo Body 11 5.510 Cellulare Cell phone 3 5.279 Madre Mother 10 4.929 Mamma Mum 5 4.847 Amiche Friends 3 4.820 Nuovo New 6 4.525 Auto Car 10 4.262 Omicidio Homicide 6 3.922 Fidanzato Boyfriend 4 3.788 Casa House 5 3.493 in the events that followed (funeral, memorials), for instance amiche (friends/ fem). Similarly, casa (apartment, house) is a very telling result, as explored in the concordances. All the occurrences refer to a meeting that Sara had with the murderer in her house. Tis somehow rebuilds the relation between the two, shedding light on what is usually talked about, that is l’ultimo incontro (the last encounter). For violence against women associations and politicians, this refers to when the murderer asks to meet the victim to clarify the situation, this frequently turning into the last quarrel (as shown the analysis of the news corpus) and the murder (which is either contemplated or executed on that day). Women who fear their (ex)partners are asked not to agree to meet for the ultimo incontro (last encounter), somewhat imposing ways in which women are as weaker and the passive party. Te word vita (life) here is not concerned with what Sara had achieved in her lifetime, but rather is used to recount her last moments that terminated in her death. As can be seen from the above list, omicidio (homicide/murder) is preferred to femminicidio possibly because this frst term is used to refer to a less abstract concept than that to which the actual murder refers. To conclude this section on the femminicidio of Sara Di Pietrantonio, some interesting and telling results were found through the innovative XML annotation (a step by step guide to will be accessible in Potts and Formato forthcoming), shedding light on how the victim is described in relation to her social identity, in relation to the murderer, and in relation to what she possesses. Te corpus is a small yet an interesting one, 262 F. Formato and further study on bigger corpora or on the investigation of both parts in the crime can ofer yet a more detailed investigation of how this and other gendered crimes reproduce gender stereotypes.

Conclusions

Tis chapter has demonstrated that women are asymmetrically treated in the private, this referring to the space which women have traditionally and historically been assigned to, and, to the dimension of their feelings in heterosexual relationships. I have focused on how this private is brought to the fore in the gendered crime of femminicidio, that is, women killed at the hands of someone who was or had been in a relationship with them. While there are some resisting political and activist voices to how victims of femminicidio are (to be) dealt within the news, there still seems to be an imbalanced perception of the parties involved. As shown above, to explore this I investigated three diferent datasets—parliamentary acts, news reports, and news of a specifc femminicidio—through corpus linguistic functions and methods. In parliamentary acts (mozioni ), MPs deal with violence as a broad and yet abstract phenomenon that impacts women. Left-oriented political parties seem to be more inclined to work together with other institutions, while right-oriented ones tend to focus on what can be done in parliament. As for news reports, the forensic narratives that emerge seem to portray female victims mainly in their roles within the relationship (and only rarely in their working roles) while men are seen in their authoritative roles (yet this professional status in contrast to the crime they have committed). Men are also seen as having lost control of their emotions, their actions (and re-actions) based on based on (alleged) jealousy. News headlines, while mostly blaming men for their actions, also have a tendency to blame the women, by suggesting that the hurt feelings of men was a (mitigating) trigger for the crime. Te analysis of news reporting of the femminicidio of Sara Di Pietrantonio, demonstrates that she was described as young (with the inference of, and possibly naïve) and mainly in relation to her agency in breaking up with the person who then killed her. To conclude, it seems that the recommendations made on how to deal with this gendered crime, have not always been assimilated by the media 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 263 and a vagueness which, almost paradoxically, reproduces fxed understandings of romantic love and those who practice it, remains. Tis has to be seen in the context of a heteronormative naturalised discourse and patriarchy which are reproduced, and in some cases, reinforced, in both micro- and macro-levels of beliefs, stereotypes, and understanding about gender. A key example of how this is reinforced and institutionalised is found in the fact that the Italian penal code does not have a defnition for the crime of femminicidio, and the implications of this void are clearly seen in how language relating to violence against women is used in the media.

Appendix 1: Single Words

In this appendix (and in the following one), I present the list of the frst 50 single words (and multi-words in Appendix 2), arranged in descending order of their keyness score. In the translation column I provide information that could be useful, e.g. whether the past participle is masculine or feminine and therefore referring to a woman or a man; similarly, I have indicated the grammatical gender of some specifc nouns (Table 5.25).

Table 5.25 List of single words in the news corpus, presented in keyness score (KS) and absolute frequency (AF) Single-word Translation KS AF Femminicidio Femminicidio 969.83 356 Uccisa Killed [fem] 393.15 304 Coltellate Knife wound 381.37 105 Strangolata Strangled [fem] 191.36 37 Premeditazione Premeditation 190.43 39 Accoltellata Stabbed [fem] 159.15 28 Omicida Killer 157.12 74 Raptus Burst 128.24 31 Movente Motive 126.96 53 Delitto Crime 125.59 249 Convivente Co-habitant 125.09 61 Ammazzata Killed [fem] 124.33 25 Autopsia Autopsy 123.55 58 Gelosia Jealousy 118.69 111 Abbreviato Summary 118.31 53 Omicidio Homicide 115.76 329 (continued) 264 F. Formato

Table 5.25 (continued) Single-word Translation KS AF Passionale Passionate 113.41 59 Investigatori Investigators 111.06 89 Litigio Fight 108.31 43 Assassino Murderer [masc] 106.83 123 Inquirenti Investigators 100.87 88 Premeditato Premeditated 100.15 23 Massacrata Battered [fem] 98.36 21 Ergastolo Life sentence 96.23 52 Femminicidi Femminicidi 93.07 18 Stalking Stalking 91.78 38 Mozzate Cut off 89.46 18 Fendenti Downward blow 89.21 18 Cadavere Corpse 82.11 107 Fiaccolata Torchlight procession 76.64 31 Uccise Killed [fem] 75.30 63 Romena Romanian [fem] 74.85 30 Interrogatorio Questioning 73.25 44 Lite Fight 71.42 77 Ucciderla to kill her 71.31 18 Confessato Confessed [fem] 68.42 38 Fidanzato Boyfriend 66.77 80 Bidello Janitor [masc] 63.06 14 Gip Preliminary Investigation Judge 61.31 48 Badante Caregiver 58.69 27 Gup Preliminary Hearing Judge 57.61 19 Coltello Knife 56.72 96 Provvisionale Provisional 56.03 11 Aggravanti Aggravating 54.91 14 Uccide Kills 54.86 70 Litigato Fought 54.61 17 Litigavano They used to fght 53.83 10 Geloso Jealous 53.19 26 Pistola Gun 52.98 91 Fidanzatino Sweetheart [masc] 51.70 9

