If not at school, where?
To fight gender-based violence, let's start with prevention.
Today, words are no longer enough, nor are written laws enough to make headlines. The new bill against femicide is yet another symbolic gesture of a political system that chooses the shortcut of criminal justice rather than investing in prevention, culture, services, and education. It's not with new life sentences that we can escape gender-based violence: it's with funded shelters, with emotional education in schools, with programs of economic and psychological freedom. Femicide isn't a sudden outburst; it's the latest act of systemic violence, born of inequality and patriarchy. Educating the younger generations about consent and affection is crucial for a fair and equal cultural shift. And while there's talk of punishment, the government is cutting funding to anti-violence centers and censoring sexual education in schools.
The Valditara bill aims to ban sex education in schools and require family consent for educational content, thus transforming schools into places where gender-based violence and other forms of discrimination are not prevented.
The League's amendment to the Valditara decree (now withdrawn due to grassroots protests) has fueled a climate of fear and hostility in schools toward sexuality and affective education programs.
This has no other name than censorship, useful for keeping a people in ignorance and perpetuating the climate of hatred that arises from fear of others.
Because a school that speaks of respect, differences, identities, bodies, and desires is a school that liberates.
And freedom scares those who want control and obedience.
We, transfeminist and queer activists, will continue to be there, inside and outside of schools.
Alongside those who teach and those who grow, we help create safe, informed, and welcoming spaces together.
Because violence doesn't stop with handcuffs.
It stops with culture, with education, with love free from roles and hierarchies.
It stops when every child can grow up knowing that their body and their identity are valuable, always.
