The London School of Economics and Political Science Mediated tensions: Italian newspapers and the legal recognition of de facto unions Marina Franchi A thesis submitted to the Gender Institute of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, May 2015 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 88924 words. Statement of use of third party for editorial help (if applicable) I can confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Hilary Wright 2 Abstract The recognition of rights to couples outside the institution of marriage has been, and still is, a contentious issue in Italian Politics. Normative notions of family and kinship perpetuate the exclusion of those who do not conform to the heterosexual norm. At the same time the increased visibility of kinship arrangements that evade the heterosexual script and their claims for legal recognition, expose the fragility and the constructedness of heteronorms. During the Prodi II Government (2006-2008) the possibility of a law recognising legal status to de facto unions stirred a major controversy in which the conservative political forces and the Catholic hierarchies opposed any form of recognition, with particular acrimony shown toward same sex couples. Corriere della Sera and la Repubblica, the two newspapers with the highest circulation in Italy, covered at length the disputes that ensued from the proposal. This thesis focuses on the analysis of the two newspapers and uncovers the ways in which they produced narratives that both sustained the exclusion of those who do not conform and potentially fostered a space for its disruption. In so doing the thesis aims to add a further dimension to the body of work investigating the politics of sexuality in contemporary Italy. A systematic reading of the press coverage reveals how the newsworthiness of the conflicts enhanced the visibility of those who opposed the law in turn sustaining the construction of it as a contentious issue. The close analysis of a selection of texts reveals the media ambivalence in displacing conservative notions of family and kinship and their contribution in fostering narratives that sustain exclusion. 3 Acknowledgements Although a bit short for words to convey my heartfelt gratitude, I wish to thank my supervisor Sadie Wearing and my advisor Diane Perrons for their comments and their guidance. I am really grateful for the time and energy they both dedicated to my project and for the enduring emotional support they provided me with. My deepest thanks also to Leticia Sabsay, for commenting on my work and supporting me in the last stages of my project; to Ania Plomien and Marsha Henry for their advice and constant words of encouragement. My deep thanks to Anne Phillips and Clare Hemmings for their support and in particular for fostering a supportive as well as intellectually challenging PhD community in their role as PhD seminar leaders. I am profoundly grateful to Hazel Johnstone for having the solutions to so many problems and for her role in making the GI such an amazing place to be part of. Thank you to past and present PhD students of the Gender Institute. My thanks to Alessandro Castellini, Emma Spruce, Nicole Shephard, Jacob Breslow, Amanda Conroy and Harriet Gray for supporting me in the last year; Carolyn Pedwell, Natasha Marhia, Christina Scharff, Maria do mar Pereira, Joanne Kalogeras and Patrizia Kokot for always finding the right words to say when I needed it; to Gwen Beetham for her support and for not letting the Pond divide us. Thank you also to Amy Hinterberger for her endless help. Outside the GI my warm thanks and gratitude are for those who helped me to keep calm and carry on. To Isabella, who shared with me this amazing journey of moving to London from la Fraschetta. To Benedetta and Sonia, who despite the distance, the different paths we took and the years that go by are always relentlessly at my side; to my parents, Giuseppe and Carla for their emotional support and for learning how to use Skype; to my brother for always making me laugh; to Ernesto for being with me and holding my hand. 4 Table of contents INTRODUCTION _____________________________________________________________________________ 7 THESIS STRUCTURE __________________________________________________________________________ 10 CHAPTER ONE. POLITICS, FAMILY, AND THE CHURCH IN ITALY ___________________ 13 THE REALM OF MORALITY AND THE REGULATION OF SEXUALITIES _____________________________ 15 The post-unification period ____________________________________________________________ 16 The Fascist Ventennio (1922-1943) ___________________________________________________ 18 THE DEFINITION OF THE FAMILY: THE POST-WAR PARTIES AND THE DESTABILISING FORCE OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS __________________________________________________________________________________ 21 THE DEFINITION OF THE FAMILY: THE RISE OF THE ‘INFLUENTIAL MINORITY’ __________________ 28 THE ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION BETWEEN NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ________ 32 THE REGULATION OF COHABITATION IN ITALY AND THE ERASURE OF THE SAME-SEX COUPLE ___ 35 Conclusion ______________________________________________________________________________ 38 CHAPTER TWO. ‘CULTURE WARS’ AND THE LEGAL RECOGNITION OF DE FACTO UNIONS: A SITE FOR ANALYSIS ___________________________________________________________________ 39 THE TRANSFORMATION OF INTIMACY: DE-TRADITIONALISATION IN ITALY _____________________ 40 ‘Queer tendencies’ in contemporary Italy _____________________________________________ 43 CITIZENSHIP AND NORMATIVITY _____________________________________________________________ 47 MORAL CONFLICTS AND CULTURE WAR _______________________________________________________ 49 Mutually constitutive positions ________________________________________________________ 50 MEDIA COVERAGE AND NEWS VALUES ________________________________________________________ 53 Hegemony and the limits of the debate _______________________________________________ 56 ITALIAN MEDIA AS THE SITE FOR INVESTIGATION _____________________________________________ 61 NEGOTIATING TENSIONS AROUND THE ITALIAN FAMILY _______________________________________ 64 CHAPTER THREE. ANALYSIS OF NEWS MEDIA TEXTS: METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES AND CONCERNS _____________________________________________________________________________________ 72 THE RELEVANCE OF A FOCUS ON MEDIA TEXTS ________________________________________________ 73 DEFINING THE FIELD OF INVESTIGATION _____________________________________________________ 76 ANALYSIS OF THE MEDIA COVERAGE __________________________________________________________ 79 CRITICAL DISCOURSE MOMENTS ______________________________________________________________ 80 A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS APPROACH TO THE TEXTS ____________________________________________ 83 REFLECTING ON LIMITATIONS: TRANSLATING THE TEXTS AND NARROWING THE FOCUS ________ 86 Conclusion ______________________________________________________________________________ 90 CHAPTER FOUR. UNSTABLE GOVERNMENT, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE RECOGNITION OF DE FACTO UNIONS: AN OVERVIEW _________________________________________ 92 THE LEGAL RECOGNITION OF DE FACTO UNIONS: A CHRONOLOGY OF THE MEDIA COVERAGE ____ 93 A SYSTEMATIC READING OF THE TEXTS _____________________________________________________ 103 The representation of the majority _________________________________________________ 105 The Catholic Church as influential actor ____________________________________________ 113 LGBT activists as the silenced minority _____________________________________________ 118 Conclusion ____________________________________________________________________________ 123 CHAPTER FIVE. (UN) REPRESENTABLE UNIONS: MEDIA AND THE SAME-SEX COUPLE ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 125 THE AIRING OF A TV FILM GENERATED REACTIONS _________________________________________ 129 STORIES… ‘THAT WILL MAKE PEOPLE TALK’ ________________________________________________ 137 A FATHER FROM THE SOUTH OF ITALY WHO DISCOVERS THAT HIS DAUGHTER IS A LESBIAN… _ 142 …‘AND SHE IS MARRIED TO ANOTHER WOMAN IN ZAPATERO’S SPAIN’ _______________________ 146 OVERLAPPING NARRATIVES: HOW THE FATHER DEFINES THE LIMITS OF THE ACCEPTABLE ___ 149 5 Conclusion ____________________________________________________________________________ 154 CHAPTER SIX. THE UNRECOGNISABLE VICTIM: REPORTS ON VIOLENCE AGAINST GAYS AND LESBIANS ______________________________________________________________________________ 156 PAOLA, ‘RAPED FOR BEING HOMOSEXUAL’ _________________________________________________ 163 ‘Raped for being homosexual’: hate crimes on la Repubblica ______________________ 164 Paola’s ‘double torment’: Corriere della Sera and the stranger myth _____________ 168 MATTEO ‘YOU’RE GAY’ AND HE KILLS HIMSELF ____________________________________________ 173 ‘A well-educated boy… maybe a shy one’ ___________________________________________ 174 ‘Jokes happen’: Who is accountable? ________________________________________________