Appendix 2: Multi-words

See Table 5.26. 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 265

Table 5.26 List of multi-words in the news corpus, presented in keyness score (KS) and absolute frequency (AF) Multi-word Translations KS AF Ennesimo femminicidio Umpteenth femminicidio 303.66 48 Omicidio volontario Voluntary homicide 201.86 50 Delitto passionale Passionate crime 199.78 33 Ex moglie Ex-wife 159.04 56 Ex convivente Ex-cohabitant 158.43 28 Ex marito Ex-husband 153.21 45 Reo confesso Recently confessed [masc] 114.49 21 Ex compagno Ex-partner [masc] 106.75 26 Ex compagna Ex-partner [fem] 101.94 21 Ennesimo caso Umpteenth case 97.70 19 Ex fdanzato Ex-boyfriend 82.37 20 Duplice omicidio Double murder 82.05 17 Parti civili Civil parts 78.35 20 Avvocato veronese Lawyer from Verona 70.42 11 Ennesimo litigio Umpteenth fght 68.19 11 Guardia giurata Night guard 62.80 14 Furia omicida Homicide fury 62.33 11 Ultima vittima Latest victim 61.95 11 Donna uccisa Woman killed 61.72 10 Perizia psichiatrica Psychiatric appraisal 54.78 10 Comando provinciale Police station 53.80 13 Ex fdanzata Ex-girlfriend 53.45 12 Sostituto procuratore Public prosecutor 52.69 18 Comandante provinciale Sheriff 49.81 10 Squadra mobile Police team 48.27 16 Parte civile Civil part 47.97 29 Lutto cittadino City mourning 46.37 9 Incidente domestico Domestic incident 46.14 8 Nuovo compagno New partner [masc] 45.92 10 Fratello gemello Twin brother 45.29 9 Centri antiviolenza Anti-violence centre 44.78 10 Tabulati telefonici Phone records 43.33 8 Ennesima lite Umpteenth fght 42.60 7 Medico legale Legal doctor 41.61 14 Emorragia interna Internal bleeding 41.25 7 Futili motivi Futile motives 40.74 9 Donne vittime Women victims 40.16 11 Precedente matrimonio Previous marriage 39.20 7 Primario oculista Head optometric 39.09 6 Aggressione mortale Mortal aggression 38.82 6 Stesso coltello Same knife 38.59 6 Movente passionale Passionate motive 38.59 6 (continued) 266 F. Formato

Table 5.26 (continued) Multi-word Translations KS AF Pena esemplare Exemplary punishment 38.11 6 Procuratore capo Head prosecutor 36.79 10 Capoluogo giuliano Trieste 36.31 6 Mura domestiche Domestic wall 35.81 12 Ex amante Ex-lover 34.46 6 Agente immobiliare Estate agent 34.02 9 Uccise ex killed (his) ex 32.87 5 Nuovo femminicidio New femminicidio 32.84 5

Notes

1. La storia ci dice che la guerra è il fenomeno che accompagna lo sviluppo dell’umanità. Forse è il destino tragico che pesa su l’uomo. La guerra sta all’uomo, come la maternità alla donna. (History is suggesting that the war is the phenomenon which accompanies the development of humanity. Maybe it’s the tragic destiny that is loaded onto men. Te war equals men, as the maternity equals women.) In this maths-related sentence, Mussolini clearly divides the destiny of women and those of men in two fxed and binary categories (from the Parliamentary Speech, 26 May 1934; da Scritti e discorsi, vol. IX, p. 98). 2. In Dobash and Dobash (1998) there is reference to the work undertaken by Rederlechner and Ratz (1993) who explain that women were thought of as a means to create the nationhood by procreating and raising children. 3. http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence- against-women. Accessed 24 October 2017. 4. http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence- against-women/facts-and-fgures, last updated August 2017. Accessed 24 May 2018. 5. Italy is a parliamentary republic where laws are discussed and approved by the parliament. 6. http://www.senato.it/application/xmanager/projects/leg17/fle/reposi- tory/notizie/2017/femminicidio.pdf. Accessed 15 March 2018. 7. http://www.eures.it/il-femminicidio-in-italia-nellultimo-decennio/. 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 267

8. Tere are data for femminicidi in 2017 (114 from January to October), as reported in the news http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/articoli/ Violenza-donne-nei-primi-10-mesi-anno-114-le-donne-uccise- 80381535-efbd-46ed-94d0-8e3223fbe58.html. In Quanto Donna, an association for women, reports that 33 women have been victims of femmininicio, from January to March, http://www.inquantodonna.it/ femminicidi/femminicidi-2018/. Accessed 15 May 2018. 9. http://www.senato.it/leg/17/BGT/Schede/Ddliter/47784.htm, https:// www.studiocataldi.it/allegati/news/allegato_28553_1.pdf, http://www. altalex.com/documents/leggi/2017/12/27/orfani-per-crimini-domestici. Accessed 15 March 2018. 10. http://webtv.camera.it/evento/12258. Accessed 18 May 2018. 11. http://www.camera.it/leg17/14?conoscerelacamera 231. Accessed 15 = February 2018. 12. Diamanti (2014, pp. 12–13) describes M5S as “to some degree, a ‘catch-all’ party that lacks a precise ideological and social imprint, and thus presents itself to a wide and varied electoral audience with diverse expectations and objectives”. 13. Tis forms part of what was discussed in an assembly Non una di meno (Not one [woman] less) organized in Rome on 27 November 2016. https://nonunadimeno.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/report-tavolo-nar- razioni-della-violenza-attraverso-i-media/. Accessed 25 October 2017. 14. While there is no reference to studies or more specifc indication to what this referred to, I believe it is conceived to mean “the (perfect) couple”. 15. Te other option would be to use a a corpus based approach where the corpus is investigated starting from analysts’ hypotheses on specifc terms (as in my work on ministra, ministro and sindaca, sindaco in Chapter 4). 16. https://www.SketchEngine (Kilgarrif 2012). co.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2015/07/Getting_to_know_2012.pdf. 17. McEnery and Hardie (2011, p. 246) defne Mutual information (MI) as “a statistic that indicates how strong the link between the two things is. Mutual information can be used to calculate collocations by indicating the strength of the co-occurrence relationship between a node and collocate”. 18. http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/gelosia/. Accessed 3 May 2018. 19. For this reason, I consulted another dictionary, Hoelpi, which describes jealousy such as “Sentimento di ansia che nasce dal sospetto più o meno ragionevole di avere un rivale in amore (feeling of anxiety that grows from the suspect, more or less reasonable, that someone has 268 F. Formato

a rival in love)”. Similarly, rivale is preceded by the masculine article un. http://dizionari.repubblica.it/Italiano/G/gelosia.php. Accessed 16 May 2018. Te Sabatini Olivetti dictionary has a more generic defnition: “Sentimento d chi ha paura di vedersi sottratto l’oggetto del proprio amore” (feelings of who is afraid to see the object of one’s own love stolen). In this defnition, the problematisation moves to conceptualising the loved one as an object. While this is not the subject of this chapter, I believe that the point raised on gli and un has to been seen in relation to dictionary constructions. Nossem, who works on queer and lexicography, suggests that: “[l]e decisioni lessicografche, siano esse frutto di scelte personali e/o prese consapevol- mente o inconsapevolmente sotto l’infusso di norme sociali, danno un peso particolare ai valori e agli ideali del_la lessicograf@. Queste decisioni lessicografche formano, alla fne del processo redazionale, il dizionario, un’opera di autorità e di riferimento. Il dizionario fnale promuove poi i valori e le norme in vigore durante la sua redazione, raforzandoli e fssandoli grazie al suo potere e alla sua autorità” (2015: 122 lexicographical decisions, whether they are originating from personal choices and/or taken consciously or unconsciouly under the infuence of social norms, give a specifc weight to valued and ideals of the lexicographer. Tese lexicographical decisions form part, at the end of the editing process, of the dictionary, a work that is deemed authoritative and used for reference. Te fnal dictionary promotes the values and the norms valid at the time of its editing, strengthening and established them because if its power and its authority). I agree with Nossem (2015) when she claims that this can have an impact on how the users perceive meanings. 20. http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/raptus/. Accessed 3 May 2018. 21. Te highest collocates of ennesimo ranked by their absolute frequencies are: volta (time), dimostrazione (demonstration), potenza (power) conferma (confrmation), prova (proof), tentativo (attempt), episodio (episode), occasione (occasion), and, caso (case). In this case potenza (power) refers to physics. However, the expression ennesima potenza is metaphorically used to mean something that is at its best (capacity). Interestingly, the frst set of collocates (volta, dimostrazione, conferma, prova, tentativo) seem to contextualise ennesimo as a negative evaluation for something that has not been achieved before, hinting at the 5 Women, Crime and Gender in the Private Sphere: Femminicidio 269

hope that this ennesimo is the last (time, demonstration, confrmation, proof, attempt). While with case, occasion and episode, yet maintaining a negative connotation, it seems to be also related to the future (rather than exclusively the present or the past). 22. Available here, https://unaltrogeneredirispettoblog.wordpress. com/2016/11/23/dillo-che-sei-mia-la-trappola-fatale-dellimmaginar- io-di-michela-murgia/. Accessed 29 November 2017. 23. http://webtv.camera.it/evento/12259. Accessed 18 May 2018.

