Description
Knowing the sexuality of the mafias means having a privileged lens to discover their weak points, to identify their fragilities where they consider themselves not only invulnerable but also supported and backed by a society that still belittles and denies violence against women. Celeste Costantino is certain of this, as she has been dealing with gender violence for years and has created a thoroughly documented essay on the relationship between patriarchal culture and the mafia. A narrative of lives, a manifesto of the brutality of the mafias, of the anachronistic defense of supposed values that have nothing to do with honor and respect, with the protection and maintenance of family and cultural traditions, but speak much more of coercion, harassment, pedophilia, and sexual exploitation. The adolescent abused for three years by the gang from Melito di Porto Salvo and the “she asked for it” that still resonates through the streets of the town; the two minors from Seminara forced into silence even by their families after suffering for over a year rapes and abuses by a group of young scions of the ’ndrangheta and local powers; or the young woman from Oppido Mamertina, whipped by her aunt for reporting the gang rape she had suffered when she was just fourteen. The names of these women, their stories made public – whenever possible – undermine the credibility of the mafias, tarnish their narrative. For this reason, for the mafias, they become stories to silence, if possible to remove from collective memory. Through in-depth analysis and touching testimonies, the book highlights the falsehood of the mafia myth of protecting the weak and reveals how, on the contrary, no one is truly safe from the destructive force of these criminal organizations. The stories and events recounted by Celeste Costantino help dismantle old clichés and provide a more complex understanding of the extent of mafia violence.
