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| Protest over the decision to decriminalize 10 seconds of sexual harassment: 'Who counts the seconds when harassment is happening' |
An Italian court has acquitted a man accused of sexually harassing a schoolgirl, saying the act lasted just 10 seconds.
Against this decision of the judge, there is a strong reaction from the youth on Italian social media.
This incident of sexual harassment happened with a 17-year-old schoolgirl in Rome, Italy.
According to the student, she was climbing the school stairs with her friend to attend class when she suddenly realized that someone had pulled down her pajama and pulled her underwear, and pinched her buttocks.
According to the student, "As soon as I looked back, the person behind me laughed and said, Hey! I was joking with you.
This incident took place last year in April 2022, after which the victim student filed a complaint with the police against the 66-year-old man Antonio Avola, who is a member of the school staff.
"I was just joking," Antonio admitted.
A public prosecutor in Rome requested that Antonio be sentenced to three and a half years in prison for the incident, but Antonio was acquitted of the charges this week.
"What happened cannot be called a crime because its duration was less than 10 seconds," the court said in its verdict.
The youth of Italy are expressing their anger against the court decision and the hashtag 10 seconds against it is also trending on social media.
In protest, young Italians have shared videos on TikTok and Instagram of themselves touching their genitals while silently looking at the camera for 10 seconds.
Watching these genital touching videos is painful and disgusting, but according to the youth, the aim of the protest is to show how painful even 10 seconds of sexual abuse can be.
In this unique protest, Italian actor and writer Paolo Camelli was the first to post his video, after which thousands of people followed suit and recorded their protest.
Francesco Chiconetti, an Italian influencer, wrote on Tik Tok 'Who can decide that 10 seconds is not too long?' Who counts the seconds when you are being harassed?'
He wrote that 'men do not have the right to touch women's bodies, let alone five or 10 seconds, they do not have this right even for one second.'
Francesco Cicconetti added that "the decision of the judges to acquit the accused shows how common and acceptable sexual harassment is in Italian society."
'It's no joke to me
The victim student told the newspaper Corriere della Sera that "the judges decided that he was joking, but it was not a joke for me."
He quietly followed me, he put his hand in my underwear under my pants. He grabbed my hips and pinched me and hurt my genitals. It is not a joke to me.
According to the student, 'does an old man like such a 'joke' with a young student. Those few seconds were too much to feel this man's unwanted touch on the hidden part of her body.
The student says that she is saddened by the double standards of her school and the justice system. "I think it was my mistake to trust the institutions, I was not treated fairly."
On the other hand, the fear is rising among the students that this decision may cause an obstacle in the way for girls and women to take their rights, and if they are also subjected to such attacks, they will not be able to get justice.
Recent data from the European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) show that between 2016 and 2021, 70 percent of Italian women who were victims of harassment did not report what happened to them.