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I began this volume by explaining why I consider Italy as a fruitful epistemological site: not only for specifc and limited spaces such as political arenas but the whole country, revolving its attention towards what seems a fx gendered order, one in which women are seen as inferior to men. I return to the resisting voices in this chapter as they are those that are attempting, not without backlash, to establish a new, fairer and more balanced gendered society. However, during the time I have been writing this book many examples of how Italy is resting on a sexist culture and society have accompanied me. Direct and indirect instances of sexist language have, with the approval of many, undermined women as a gender and a gendered category. Women in the public sphere have been targeted by misogynistic attacks, coming from the web and from political platforms, e.g. an efgy of Laura Boldrini1—the Speaker of the Camera from 2013 to 2018—was burnt in the town of Busto Arsizio (in the province of Varese in the North of Italy) by young activists of the right-wing party, North League. On another occasion, the leader of that party, Matteo Salvini, suggested that Boldrini was like the infatable doll that he had brought on stage with him during a rally.2 While Boldrini has become

© Te Author(s) 2019 273 F. Formato, Gender, Discourse and Ideology in Italian, Palgrave Studies in Language, Gender and Sexuality, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96556-7_6 274 F. Formato in recent years the favourite target of those who oppose her politics or, arguably, just her loud voice in fghting sexism in Italy, women in the public space have constantly been attacked and evaluated as inad- equate and/or promiscuous. Maria Elena Boschi—a minister in the Renzi Government, and Undersecretary of State in the Gentiloni government—was the protagonist of a viral cartoon, published in the daily newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano. Te cartoon depicted her in 4 diferent images, wearing diferent clothes on her lower half (trousers, mid-length skirt, mini-skirt and mini-skirt with tear); each of these represented excuses or explanations the cartoonist suggested she would use in politics, with the headline Il Cosciometro, which can be translated as “Leg-meter”, hinting at the purposeful use of her body in relation to the degree of clothes covering it (trousers: tutto ok/ all fne; mid-length skirt: chi ha sbagliato pagherà/ who was wrong will be held accounta- ble; mini-skirt: non ho mai mentito/ I have never lied; mini-skirt with tear: mi attaccano in quanto donna/ I am being fought back against as I am woman).3 Te cartoon was commented upon by some as being sexist (among whom, Boldrini) while others, among which the newspaper, suggested that readers manipulate sexism depending on who is the target, undermining a more systematic debate on the matter. Among indirect sexist instances, Vittorio Zucconi, a journalist of the daily broadsheet La Repubblica, tweeted Il PD sembra la bruttina che nelle balere di un tempo era l’ultima ad essere invitata a ballare da dis- perati come lei e accettava pur di non fare tappezzeria (the Democratic party looks like the ugly young woman who was the last to be invited to dance in dance halls from people who were as desperate as her and she would accept [so as] not to be seen as part of the wallpaper of the room). Tis simile conceptualises a party as an ugly woman who is left behind by men who do not choose her because of the lack of (arguably) stereotypical beauty, one who is invited to join men who similarly, are desperate to dance (as an indication of being a member of the community and its practices). Te woman is seen as an object (tappezzeria/ wallpaper) that is not salient. While it refers to a political party (target domain), the conceptualisation of the source domain (the woman) brings us back to Chapter 1, where the cult of beauty in respect of women was explained. Moreover, we can see this within a double 6 Conclusions 275 bind—usually described as “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” (frst discussed by Lakof 1975)—but from another perspective, as the opposite of the cult of beauty (Gundle 2000, 2007) is the disbelief of the non-beauty. Te Italian double bind seems to be “damned if you look good, damned if you don’t”. Former PM Berlusconi, internation- ally known for his sexual scandals and allegation of favouring under- age prostitution, used this double bind on many occasions. His remarks on Rosy Bindi a politician from the Democratic Party, is renowned; referring to her, Berlusconi said È sempre più bella che intelligente (She is always more beautiful than smart), hinting at her lack of beauty and, in this sentence, at her even greater lack of intelligence. Conversely, he appreciated the beauty of young women, who voluntarily or involuntar- ily, happened to be by his side. Recently, he was given pieces of mem- orabilia on stage by a young woman; he asked if he could choose what to take home, adding preferisco lei (I prefer her) indicating the young woman. Te man who was introducing the speech laughed and said that the young woman was his daughter, suggesting that, by choosing her, Berlusconi proved to be a buongustaio4 (literally, gourmand, meaning someone who has good taste). Many news outlets described this as a ‘gafe’ rather than as a sexist remark which, shamelessly, objectifed a visibly uncomfortable young woman. Likewise, the private of women is still subject to old stereotyping and arrangements, especially when brought to the media or entertainment scene. Tere is a wealth of episodes illustrating this: a female host was fred from the main TV channel of the national broadcaster having outlined reasons why Italian men should choose a girlfriend from Eastern Europe. Te reasons were as follows: they have a “mar- ble” body after birth (intending that they go back to their beautiful pre-birth body), they are always sexy and do not wear pyjamas, they forgive if the man is cheating on them, they are ‘in charge’ of the relationship, they are perfect housewives (a skill acquired, as noted by the list, from a very young age), they do not complain, they do not fght, and they do not put up a ‘sulk face’. Tis rather embarrassing list was (quite justifably) considered detrimental to both women from Eastern Europe and from Italy, as describing the former would also give indications about the latter. Part of public opinion was shocked 276 F. Formato at this list and the female host’s fring functioned as a scape-goat- ing mechanism. Many people did, on this occasion, make the issue of gender relevant: a woman who would ofend other women? Te host has not returned to television since then. Voices were also raised when an advertising poster by Pandora, a jewellery company from Denmark, was published on billboards in metro stations in Milan and other cities. Te advert read: Un ferro da stiro, un pigiama, un grembiule, un bracciale pandora. Secondo te cosa la farebbe felice? (An iron, a pyjama, an apron, a Pandora bracelet. In your opinion, what would make her happy?) It was clear (to some of us) that these incidents were reproducing a specifc prototype of women as housewives who, extensively complain or need their boyfriends and husbands to choose from jewellery or house-related items. However, there were other questions on sexism in Italy that were left unquestioned. Why would the main national television channel propose such a list followed by a debate, and why would Pandora publish such an advert in Italy (as, apparently, it did not appear elsewhere?). I think that while both could have anticipated the criticisms they would receive, they also recognised that other sections of the country would wel- come these, somewhat, familiar and known messages. A deep-rooted gender arrangement does not seem to be consistently challenged and, as for the messages recalled above, a similar situation unfolds for how language is used and manipulated in order to reinforce the fxed gender arrangement. Tis is not to say that there is no resistance to this order. Tis resistance of speakers, some within politics and the media, is central in conceptualising a new order. Some women, among whom, politicians and activists, seem to be pushing the new order against the old. However, they are subject to those who are con- fdent in the status quo, that is the world as it is, and (fairly) see these women as a threat to what is known. How well have these women managed so far? Tis is what this volume has attempted to show, when and if they have succeeded, and to what extent, both in the public sphere and within the narration of their private lives. In the following section, I summarise the fndings in this respect. 6 Conclusions 277

