Gruppo 5: Cisilino Francesca, Ferrari Davide, Ferrigno Manuel, Girardi Gioia, Grando Leonardo

THE ROUND TABLE

Ladies and gentlemen good evening, I am your Will Cox and I welcome you to the appointment at “The Round Table”. Tonight we will discuss a very serious issue and if I can afford it is a very sad issue. Sad because it is shameful that in a civilized society such as ours can happen even episodes like that, I'm talking about femicide and gender-based violence that is when one sex wants to prevail over other  often through violence . Topics deeply felt especially by women , who can no longer remain silent and suffer . Tonight we have some guests that will accompany us throughout all the duration of the episode . From left to right make a big (round of) applause for Henry J Taylor international writer good evening Henry.

 H:"hello Will and good evening to the public"

Then we have Catherine Evans, make a nice round of applause

C:" Good evening everybody"

after we have Bob Esposito , hello Bob

B:" good evening "

and last but not least make a big round of applause for Sandra Mitchell

S:" good evening to everybody. "

You know the topic and I'll start right away , giving the word to Henry J. Taylor, who also will explain us how the conception of love has changed between the sexes from the Middle Ages to nowadays. Please Mr. Taylor.

Good evening to all. I would like to thank you, Will, for the invitation and I hope that my considerations will help to understand better the reasons of domestic violence. Today’s argument is of maximum importance. I would like to start expressing my opinion speaking about how femicide comes from a male chauvinist mentality born in the past. Indeed, since old times man was considered superior to woman by nature, since he was able to hunt and fight. Except for the prehistoric era, when the Goddess Venus was worshipped, women were destined to stay home and look after their children. In Roman times, for example, woman had no rights and gender distinction was ruled by law. Moreover woman’s importance was established according to her husband. Marriage was an agreement between two families that rarely gave importance to the bride’s needs or requests. 

Women’s role in society was therefore only to guarantee procreation, which was a role of secondary importance. Moreover, women were also considered as an object for sexual pleasure. However, sexual pleasure could not distract the Greek citizen or the Roman soldier from his duties, but it was only a personal pleasure that man obtained using woman as an object. This means that in the classical times woman had no role in society.

Even in the Middle Ages, woman’s consideration was again influenced by a male chauvinist mentality. Although she has no visibility in society, she has an important role: she permitted the continuity of the descent and of the family’s property. But women didn’t take part in social life and she usually stayed at home to take care of her house and her children. She was legally represented by her brother or her husband. So her only social role was established inside the family.

One could stop now just to notice that the difference between males and females occurred in the past. One must ask oneself how this difference can influence the fact that more and more women are victims of male abuse. Apparently the emancipation of women today is a reality. The causes of violence on women should not therefore regard the difference between genders but can derive from poverty, criminality or extreme prejudices. However this is not always true. I believe that some men, that no longer feel in a superior position over women, resort to violence in order to win back their feeling superiority. Domestic violence is among one of the most frequent causes of abuse on women. Indeed, the causes that lead to such behavior could be the end of a relationship, the birth of a child or the arrival of another man on the scene. For this reasons husband and partners, who believe that man is superior, totally lose control. It is a paradox, it isn’t? Men who want to have the control try to obtain it losing their control.

But I’m neither an historian nor a sociologist. I am only a writer. All this data and considerations were obtained while reading many articles on the study of violence on women to write my latest novel, “Lisa Richman”.  I usually write about love stories, but this time I wanted to write about domestic violence in that I think it is a topic of major importance as well as being contemporary. In this book I tell the story of a series of intertwining relationships: the main characters are Lisa Richman, a young middle class girl who suffered domestic violence, Diana Ford, a successful lawyer who was assigned the case of Lisa and Tom Russell, Lisa’s boyfriend. In the novel I try to delve into the feelings and reactions of the victim and the perpetrator as well as the reasons that brings the victim to remain silent for a long time. I also reflect on the thought of the lawyer who has to deal with the case even outside the courtroom, thereby creating a stronger relationship with the victim. “Lisa Richman” is based on a true story about a girl I met when, doing my research, I read an article about a case of domestic violence. Her family gave me the permission to write about her. I wanted to write this book because I hope it could help to reflect about the violence on woman. I also wanted to testify that domestic violence is a problem that effects us all.

