17 years old, smiling and with a long future ahead. That of Zoe Trinchero is the latest name added to the dramatically long list of victims of femicide in Italy. The tragedy occurred in Nizza Monferrato, in the province of Astileaving a community in shock and reopening the debate on the urgency of structural interventions against gender violence.
The contours of the story are still being examined by the investigators, but a firm point was reached after hours of interrogation: Alex Manna, 20 years oldconfessed that he was the one who hit Zoe. The link between the two was indirect: Alex is the ex-boyfriend of Zoe’s best friend, Nicole. Those who knew them speak of a relationship without particular confidence; the boy, among other things, was already living with another young woman.
What is behind this story is yet to be clarified, but what is certain is that we cannot continue with this massacre. However, the dynamic seems to respond to a tragic script already written: that of rejection and control. In order to improve as a society we need to change, we can no longer limit ourselves to pointing the finger at the murderer of the moment but there must be radical changes, especially linked to consensus.
«Without the culture of consent, feminicides will continue. This is why as anti-violence centers we are opposing this government and the Bongiorno bill because without consent women and young women will continue to be killed and violated. Let’s react together by becoming indignant and understanding that we must and can arrive sooner. It is not true that we cannot do anything, we do not remain helpless, there is a lot to do, first of all not to pass the patriarchal and violent culture whereby a woman’s body must be thought of as accessible until she dissents. This is unacceptable. This is the control of women’s bodies and lives. Like for Zoe where her no is unthinkable for Alex. We must carry out prevention and awareness”, he says Elisa Ercoli, president of Differenza Donna.
«We are certain as women of the anti-violence centers that Alex – he adds, quoting his 20-year-old killer – had already carried out persecution against Zoe. Only investigations and findings will clarify this but the violence is an escalation and we women in the anti-violence centers know that there must be a history of violence already committed by Alex who killed because Zoe opposed it. This is why boys need to know what escalation is and the responsibility they have in relationships and girls, even very young ones, understand and know the escalation of violence, and recognize it even when it uses exclusively psychological violence such as intimidation, threats, persecution.” According to Ercoli «the objective is always the limitation of women’s freedom and self-determination but between this refusal and feminicide, there are always violent actions that must be stopped first. Without prevention and awareness there is no fight against femicides. Let us all together mobilize against the violent patriarchal culture and against the culture of rape. It is the culture of consensus that – he concludes – we must spread if we do not want other women, other very young women, to die at the hands of their peers and this is why we must mobilize against the Bongiorno bill”.