A Summary of the Findings

In order to trace the reinforcement of the status quo, through language, and the resisting voices raised against it, I contextualised the whole range of linguistic formation of gender in Chapter 2. I divided the understanding of grammatical patterns (proper to grammatical gender languages such as Italian, French and Spanish) into their lexical, morphological and syntactic properties. I then moved to their motivated (Abbou 2011) manipulation into a social perception of gender that portrays a ‘male as a norm’ culture through a ‘masculine as a norm’ language. Tis means that grammatical masculine nouns are perceived and used as unmarked terms (for both men and women) based on the idea that they represent how the world is, opposing marked feminine terms which are seen as new, ungrammatical and ‘sounding bad’. Te list of uses of language as a reinforcement of the status quo seems to be long. It pertains to environments which have been historically inhabited by men (e.g. politics), through unmarked masculines such as ministro (minister, used for men and women), but also to refer to mixed-gender groups, through versatile masculines such as ragazzi (boys, used to refer to a group of boys and girls). Tis is not to say that marked feminines are completely ignored, yet they do not seem to have entered everyday use, and they are employed as they are seen to be less ofcial than unmarked masculines (as shown in Formato 2016) or as derogative re-semantisation (undermining women, as discussed in Chapters 2 and 4). Another interesting misconception is the explanation of epicene terms, those that do not have grammatical gender (if not in the satellite elements that surround them), e.g. il [masc] or la [fem] presidente (the chair, president, speaker). Tey are perceived as uniquely masculine, and manipulation from the speakers and the media, have been sometimes successful in creating further confusion on gendered language. Terms that refer to both men and women through arbitrary grammatical gender in their satellite elements, e.g. il membro (the member), are used to justify the misuse of grammatical masculines used as unmarked (speakers would ask: why not la membra then?). Tis is the picture that emerges from Chapter 2, with illustrative and telling examples. 278 F. Formato

Grammar is not as separate from the institutions which reinforce norms or recommend changes. Te Italian case is particular but not unique. Speakers, language institutions—the Accademia della Crusca—and the media seem to have diferent and (sometimes) personal takes on what constitutes grammatical gender in Italian. Te un-systematicity of the debate between two sides—those in favour of a fairer use of grammatical gender, and those who insist that language used is not sexist and “does not have a gender problem”—seem to favour a general confusion. Tese are to be seen as ideological stances, in what I labelled as ad personam sociolinguistic imagination and consequential language practices. On the side of a fairer use of grammar, we mostly found female linguists, politicians and gender activists. On the other side, women and men who use the language every day (to refer to themselves and to others), some other politicians, journalists and some women whose professions have been traditionally ‘male’ (lawyers, Chairs, doctors). With recommendations on gender fairer language coming from above—from la Crusca and from female politicians who support the positions of the academy—one cannot ignore that this can have a specifc weight on how the suggestions are taken on board. Recommendations cannot be seen in the light of language planning or language policies, they are initiatives of institutions (e.g. the Ministry of Education, the Camera dei Deputati) with the aim to instruct what forms to use. However, there is no enforcement and while smaller institutions (city councils, associations) have followed suit, there is still a general confusion and a frm resistance from some speakers. Both Sabatini (1987, 1993) and Cameron (1995) contend that debates on correct language are seen by some as a personal attack on themselves and their freedom in using language. Te me positioning on both sides of the debate is what seems to fuel the unresolved question on what gendered language one should use (and what it means in relation to a gendered society). Women who have been vocal about this matter are usually attacked by in the media and by the speakers (as discussed below). Sgrelli,5 author of an etiquette manual for institutions, suggests that “molte donne non sanno rinunciare ad afermare la propria personalità di genere anche dove non è consentito, non sapendo distinguere la terminologia letteraria e giornalistica (dove si può) e da quella istituzionale 6 Conclusions 279

(dove non si può)” (many women do not want to give up to afrm their own gendered personality even where it is not allowed, failing to distinguish between language used in literature and newspapers (where feminine forms can be used) and that used in institutions (where feminine forms cannot be used)). His point, reiterated in the article, is that women who support feminine forms are foregrounding their personal opinions, disregarding institutional norms. In my view, the backlash experienced by those who advocate these forms is an accurate explanation of the stubborn re-afrmation of a fxed gendered order. I then wonder if, perhaps, the change would be better welcomed if coming from less higher positions or profles (or maybe from men). Schools could intensify their eforts in promoting a fairer language (as also argued by Di Rollo 2010) and textbooks, which, as I have observed, have a limited explanation of grammatical gender, could educate people to what exists in the language (e.g. feminine forms do not originate from the masculines), as the existence of certain forms is questioned when they are perceived as having, suddenly, appeared. In actuality, basic explanations of the fact that feminine forms were simply hidden in a fxed understanding of gender roles, are not enough to convince those who oppose them. Te stakes that are then brought in into the debate are those highlighted in Chapter 3, where online commentaries and answers to a survey are examined. Speakers are not comfortable in opposing the traditions of language; in other words, speakers deem that unmarked masculines, used to refer to women, are not wrong or detrimental as they reproduce what is accepted (by some). Others believe that society should deal with more important things, being those related to gender (more participation of women in high-ranking positions) or related to other social issues. Tere is also the evergreen concern regarding feminine vowels attached to the root sounding ‘bad’, e.g. ministra (minister) being cacophonic as well as architetta (architect) with respect to the unmarked masculines ministro and architetto, when employed for women. And, as anticipated above, there are those who show misconceptions about grammatical gender, attributing one category, e.g. morphological gender, to another, e.g. syntactic gender, for instance, the inexistent gender pair camionisto–camionista (lorry driver). Te focus on the speaker 280 F. Formato is one that I have always valued as, ultimately, language belongs to them (or us). Having had a chance to conduct the survey, I also gained interesting insights (discussed at the end of Chapter 3), into how speakers think about gendered language. In particular, the view below:

Ritengo che usare forme femminili sia un modo linguistico, non sup- portato dal lato culturale per cercare di dare l’illusione che non esistano stereotipi di genere. I think that using feminine forms is a linguistic way, not supported by the cultural symbolism, that attempts to give the illusion that gender stereotyping does not exist. 29–38, woman

While it remains an opinion of one speaker, it opens a diferent scenario to the one I am used to thinking and to loudly expressing. Tat is the idea that speakers see feminine forms (and possibly fairer language) as a sweetener to the untreated bigger issue of gender imbalance. Feminine language is, in this view, perceived as an illusion, rather than a fact and a symbol of the attempt to establish a new order, not only with regards to language but also, more broadly, society. Precisely, the comment sheds light on the stance taken in the volume, that of second-wave feminism, and more specifcally in this case, liberal feminism (Bucholtz 2014). Gender parity is still seen as a struggle in terms of participation and access, and this consideration cannot be excluded in relation to the scepticism around language as unrewarding. In Chapter 4, I ofer four analyses of sexist and/or gendered language in Italian in a male-oriented public sphere. I start by presenting a debate on the epicene presidente in a ‘war between women’ frst initiated by the recently-elected frst female Speaker of the Senato, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, when she announced that she wanted to be addressed as Il Presidente, in opposition to the former Speaker of the Camera, Laura Boldrini (who used La Presidente ). Te ‘war between women’ was then fomented by some newspapers, this undermining not only Boldrini but, I argue, all women who are speaking loudly about gender equality in Italy. 6 Conclusions 281