The main theme of my novel is the inversion of roles between man and woman in which the mas considers himself to be superior. This is the main cause of femicide. With my contribution I intend to confirm this idea of mine. Indeed in the past, the man-woman hierarchy always existed in the ancient way of thinking. However it was not always considered invertible. The Middle Ages are an example of this: both the Church and the aristocracy created the cult of two different types of women, the Virgin and the mistress, Only these two kinds of women were superior to men. Besides the virgin who is obviously venerates by the Church and by the believers, the aristocratic lady becomes the loved one, the owner of the heart. So what is interesting referred to today’s argument is that there was the born of the courtly literature, in which the lover/writer has prepared to become the lady’s vassal. This poetic particularity, from which the language of love derived, that I used also today in writing my novels, brought about a situation where the man-woman hierarchy changed. The person that moreover represented this type of lyric poetry is Francesco Petrarca, who glorified the woman elevating her to an angelic figure, despite the fact he also considered her earthly value. Indeed, in his sonnets Petrarca emphasized the divine beauty of his women and her effects on himself, elevating the woman in a superior level in respect to men. In other sonnets, however, the author reflected on the time-passing, giving to woman her human characteristics.

Petrarca’s concept were then taken up by Shakespeare, the greatest English author, who gave the woman a human nature, the same of the man’s nature, placing the two genders at the same level. Shakespeare in fact revolutionized the idea of the dominant man, but also of the angelic woman, thus giving importance to equality between man and woman, despite the belief that man was superior to the woman by nature. His lady, indeed, hadn’t any divine beauty or spectacular characteristics, but she was beloved for her rarity. I think Shakespeare’s considerations are very current: femicide testimonies that maybe not all the man think women equal to themselves, it isn’t?

Getting back to today we realized that our society is certainly chauvinist and based on material, social and economic power. The male figure is usually associated to the afore mentioned. It is this power which wrongly promotes equality giving the world of the women the chance to overthrow this belief.  Saying that, I stop myself to permit to someone else to speak about this argument.

And after the great speech of Mr. Taylor we give the floor to Catherine Evans, who will tell us about his sad love story not ended in the best way, is not it Catherine?.

Yes, you’re right. Thinking about what Mr. Henry J Taylor has already said I would like to talk about my experience about love. I got married just eight months ago, I was totally in love, he hadn’t got a job, but there were no problems for me,  two people who are in love try to help each other; I was paying all the accounts, I was getting dressed him.
After only one month of marriage I realized that something was wrong, he was quiet, fierce, absent. I asked him to explain, but he just said he was worried about the work that doesn’t engage . Then I through a difficult period at work, I left the job and I took antidepressants, I had to face my crisis alone , because his attitude did not change. After two months I put it close to me and he told me that he’s in crisis, that maybe we got married with lightness, that he feels a little in trap. Of course my crisis worsens, but I try to help him in all ways. I’m very strong and I raised up by my own, I found a new job, but at this moment I stopped concentrating on his existential crisis and I was suspicious, I started checking. And what have I found? He had the lover from two months before the wedding! He married me and he had already the lover, did you understand? Found out that he had lied to me on the altar was devastating. He didn’t want to go away, even then I tried to throw him out of the house in all ways. He had swear to me that he was repentant and all the usual nonsense that men say when they are being found out. Oh sure, a little girl of 21 years can not give to him what I do, no? I tried to see the good, to try to believe him, but I know that doubt will never leave me, never.

Men and women are equal, I'm not saying that women don’t cheat , I just say that men often cheat because they feel superior to women. Love in our days can’t be regarded as what it once was , as he said Henry J Taylor; men say they love you, they say you're all their world and then they betray you without a second thought, they don’t put more you on a pedestal, they think they are the best but they are not.

