A massive contempt was triggered in Italy after a pornographic website has published tank images of a group of eminent women in the country, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Meloni’s sister Arianna was also one of the targeted women. The photos were shared with vulgar and sexist legends and were suspected of having been harvested from personal social media accounts or public sources before being modified and published on the Italian PHICA platform. The website has more than 700,000 subscribers.
Images of women politicians from all parties of the parties had been taken during gatherings or television interviews or while women were in their Bikinis on vacation. They had been modified to zoom in on the parts of the body or suggest sexual poses. They were found in the “VIP section” of the website.
The scandal came a week after Meta closed an Italian Facebook account called Mia Moglie (my wife), where men exchanged intimate photos of their wives or unknown women.
The name Phica is a game poorly spelled on a word of slang in Italian which means vagina. The website was launched in Italy in 2005 and seemed to have operated without hindrance until several politicians from the Democratic Party of Center-Gauche (PD) announced that they had submitted a legal complaint. Police are investigating now.
Other high-level women whose images were used on the site were: Paola Cortellesi, actor and director of an Italian box office on domestic violence, it is Ancora Domani (there is still tomorrow), and Chiara Ferragni, an influencer.
Valeria Campagna, a PD politician, was among the first to file an official complaint on the issue. She posted on Facebook saying that she was “disgusted, angry and disappointed” and “could not remain silent” after discovering that her photos had been published on the site without her consent.
“Not only photos in a swimsuit, but moments of my public and private life,” she wrote, adding: “Under them, there were sexist, vulgar and violent comments. I cannot remain silent because this story is not only about me. It is all of us. It is our right to be free, respected and to live without fear.”