Te second analysis is an investigation into the use of the unmarked sindaco (mayor[masc]) and marked sindaca (mayor[fem]) in two post-electoral periods, together with candidata sindaca (candidate mayor [marked fem]), candidato sindaco (candidate mayor [unmarked masc]) and semi-marked candidata sindaco (candidate[fem] mayor [unmarked masc]), in the pre-electoral period. Te mayors I investigated are Virginia Raggi and Chiara Appendino, in ofce from 2016 in Rome and Turin, respectively. To them, I add Giorgia Meloni who was one of the candidates in Rome. Interestingly for her case, she is almost always addressed with the unmarked masculine, while more variety is seen for the other two mayors; I speculate that this is due to her political afliation, being the leader of an extreme right political party, where gender roles seem to be defned by the fascist legacy. Te investigation showed that the marked sindaca is more used than the unmarked sindaco but also that, depending on the referent and in the case of Appendino where one of the newspapers is published, the forms increase or decrease in the periods investigated. Feminine forms are not constant and this casts a doubt that their use could be used as an evaluative tool on the work undertaken by these mayors. I then proceed to investigate sexual terms which are used to re-establish the old order which sees female politicians outside the institutional public sphere. Tis is a revisitation of a framework I discussed elsewhere (Formato 2017) where new episodes are added to the list. Women are seen through a lens of a promiscuous private that legitimises doubts on their political performance and their suitability to a male-oriented space. In some cases, the sexual terms used refer to specifc episodes linked to Berlusconi’s sexual scandals, this defned as ‘gossip’ in my study. Tere are also sexual terms used to indicate the promiscuous private of female politicians which are based on ‘stereotypes’, that is a classifcation of traits that people think belong to a certain group. Te stereotype of female politicians entering the public through the private space of powerful men is one that holds strong. In other cases, women represent themselves as sexual objects in the public sphere. Teir attempts to reclaim their bodies and their sexuality is, however, turned into just another way for society to evaluate their political conduct. 282 F. Formato

I labelled sexual language, used by female politicians to position themselves as sexual objects, as ‘self-representation’. Language used to construct ‘gossip’, ‘stereotypes’ and ‘self-representation’ trap women into a specifc prototype—one that thinks of them as unsuitable to the public sphere—and works to re-establish the known order, women in the private and men in the institutional public. Te last analysis presented in Chapter 4 is the construction of gendered groups inside the parliament and, due to the nature of the debates on the topic of violence against women, the relationship with groups outside the parliament, e.g. women. Te parliament is contextualised in studies on Community of Practice ([CofPs], Eckert and McConnell-Ginet 1992, 1998, 2007), which posit that among other routine practices, language is a vehicle for negotiating identities within a group of people who gather around a “mutual engagement” (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet 2003, p. 490). Trough noi forms, second person plural instances, female MPs tend to construct several groups, i.e. ‘female MPs’, ‘male and female MPs’, ‘women’. Tey seem to legitimise their position and increase their visibility in the Chamber while also aligning with women outside the political arena, showing solidarity to victims of violence. In Chapter 5, I move the focus to the private sphere and to its representation in the media. Trough a CADS approach (Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies), I investigate the gendered crime of femminicidio, that is women killed by somebody who they have been in a relationship with, or were, at the time of the murder. Activists and journalists drew guidelines on how to narrate the crime, proposing a fair and respectful approach to the victims. To investigate whether these recommendations were taken on board, I systematically investigate language on the topic. Before approaching the analysis of the media, I explore the political debate around the phenomenon. Te parliament, in the form of mozioni (interventions on topics which political groups believe that the parliament should debate and vote on) tends to address the discussion on femminicidio as part of violence against women as an abstract phenomenon that exclusively concerns women. Te political alignments—right and left—see the topic diferently: the right-wing parties focus on what can be done inside the parliament and political institutions while the 6 Conclusions 283 left-wing parties discuss the topic with an eye to a bigger picture (e.g. institutions outside politics, victims). I then move to investigate a corpus of newspaper articles collected through the news database Nexis, totalling 331 articles in the period 2013–2016 that deal with femminicidio. To investigate elements in this dataset, I adapted the notion of ‘forensic narratives’ (discussed by Monckton-Smith 2012) to systematically examine how the people involved, and the criminal event that unfolded, are narrated in the news. Using a corpus-driven approach, in other words interrogating the corpus without prior hypotheses of what it contained, I found that there is an asymmetry in how male murderers and female victims are portrayed; while both are portrayed in the roles in the relationships (e.g. marito ex-husband, moglie ex-wife), men are also described according to their professional role. Gelosia (jealousy) and raptus (burst) arise as justifcations used to explain why the crime was perpetrated, to some extent, excusing men. Another interesting pattern is the use of the term ennesimo (umpteenth), key in the dataset as a news value of (vague) ‘superlativeness’ ‘timeliness’ and ‘consonance’ (Bednarek and Caple 2017, p. 31). Tese conceptualise ennesimo as to bridge the gap and fll the void of politics and the juridical system. In fact, femminicidio does not appear as a crime in the penal code. Tis means that the ofcial numbers on the crime are approximative and ennesimo (umpteenth) is employed to describe a reality of uncertain quantifcation which suggests a link to the past and to the future. To see upon whom the blame is laid, I investigate the headlines of the newspaper articles collected and built a framework which consid- ers diferent options: blame on the male perpetrator (or on the couple), focus on men’s emotions or jealousy, blame on women (based on their behaviour in the relationship or when reporting men’s behaviour to the authorities). While half of the headlines seem to blame the male crim- inals, there is still a proportion of them narrating the crime through men’s feelings or blaming women. I conclude this chapter by investigating a specifc femminicidio, to which attention was paid in the news and in politics because of its brutality. I use an innovative XML mark-up annotation, adapted from a study on sentencing remarks in the UK where women were victims 284 F. Formato of men, which I conducted with another scholar (Potts and Formato forthcoming). In the 33 newspaper articles investigated, I found that Sara di Pietrantonio, the victim, is mainly nominated in relation to her young age (possibly indicating naivety and innocence) and her status as a student (building audience’s solidarity with their victim seen as robbed of her future). Te agency she is given in the news reporting her femminicidio exclusively portrays her as the one who terminated the relationship with who became her murderer. Te two parts of the book—the one dedicated to language about, by and for women in the public space and, the one dedicated to representation of the private gendered arrangement within the femminicidio—are joined by the common aims to investigate an imbalanced gendered society. To conclude, I see the fndings of the two parts forming this volume as language as actions in reproducing and reinforcing an accepted status quo, one that should still be fought with feminist aims, addressing patriarchy as a systematic and structural subordination of women and the ideological power which is supported by (some) institutions and media. I also hope that the topics dealt with in this volume could fnd room within changing language practices and in grass-root initiatives to promote a fairer language and a fairer society.