 

Make again a big round of applause for Catherine Evans. Now I would give the word to Bob Esposito that I see him pawing on his chair. Please Bob.

Thanks Will. I do not agree with what was said by Henry J Taylor and Chatrine Evans. The woman as a woman to be considered inferior to men , obviously intended as male. In recent years she has been struggling to get something that does not belong , the right to vote , the possibility of joining the world of politics and be able to cover public works as secretaries or used state . This is unacceptable in fact the man are only able to cover these charges and to carry out certain tasks. Man are only able to cover this function becausemen are the stronger sex in society.

In fact, since the night of time God created man , Adam. Only later God decided to create woman because Adam had to have someone with he can talking. Moreover God creates Eve from the rib of Adam himself . By this, we should understand the clear superiority of man, not only by nature but also decided by the will of God

In addition, the woman is the bearer of all evil , just think always the mythology of Adam and Eve. They  were expelled from Eden for eating the fruit of the forbidden tree . All this would not have happened if the female gender had not made ​​its appearance in our world. In fact Eve, tempted by the devil, bit the forbidden apple and triggering the wrath of the Lord. Adam paid the action of Eve with a mortal body e with the expulsion of Eden. This is the woman’s fault that she was infuriated God.

In addition, another witness to the superiority of man is given by history. Since ancient times , by the Sumerians until the time of the Renaissance, the woman had no role in the civic life of society. Thinking of the time of Greeks and Romans the woman had no right to vote nor could they participate in political and social life of civilization. The only job they had was to clean house and educate their children up to a certain age, then the males were educated by their fathers while daughters were educated by their mothers . In addition, the men had to provide food through hunting and farming , as well as to defend their territories from enemy incursions . Compared to the task of women the man's job is much harder and more complicated, but then rightly so! You have to let things more difficult for people who are able and reliable rather than derail everything because the female deals with matters of the utmost importance.

For more further proof that sex is stronger than the male is given to us from the literature. In fact, the greatest poets and novelists were almost exclusively male! Women have never written novels or poems so beautiful or complicated as men! Moreover, even if the women come to me to say that poets write poems in honor of the women, I do not find anything wrong. The man must fall in love. Is a normal thing! Poets praise women, but in their lyrics or poems never say that women should replace the role of the man , because it would be impossible . Moreover the nature has made that man has their own tasks to be performed while the woman hers. It's also decided by our Lord who created man physically superior to women. Therefore men are  able to carry out physical activities. Instead woman have a body more beautiful that man but it is delicate. Therefore women can not carry out the activities that have always been made ​​by man. This attempt to change the hierarchies in the field does not bring anything good to the society.

In fact, in our contemporary times the killing of women and adolescents, not to mention the rapes are justifiably increased. Do not get me wrong. I do not want to be considered neither a fool nor a murderess , much less a racist because I believe that men are superior to women. I'm not a misogynist and I do not consider me a male chauvinist! I simply considerations that from my point of view are sacrosanct . In fact girls are victim of rapes, violence and murders. Nowadays almost girls dress side skirts, heels so high that look like stilts, with low-cut shirts as to show her tits, so much short shorts and pulled down as to see the thong or g-string wearing if it was wearing it , suspenders and leggings so tight so as to leave it all! In this way they dress the girls here today want to be notice by men, and in fact they are victim of rapes and sometimes they were killed. This is what happens unjustly , since even if they are of the idea that women should stay , I am convinced that life , as it is a gift of the Lord, which is sacred is the life of a man or a woman. But have I not right in saying that if these obscenity and crimes against women can be at least reduce if not eliminate , but if women are not dressed like bitch? In ancient times, women who dressed as prostitutes were real prostitutes. Not like today who pretend to be prostitutes, and after pulling pack!

Life should come back like that not too long ago ! The man was working came home and found his wife and children present to welcome him ! But times have changed! Women want to have the same rights as men , and I repeat rights which by their nature are granted only to men. Have you won your rights and these are the results ! Better go back to the past. At least men were safe that their wife had not betrayed. Instead today you do not safe even this! Media want to pass the massage that males as monsters but the real snakes are women!

