And now be careful that the old conquests become new defeats. May the tape rewind backwards, may “making love be only for childbearing”, may acquired rights end up crumbling, may years of battles be forgotten. To open up to the possible scenario of the here and now Lydia Ravera, journalist, author, screenwriter, who has embraced many battles, all in support of women, of life at every stage. She was the last protagonist of the festival “Even and odd” (Wednesday 23 November at the Lo Spazio library in Pistoia), in a dialogue between generations which saw the presence of Christine Priviteraeditor-in-chief of La Nazione di Firenze and of Letizia Cinijournalist and manager of Luce!. A “subversion” began in the 70s with the publication of book-manifesto of a generation,”Pigs with wings“, censored and therefore withdrawn from the market and yet survived the slaps of public morality with all its strength, so much so that it became longseller: circulated in pirated editions, then re-released on the market finally counting millions of copies sold. A “delicious little love story” she defines today, whose events, however, recalling them today cause her a certain unease.
What pained you most at the time?
“Being attacked, crushed by my points of reference, the intellectuals of the left. By the time the book was withdrawn, it had already sold 160,000 copies. They shot at success. At the time, success was a disvalue. Then, between clandestine editions and the legal recirculation, sales lasted 47 years. Me dirty and crafty? They had to change their mind: I wrote 32 other novels and over the years I learned to write”.
From the censorship of “Pigs with wings” to today. Has any progress in between happened?
“Steps forward have been made. But now we are taking steps backwards. This is when a deputy offers a bonus of 20 thousand euros to those who get married in church. And if this right will remain in government as I believe it will, we will take even more steps backwards. The common sense of decency of those years is gone today, see the existence of Tinder and YouPorn. As for me, I’ve never changed my mind. I continue to be a leftist, a feminist. And I hope that women keep a watchful eye on this backsliding. Or every conquest will be dismantled.”
Who are those that you define as “men”?
“Those who imitate men to make a career. I dream of a masculine and a feminine universal, equivalent, of equal weight in diversity. I want a feminist woman who comes to government driven by other women who she has understood and consoled, starting with herself. Don’t let yourself be called ‘the president’”.
Women’s quotas, in politics or at work: right or wrong?
“I think of them as a passing phase. Let’s start by imposing a female quota, so women will have room to exercise their intelligence.
How interested are the new generations of women in the feminist question?
“It interests, obviously with the modern sensibility. A little more distracted perhaps, a little more tied to images than to books. Reality and languages change. And just as the language of ‘Pigs with wings’ was a bomb at the time, so I am waiting for new bombs”.
Today her writing focuses on what she calls third time.
“The over 60s represent a third of the Italian population. One third. We are the ones from which society should restart. We who have no model to imitate, we must invent that model. I write about this in my new book-requisition published by Einaudi and due out in February, ‘Age pride’”.
Third time is also the name of the series of books she directs, dedicated to the love of the ‘no longer young’ published by HarperCollins and Harmony.
“The idea was born because the protagonists of love stories are always young people, as if someone beyond a certain age could no longer love, seduce, have sex. It was necessary to intervene on the collective imagination and tell stories with protagonists of different ages, to legitimize those who go through this stage of life to experience love stories without feeling ridiculous, false. They are stories of romanticism of the realistic type. We laugh a lot, we identify with each other, we mirror each other”.
What is the public response?
“The public of bookstores responds well, that of newsstands and therefore of Harmony struggles. They still want to dream big, while I think a 65-year-old should be happy being who she is. Naturally the body changes, there is more of the past and less of the future, but if a woman wants to love there are no particular impediments. In short, mine is an invitation for women to be subjects and not objects of desire”.