Visible and Invisible Groups

While reading this volume, you might have thought: yes, but what about men? Are men addressed with sexist language? Are men insulted with sexual terms? How is violence against men described in the news? Women are, in fact, the central focus. Te language investigations have made clear that they are at the centre of a tension between an old and new order. Tis is why men are given less attention here, as they form the meter through which the experiences of women have to be measured against. From another perspective, it was not deliberate to leave out some other invisible (to the main gender arrangement) groups, as for instance LGTBQQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, 6 Conclusions 285 intersex, and asexual or allied). Homophobic, transphobic and detrimental language towards the whole gender spectrum has certainly been used to categorise them as inferior to the (heterosexual) ‘male as a norm’. In terms of the culture, there is a ferce opposition to what are thought to be unnatural and untraditional gendered identities, as in the case of the debate around la teoria gender (the gender theory), also known as ideologia gender (gender ideology) which also opposes sexual education in schools. Garbagnoli (2014, p. 250) discusses the origin of this term—being the term ‘gender’ in the expression ideologia gender used in English to demonstrate a cultural imperialism from the United States—and how it spread and acquired a specifc meaning in Italy. It stems from Catholic religious texts and it soon became a fag for those who oppose laws and reforms that aim to reduce the discriminations of homosexuals, e.g. same-sex marriages, step-child adoptions and measures against transphobic violence). Te views against gender became a theme that some politicians included in their manifestos (e.g. the party Fratelli d’Italia ), also organising demonstrations which would cele- brate the traditional family (heterosexual couples with children), called Family Day (held in June 2015 and January 2016). In this cultural scenario, it is clear that the wide spectrum of gender identities fnds a hostile environment and, to combat this, resisting voices are emerging. Academia is slowly beginning to pay attention to the theme, one example being Balirano (2017) who investigates how terms that refer to LGBT groups have been used in a corpus (called EUROPA) composed of 12 documents appearing on the website www.europa.eu. He examines original and translated versions (Italian and Portuguese) to see similarities and diferences. Te fndings show that the main strategy is to use lesbiche, gay, bisessuali e transgender (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans- genders) as nouns (rather than as adjectives as employed in the English version). Tis is deemed problematic, having for instance bisessuali in the form that I defned versatile masculine (used to refer to mixed-gender groups), and transgender failing to embody the whole complexity of gender-specifc reference. Another interesting argument is that based on the use of LGTBI (with I referring to intersex people) in the Portuguese and English versions, (politically) translated into LGTB in the Italian one. 286 F. Formato

Final Words

I do not wish to conclude this book with yet more discriminating and unfair language (such as that reviewed above). Nor do I aim to conclude with the events that are currently unfolding in Italy, namely the formation of a new populist government that expressed controversial views on immigration and gender rights. Salvini, one of the political leaders of this government, launched the latest attack to Boldrini on Twitter: ma ancora parla (is she still talking?), addressing her concern for a sexist politics. Reported in the news, Boldrini was further attacked with a headline that referred to her as la presidenta.6 I also would not wish to recount the latest mis-narration of a femminicidio, treated in the media as if the man who killed his wife and his daughter were a “soldier” fghting his last battle.7 I wish to leave with a positive message, one that looks to the future. Te increasing interest in investigating language employed by, for and about women and men, is raising a scholarly and public awareness of old (and obsolete) linguistic practices, both on the topic of gendered language and femminicidio. As many women have joined forces to be visible and loud, I remain hopeful that also many men will consider being as loud on these topics. Tis is a wishful thinking and a hope.

Notes

1. https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2018/01/26/lega-giovani-padani-bru- ciano-fantoccio-di-laura-boldrini-in-piazza-a-busto-arsizio/4117498/. Accessed 20 May 2018. 2. http://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2016/07/25/news/salvini_bol- drini-144779884/. Accessed 20 May 2018. 3. https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2017/12/16/il-cosciometro/4043110/. Accessed 20 May 2018. 4. https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2018/05/20/aosta-la-clamorosa-gafe- di-berlusconi-con-la-fglia-del-coordinatore-di-forza-italia-e-lei-reagisce- cosi/4369276/. Accessed 30 May 2018. 6 Conclusions 287

5. http://www.afaritaliani.it/culturaspettacoli/boldrini-e-l-uso-del-femminile-per-le-cariche-pubbliche-e-incostituzionale-458567.html?refresh_ce. Accessed 29 May 2018. 6. http://www.liberoquotidiano.it/news/personaggi/13343438/matteo-salvini-contro-laura-boldrini-governo-maschilista-ancora-parla.html. Accessed 29 May 2018. 7. https://www.avvenire.it/opinioni/pagine/l-ultima-battaglia-di-un-uomo. Accessed 25 May 2018.

References

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Eckert, Penny, and Sally McConnell-Ginet. 2007. Putting communities of practice in their place. Gender and Language 1: 27–38. Formato, Federica. 2016. Linguistic markers of sexism in the Italian media: A case study of ministra and ministro. Corpora 11 (3): 371–399. Formato, Federica. 2017. ‘Ci sono troie in giro in Parlamento che farebbero di tutto’. Italian female politicians seen through a sexual lens. Gender and Language 11 (3): 389–414. Garbagnoli, Sara. 2014. «L’ideologia del genere»: l’irresistibile ascesa di un’in- venzione retorica vaticana contro la denaturalizzazione dell’ordine sessuale. Incursioni 3 (6): 250–263. Gundle, Stephen. 2000. Il bel paese: Art, beauty and the cult of appearance. In Te politics of Italian national identity, ed. Gino Bedani, 106–136. Cardif: University of Wales Press. Gundle, Stephen. 2007. Bellissima: Feminine beauty and the idea of Italy. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Lakof, Robin. 1975. Language and woman’s place. New York: Harper. Monckton-Smith, Jane. 2012. Murder, gender and the media. Narratives of gendered love. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Potts, Amanda, and Federica Formato. Forthcoming. Women victims of men who murder: XML mark-up for nomination, collocation and frequency analysis of language of the law. In Te handbook of language, gender and sexuality, ed. Judith Baxter and Jo Anguri. London: Routledge. Sabatini, Alma. 1987. Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua italiana. Commissione nazionale per la realizzazione della parità tra uomo e donna, Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri. Retrieved from http://www. innovazionepa.it/dipartimento/documentazione/documentazione_pari_ opportunita.htm. Sabatini, Alma. 1993. Ricerca sulla formulazione degli annunci di lavoro. Commissione Nazionale Per La Parità E Le Pari Opportunità Tra Uomo E Donna. Retrieved from http://www.funzionepubblica.gov.it/media/962032/ il%20sessismo%20nella%20lingua%20italiana.pdf. Glossary 1

Grammatical Gender

Category Subcategory Gender Example Translation referent Lexical Either woman Nuora/Nuore daughter/s-in law or man Genero/Generi son/s-in-law Morphological -a, -o, -e, -i Either woman Figlia/Figlie daughter/s or man Figlio/Figli son/s -iera, -iere, Either woman Consigliera Female councillor -iere, -ieri or man Consigliere Male councillor Consigliere Female councillors Consiglieri Male councillors -trice, -tore, Either woman Senatrice Female senator -trici, -tori or man Senatori Male senator Senatrici Female senators Senatori Male senators -aia, -aio, Either woman Giornalaia Female -aie, -ai or man Giornalaio newsagent Giornalaie Male newsagent Giornalai Female newsagents Male newsagents (continued)

© Te Editor(s) (if applicable) and Te Author(s) 2019 289 F. Formato, Gender, Discourse and Ideology in Italian, Palgrave Studies in Language, Gender and Sexuality, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96556-7 290 Glossary 1

(continued) Category Subcategory Gender Example Translation referent Syntactic Epicene Woman and Presidente/I President/s man Semi-epicene Woman La [Fem] Paediatrician and man Or Il [Masc] Female paedi- (singular) Pediatra atricians/ male Women or Pediatre/I pediatricians men (plural)

Social Gender

Subcategory Gender Grammatical Discussion Example Translation referent forms Semantic Either Feminine or Asymmetric/ Zitella Spinster woman or masculine sexist Scapolo Bachelor man forms Morphological Unmarked Women Masculine Sexist Ministro Female masculine singular (shadowing minister women) Versatile Women and Masculine Sexist Ministri Female masculine men in a plural (shadowing and male mixed-gen- women) ministers der group Marked Women Feminine Legitimising Ministra Female feminine women minister (non-sexist) or derogative re-semantisation (sexist) Semi-marked Women Masculine Middle Signora Mrs [fem] and ground Ministro Minister feminine between [masc] elements as unmarked one unit and marked, sexist (continued) Glossary 1 291

