Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s partner sparked a controversy after he suggested that women could avoid rape by not getting too drunk.
Speaking for his show on the right-leaning channel Rete 4 after recent high-profile gang rape cases near Naples and in Palermo, Andrea Giambruno said, “If you go dancing you are fully entitled to get drunk… but if you avoid getting drunk and losing consciousness, perhaps you’d also avoid getting into trouble, because then you’ll find the wolf.”
Further, during the show, Giambruno also agreed with the editor of the rightwing Libero newspaper, Pietro Senaldi, who said, “If you want to avoid rape, above all don’t lose consciousness, keep your wits about you.”
Both, Giambruno and Senaldi voiced condemnation of the rapists, whom they described as “wolves”.
However, their comments caused a storm on social media, with posters accusing Giambruno of blaming the victim.
Meanwhile, opposition parties called on Giorgia Meloni to distance herself from the comments made by her partner.
Slamming the comments, the country’s opposition, the Five Star Movement party (M5S), in a statement said, “Giambruno’s words are unacceptable and shameful” and “they represent a male-dominated and retrograde culture”, The Guardian reported.
Defending his statement, Andrea Giambruno said, “If I had said something wrong, I would have apologised, but that’s not the case and there will never be a day when a politician tells me what to say.”
“I said rape is an abominable act. I took the liberty of telling young people not to go out on purpose to get drunk and do drugs. I advised them to be careful because, unfortunately, the bad guys are always out there. I never said that men are entitled to rape drunk women,” he said.
www.indiatoday.in
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