Every time that a man kills a woman, there is someone who wonders: but these femicides (which once were not even called that) is it not that they have always been there but they were not talked about? Aren’t we creating a more media phenomenon than anything else? The answer is: no, we are not creating a media phenomenon, and of femicides there will always have been, but not like today. In fact, practically every day (or almost) one is registered. The day before yesterday a man, near Vicenza, even killed two of them. First his current partner (who wanted to leave him) then his ex, who had left him long ago
But it is not just statistics that make us understand that the phenomenon is recent (by recent meaning the last decades). It is the motive that makes us understand why there are many more femicides now than before. Once upon a time, in fact, it was more women who killed their comrades. And why did they do it? In a book by Cinzia Tani, “The last executioner” (Vallecchi) tells the story of Albert Pierrepoint, the most famous (and effective) English “executioner”. Who decided to change jobs after hanging a woman who had killed her husband. And why had she killed him? Because he had long beaten her, betrayed her, mistreated her, kicked her in the belly even when she was pregnant with her. The motive was therefore anger, resentment, some might even say an almost legitimate defense. Women killed for it. Men maybe killed when they felt betrayed, and they did it serenely, because the honor killing legislation allowed them to get by with little or nothing. But it was rare for a man to kill a woman: and do you know why? Because he didn’t need it. The woman was still under the thumb, his property, free of rights. The man could do with her what he wanted.
Everything has changed since the woman acquired rights and freedoms. Since when, if he wants to break up a relationship, he can do it. Even if she is married, because there is a divorce, and because women work today, and they can be financially independent. This is what many males do not accept: the fact that they are no longer masters as they have been for centuries. It’s not even a sense of ownership: it’s a sense of ownership, which means so much more. It is clear that only the violent can kill; it is clear that not all males are like that. But there are many who kill.