(continued) Subcategory Gender Grammatical Discussion Example Translation referent forms Gender split Female Feminine Women’s Sorelle e Sisters and forms frstness plus visibility fratelli brothers masculine Male Masculine Common Fratelli e Brothers frstness plus form sorelle and sisters feminine Syntactic Epicene Men only No gender Sexist Presidente President Semi-epicene Men only Used as a Sexist Pediatri Female and versatile (shadowing male pae- masculine women) diatricians Other Defnite Women Feminine sexist La Maria The Maria articles plus (mostly) La Boldrini The names or Boldrini surnames Object Women or Masculine Imbalanced Gli ho I bought pronoun men comprato her Impersonal Women and Masculine Imbalanced Nessuno No one masculine men Personalised Women and Masculine Sexist La carica di The role of masculine men sindaco the mayor Glossary 2

Corpus Linguistics Terms, Tools and Functions

Tese defnitions are mostly taken or adapted from Baker et al. (2006). Glossary of corpus linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Alternatively, they refer to corpus tools used for the investigations and other sources (full references can be found in the chapters where they are used). Absolute frequency: raw fgures. Collocation: words that co-occur in combination with the node, based on the notion that “words are more likely to occur in combination with other words in certain contexts” (2006, p. 37). Collocations are investigated in a span on the left or on the right of the node. Concordance line: examples of the node in the linguistic context. Tey provide information on how the node is used in the context. Corpus based: the corpus/corpora is/are used to test the analyst’s intuitions or hypothesis. Words/expressions are searched in the corpus. Tis term and corpus-driven (explained below) have been frst defned by Tognini-Bonelli (2001). Corpus driven: the corpus/corpora is/are interrogated without prior intuitions/are interrogated without prior intuitions. Te analyst performs functions to examine saliency in the corpus. Corpus-corpora: collections of machine-readable texts representing a specifc variety of the language (in relation to the genre, sub-genre, topic, speakers).

© Te Editor(s) (if applicable) and Te Author(s) 2019 293 F. Formato, Gender, Discourse and Ideology in Italian, Palgrave Studies in Language, Gender and Sexuality, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96556-7 294 Glossary 2

Dispersion: position within the texts which form part of the corpus. In other words, whether a node, a collocate or any linguistic element under investigation appears spread across the texts (or does not). Frequency: fgures, whether it is absolute (raw fgures) or normalised (calculated on one thousand words or one million words). Grammatical words: also function words, pronouns, prepositions, determin- ers, conjunctions, and other elements. Usually, they are removed if the language is examined through a discourse approach. Keyword: “a word which appears in a text or [study] corpus statistically signif- icantly more frequently than would be expected by change when compared to a [reference] corpus” (2006, p. 97). Lancsbox: a corpus tool created by Brezina et al. (2015) suitable to investigate collocations (graphcoll), keywords, wordlists. Multi-words: expressions (two or more words, yet treated as one unit) which are key, salient, unusual and therefore typical in the study corpus when compared to a reference corpus. Tey are calculated according to statistical measures. Tis is a term used in the corpus tool Sketch Engine. Mutual Information: “a statistical measure that compares the probability of fnding each item on its one” (2006, p. 120). Node: term/s searched in the corpus. Normalised frequency: frequency normalised on the basis of one thousand words (PTW) or one million words (PMW). Part of Speech (POS): tags used to classify grammatical classes. Reference corpus: corpus compared to the study corpus to originate its keywords (or single words and multi-words). Single words: words which are key, salient and therefore typical of the study corpus (arising from the comparison with the reference corpus). Sketchengine: corpus tool containing compiled corpora (e.g. itTenTen) which can be investigated according to several functions (e.g. collocations, multi-words, single words). It also allows for uploading or building one’s own corpus/corpora (Kilgarrif et al. 2014). Span: the amount of space before and after the node. Study corpus: corpus under investigation (in some cases compared with the reference corpus). Wordlist: list of the most frequent words in a corpus. WordSmith: corpus tool suitable to investigate corpus/corpora according to some functions (collocations, word list and keyword analysis). It was created by Scott (2008). XML mark up: a code based on the extensible mark-up language. Index

A Berlusconi, Silvio 5, 12, 13, 32, 66, Accademia della Crusca 162, 163, 166–168, 176, 188, Academy of the language 121 189, 195, 275, 281 La Crusca 66, 95, 96, 121, 123, Blame 31, 161, 204, 210, 241–243, 139, 149, 278 245, 246, 248, 260, 262, 283 Activist 4, 10, 11, 81, 145, 156, 166, Boldrini, Laura 9, 11, 59, 66, 67, 276, 282 95–97, 99, 110, 124, 128, Ad personam sociolinguistic imagina- 137–140, 149, 167, 192, tion 27, 142, 278 208–209, 273, 274, 280, 286 Alberti Casellati, Maria Elisabetta 9, Boschi, Maria Elena 56, 94, 143, 138, 140, 280 169, 170, 274 Appendino, Chiara 10, 11, 144–147, 149, 150, 156–160, 193, 281 Attitudes 6, 39, 64, 101, 102, 104, C 121, 135, 202 Camera Availability 29, 70, 74, 94, 137 Dei Deputati 3, 9, 12, 13, 95, 96, 137, 176, 208, 211, 212, 214, 251, 278 B Cameron, Deborah 8, 10, 27, 45, 52, Baker, Paul 17, 25, 26, 31, 54, 55, 95, 97, 120, 122–124, 136, 62, 293 141, 162, 163, 171, 173, 278

© Te Editor(s) (if applicable) and Te Author(s) 2019 295 F. Formato, Gender, Discourse and Ideology in Italian, Palgrave Studies in Language, Gender and Sexuality, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96556-7 296 Index

CofP 27, 171, 174, 282 Fedeli, Valeria 11, 94, 97 Collocations 53, 55, 59, 65–67, 220, Female politicians 10, 11, 30, 86, 87, 224, 228, 231, 233, 259 90, 97, 139, 149, 161, 164, Community of Practice 12, 27, 171, 165, 168, 171, 176, 181, 183, 191, 282. See also CofP 187, 189, 199, 278, 281, 282 Corpus-assisted discourse studies Feminism CADS 209, 221, 248, 250, 282 liberal 19, 20, 280 Corpus linguistics material 20 corpus based 293 radical 19, 20 corpus driven 293 Femminicidio 3, 6, 15, 19, 22, 24, Correlational sociolinguistics 90 25, 28–31, 200, 205–207, Cosciometro 274 209–212, 214, 217, 219–222, 224, 229, 230, 236, 239, 240, 245, 247, 249, 250, 261 D Forensic narratives 31, 210, 223, Derogative re-semantization 60, 161, 224, 229, 262 169, 277 Di Pietrantonio, Sara 31, 200, 211, 250–252, 261, 262, 284 G Discourse 7, 15, 17, 18, 21–24, 26, Gelosia 221, 222, 229, 231, 233, 28, 31, 70, 114, 165, 175, 242, 283 192, 193, 205, 209, 214, 240, Gender 1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 16, 18, 20, 23, 251, 282 29, 40, 45, 52 Discursive groups 174, 177, 178 gap 15, 16, 121 languages. See Grammatical gender; Natural gender languages E social 43, 45, 46, 48, 50, 60, 67, Eckert, Penny 12, 17, 18, 27, 171, 70, 89, 123, 135, 165 173, 282 Gendered Ennesimo 233, 235, 236, 238, 239, crime 6, 19, 28, 200, 205, 268, 269, 283 207, 210, 220, 262. See also Epicene 29, 30, 42, 47–49, 57, Femminicidio 63–65, 73, 100, 105, 110, language 8, 15, 21, 27, 29–31, 138, 232, 290, 291 40, 44, 64, 65, 71, 74, 81, 87, Epistemological site 1, 2, 6, 8, 23 93, 96, 101, 119, 123, 135, 138, 160, 176, 277, 278, 286 order 63, 65 F Gender split forms 59, 61, 62, 73, Fair language 71, 81, 85, 93 90, 94, 97, 181, 291 Index 297