I see that the public and some guests do not really agree on what was said by Bob Esposito. Now I would give the word to Sandra Mitchell.

 

It's been exactly one year from the damn morning of rain and blood. It is time to remember... I seek justice form my daughter’s murder and other girls and woman victims of femminicide. I can’t realize that my daughter is dead, a young girl of 15 years old. She was killed after a quarrel with her boyfriend of 17 years old. Anna was the kind of young woman who people quickly warmed to.

Outgoing and friendly, she made friends wherever she went and had an endearing quality to her.  Everybody treated her like she was their daughter or sister.

 

She made a fatal mistake last Friday night when she told a 17-year-old suitor that she did not want to have sex with him. They had wandered off into a forest to do what teens do best—explore the oft-frustrated intrigue of young love. They kissed and cuddled, but when Anna resisted intercourse, her not-quite-boyfriend admitted that he lost his head and pulled out his knife. He stabbed my daughter —whom he had wanted to make love to only moments earlier—more than 20 times in her chest, abdomen and back. The ashes from what was left of her singed corpse were found the next morning. When the boy was arrested, he reportedly confessed to the horrible crime.

It’s time to stop the violence. Everyone loved her, except one, and she is also a victim of what is wrong with this society.

Anna is is the youngest known victim of femicide in England, a moribund crime category also referred to as intimate partner or intimate personal violence that has reached epidemic proportions in recent years. In 2013, 127 women were murdered by men they loved—by husbands, boyfriends and sons. Chillingly, 47 women escaped death last year but were so brutally beaten, their cases are tagged as attempted femicides by the authorities that tally such gruesome statistics. The women who lived are scarred for life, both physically and psychologically.

 Often the violence only comes to light because the victim dies or because it is so brutal the woman needs medical care. But, in part due to lack of community or family support, the abused women almost always go back to the abuser, which gives him even more power, enabling his sadistic belief that it is his right to beat his woman. What that means in practical terms is that mothers, grandmothers, daughters and girlfriends turn a blind eye to what is actually a lethal crime and not just a family matter.

Violence exists in every culture, but I have been shocked at the scale of femicide in England. Nobady can undertand why.

There must be a connection between those simpering girls in bikinis who open TV shows, and violence.

Anna will not be the last victim of violence this year in Italy. But her death may be the most important if it spurs a movement among a generation of young women whose lives are all at stake if attitudes don’t change soon.

I don’t understand why can we say that a woman is killed for the simplistic reason that she is a woman? Women do not know equality, as many are considered less valuable than men. Violence against women is institutionalized through family structures, social and economic frameworks, and cultural and religious traditions. As it is institutionalized, many people do not recognize that violence against women is in fact a crime. Such leads to impunity. This is why it becomes difficult for some women to recognize that there is in fact something wrong with the way others treat them. Femicides are not isolated incidents arising suddenly or unexpectedly. Instead, they can be thought of as the ultimate act of violence, experienced as part of a broader continuum of violence and discrimination. In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in the rates of killings of women. Honour crimes are usually committed by male family members as a means of controlling the woman. Honour-related crimes often go unreported, are rarely investigated, and usually go unpunished.

 

Tackling femicide is extremely difficult, especially when one considers how gender

discrimination and violence against women are so embedded within our social,

cultural and economic structures.

Responses to femicide must be comprehensive and involve strong legislation, gender sensitive law enforcement policies and protocols, support for individuals and families experiencing violence and educating men and boys, girl and woman.

States should consider the range in forms of violence suffered by women and the

different types of discrimination that they encounter, in order to adopt multifaceted

strategies to effectively prevent and combat such violence.

States have a due diligence obligation to protect women and to prevent femicides.

They must be held accountable if they do not take appropriate action against such

‎We must help womans!

 

I think that the words spoken by Sandra comment out alone so I don’t add anything else, and with his last bold statement I would conclude the program and I giving you an appointment for next week still here with “The Round Table”. Good night.