Column from Italy: The premier's scandal undermines her fight for the Italian family model
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Photo AFP, Andreas Solaro
Christian Life
While the world is shaken by a new war, Italy has experienced a minor political earthquake related to gossip.
As the gossip concerns Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her partner, TV journalist Andrea Giambruno, the issue has taken on national significance. It prompted reflection on the concept of family promoted by our country's ruling class.
The television programme "Striscia la Notizia", which has been a satirical news programme on Italian television for 30 years, broadcasted voice recordings of the journalist. The remarks were made during breaks in her television programme "Diary of the Day".
In these recordings, Andrea Giambruno could be heard making doubtful statements. He behaved inappropriately towards female colleagues, made strong and totally improper sexual references, bragged about repeatedly cheating on his partner and talked about his trysts with female colleagues.
Throughout, the journalist was boastful and confident, laughing and taking pleasure in being a true 'macho man'. These recordings revealed a man who was full of himself, vain, narcissistic and convinced that his "performance" made him appear likeable and appealing.
Post
These audios, broadcast on national television at peak times, provoked a very strong reaction from the entire population. At 8.30 a.m. on Friday, 20 October, a few hours after the compromising footage was broadcast, the Prime Minister of the Italian Republic, like any influencer, published a post on her social media announcing that her relationship with her partner was over. She thanked him for the years they had spent together and for "the gift of their daughter" and made it clear that she would not be weakened politically by these events.
Naturally, all the media jumped on the story, and the comments were endless. There was talk of machismo, of Giambruno's possible criminal responsibility for using his position of power to harass women in his work environment, of the strength of a woman who took control of her own life in leaving her toxic partner, and of the communication of politicians, which is increasingly like that of celebrities who unreservedly expose their private lives.
Scandals
Politically, queer movements immediately lined up to declare that the "traditional family" model promoted by the right-wing, of which Meloni is one of the main leaders, is bankrupt and must be abolished.
Indeed, Meloni, her party and the right-wing coalition parties have used rhetoric to promote the traditional family continuously over the years.
They have used marriage, procreation and childcare as a mantra in their rallies, but they have failed to hide what they really believe. Most of them have had marriages that have ended in divorce, and others have ended up in various sex scandals. Others, like Meloni, never married. The Prime Minister, in fact, lived with her partner, and they had a daughter together without going through marriage. This fact highlighted that even in the country's ruling class, there are models of masculinity and femininity that are very toxic and certainly far from the Biblical model of the family.
Masculinity
There are men in positions of power who abuse their masculinity, who do not consider faithfulness a value, and who see women as objects to show their "power" rather than to exercise wise leadership.
In parallel, there are women who, in order to show that they are strong and autonomous, reject marriage, which they see as a cage for their determination, who experience motherhood as a personal achievement without being tied to stable relationships, and who can throw away decades of relationships for a single job in order not to appear weak.
Responsibility
This pattern exists at every level of society, and it is no coincidence that statistics show fewer and fewer marriages being celebrated each year and a shockingly low birth rate.
Families are disappearing in a sea of desperate individualism, where the rule is to never take responsibility and to think as long as possible about one's own amusement.
Italy does not need politicians who only talk about the traditional family; Italy needs men and women who know what a family is according to the Biblical model and who are ready to take serious responsibility first for their families and then for the country.
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