Sapri. There is a long-distance controversy over the new statue of the gleaner of Sapri: the women of the Democratic Party of Palermo are asking for its removal because it is 'sexist' and 'miseducational'. The sculptor Stifano who created it adds fuel to the fire: 'I would have made her naked'.
The statue was inaugurated yesterday during a ceremony attended by former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, during his electoral tour in Campania for the M5S. And the Palermo Democratic Party women also lash out against the coalition ally.
“We feel the duty to take a clear and categorical stand for the demolition of this misleading and uneducational statue that trivializes women and nullifies every rally in favor of gender equality shouted from the political seats of every institution”. The Democratic Women of the Democratic Party of Palermo said, explaining: “Once again we are asked to suffer the humiliation of seeing ourselves represented in the form of a sexualized body, devoid of soul and connection to social and political issues in the face of a history that is completely different: the figure of the Gleaner of Sapri, conceived and poeticized by Mercantini, is reduced in Sapri to a stereotype that tells us nothing about the anti-Bourbon revolution and that tells us nothing about the self-determination of a woman who chooses not to go to work to stand against the oppressor”.
A woman who therefore "becomes the very symbol of self-determination, of the connection with social and political issues and above all of the female presence in the historical events of our country". Once again, however, "we find ourselves coexisting with an antiquated and deeply sexist representation of a female figure and taking note of how a municipal council, moreover in the presence of former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, manages to ignore the social and political elaborations that for several years now have been put on the table to change the perception of women as sexual objects with the aim and with a view to undermining that patriarchal culture which is nothing other than the root of every form of inequality and gender violence".
For the Democratic Women of the Democratic Party of Palermo, "once again the opportunity to reverse the trend, to send a positive signal and to demonstrate that politics is not disconnected from the elaborations as repeatedly accused by associations and collectives has been lost".
The artist, Emanuele Stifano, who created it, responds on Facebook to the heated debate that has broken out on social media over the new statue depicting the 'Spigolatrice' inaugurated in the province of Salerno, in the presence of local authorities and the leader of the 5 Star Movement, and it's like throwing alcohol on the fire. "If it had been up to me - he writes on Facebook - I would have made a completely naked figure, the same goes for the Palinuro from a few years ago and for the statues that I will make in the future, simply because I am a lover of the human body in general and I like working on it. However, I think it is useless to give explanations to those who absolutely want to see depravity or various things in it".
According to detractors, this is a sexist version of the field worker, assigned to gleaning, at the center of the poem by Luigi Mercantini dedicated to the failed attempt at an anti-Bourbon insurrection in Cilento. In particular, the skimpy and transparent dress that allows a glimpse of the 'Gleaner's' curves stands out.
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