Glass ceiling 8, 9, 74 K Gossip 15, 164, 165, 168, 170, 282 Keyness 215, 217, 229, 250, 263, Government 265 Gentiloni 13, 56, 94, 169, 274 Keywords 31, 217–219, 229, 249, Renzi 11, 66, 274 294 Grammatical gender arbitrary 49, 96, 119, 277 lexical 18, 46, 50, 73, 277 L morphological 42, 46, 48, 50, 54, Lancsbox 147, 231, 294 63–65, 73, 277, 279 La Stampa 145. See also LS motivated 50, 55, 63, 67, 74, LS 145–147, 150, 151, 153, 155, 114, 120, 181, 192, 237, 277 156, 158, 159 syntactic 46, 48, 50, 54, 65, 73, 85, 277, 279 Grammatical gender languages 44 M Graphcoll 231, 294 Male as a norm 7, 10, 42, 52, 143, 162, 277, 285 Marked feminine 59–61, 90, 95, H 102, 142, 143, 145, 149, 152, Headline 139, 210, 228, 240, 241, 155, 161, 168, 277, 290 244–248, 262, 283 Markedness 29, 50, 59 how 18, 24, 28, 31, 141 Masculine as a norm 42, 52, 57, 90, 101, 277 McConnell-Ginet, Sally 12, 17, 18, I 27, 52, 171, 173, 282 Ideologia gender. See Teoria del gender Media 3, 5, 7–11, 14, 15, 18–20, 24, Ideological production 140, 141 28–31, 39, 86, 88, 94, 96, 97, Ideology 8, 10, 26–29, 81, 141, 199, 101, 121, 123, 135, 137, 139, 285 147, 160, 163, 171, 192, 200, Il Corriere della Sera 58, 98, 99, 139 205, 206, 209, 220, 223, 234, Corriere della Sera 97, 225 238, 250, 262, 282 CS 145 Meloni, Giorgia 144–147, 149, Il Resto del Carlino 145, 225. See also 150–152, 155, 158, 161, 193, RC 281 Impersonal masculine 69, 291 Mills, Sara 20–22, 40, 45, 51, 53, Intimate partner femicide 206, 234 84, 98, 122, 161, 165 298 Index

Ministra 59, 61, 64, 94–96, 98, 99, Politics 4, 5, 8–11, 13, 14, 16, 18–20, 109, 116–118, 140, 143, 168, 27, 59, 61, 66, 82, 90, 91, 94, 192, 279 122, 123, 135–137, 142, 150, Ministro 56, 59, 61, 65, 90, 94, 106, 162, 163, 165, 168–172, 179, 107, 110, 116–118, 126, 129, 185, 188, 192, 205, 206, 208, 143, 166, 185, 190, 279 210, 214, 274, 276, 277, 283, 286 Monckton-Smith, Jane 200, 203, Presidente 30, 48, 63, 96, 106, 107, 204, 206, 223, 229, 234, 237, 118, 140, 161, 192, 277, 280 246, 283 Presidenta 96, 138, 139, 286 Morphological infections 40, 41, Presidentessa 63, 138, 139 45–48, 53, 143 Private 4, 5, 7, 8, 16, 19, 20, 23, 26, Motivated 29, 43, 50, 55, 74, 120, 28, 30, 45, 54, 55, 85, 88, 92, 181, 237 124, 136, 141, 164, 165, 170, Mozioni parlamentari 200, 209, 171, 192, 199, 200, 204, 205, 212–214, 282 223, 238, 262, 275, 276, 281, Multi-words 215, 217–219, 235– 282, 284 238, 263, 265, 294 dimension 171, 199, 262 sphere 7, 19, 20, 23, 26, 85, 88, 141, 199, 200, 204, 205, 282 N Public 3–5, 7–12, 19–21, 23, 26, Natural gender languages 40, 44 28, 30–32, 45, 51, 54, 59, 81, Newspapers 14, 87, 103, 138, 139, 85, 92, 95, 112, 120, 124, 143, 145, 146, 150, 156, 158, 135–137, 141, 142, 162–164, 159, 210, 225, 227, 239, 241, 170, 171, 173, 181, 189, 191, 256, 281 192, 199, 200, 205, 206, 210, Nexis 145, 147, 224, 251, 283 220, 223, 236, 238, 273–276, 280–282, 286 dimension 171 P sphere 3, 4, 9, 12, 19–21, 30, 85, Parliament 3, 7, 8, 12–14, 30, 32, 92, 112, 135–137, 141, 142, 89–91, 122, 135, 137–139, 162, 164, 170, 171, 173, 181, 164, 166, 167, 171, 173, 174, 191, 192, 199, 205, 210, 238, 176–178, 180, 183–186, 191, 273, 280–282 200, 208, 212–214, 216, 218, 219, 225, 262, 266, 282 Patriarchy 6, 7, 19, 26, 204, 263, 284 R public 7, 284 Raggi, Virginia 10, 11, 144–147, Personalised masculine 68, 69, 149, 149, 150, 152–156, 158–161, 291 168, 193, 194, 281 Index 299

Raptus 222, 230, 233, 234, 242, Stereotypes 24, 45, 50, 55, 59, 74, 263, 283 88, 89, 93, 164, 165, 170, RC 145–147, 150, 153, 155, 156, 172, 222, 263, 281, 282 158, 159 Survey 30, 87, 98, 101–105, 108, Repositioning 90, 112, 124 110, 112–114, 120, 131, 279

S T Sabatini, Alma 47, 58–60, 71, 74, Teoria del gender 285 81–85, 92, 93, 122, 278 Self-representation 163–165, 167, 169–171, 282 U Semi-epicene 29, 48, 63–65, 100, Unmarked masculine 53, 56, 57, 290, 291 59–61, 67, 69, 90, 95, 101, Semi-marked 50, 56, 60, 61, 90, 123, 143, 149, 160, 277, 279, 108, 147, 148, 150, 152, 153, 281, 290 155, 156, 158–160 Senato 9, 13, 138, 141, 208, 280 della Repubblica 9, 12, 13, 206, V 208 Versatile masculine 42, 48, 58, 61, Sensus communis 210, 223 62, 64, 69, 72, 82, 87, 90, Sexism 1, 5, 19, 44, 50, 52–54, 57, 103, 182, 277, 285 60, 62, 63, 71, 83, 88, 122, Visibility 4, 184, 282, 291 123, 162, 274, 276 Visible 6, 11, 21, 23, 25, 29, 40, 41, direct 53, 54, 57, 60 43–46, 53, 55, 71, 76, 182, indirect 53, 60, 123 192, 286 Sexist language 6, 10, 23, 54, 87, 97, Visibly 44, 275 99, 101, 106, 121, 123, 273, 284 Single words 228, 230, 263, 294 W SketchEngine 63, 143, 294 what 18, 23, 24, 28, 31, 69, 162 Speaker who 18, 23, 24, 28, 31, 124, 171 of the Camera 3, 9, 95, 96, 137, 280 of the Lower Chamber 11, 66, X 167 Xml annotation 31, 261 of the Senato 9, 138, 280