The Vatican Pontifical Council of Culture is holding a plenary this week on “Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference”. Unfortunately, in its first step on the project the Vatican tripped and fell flat on its face.
They issued a video calling for contributions from women starring an Italian TV actress, Nancy Brilli, who looked like she had just stepped out of the hairdresser with neat goldilocks curls, false eyelashes, big silicone slips and prominent bust. In a seductive voice she asks women if they have asked themselves “Who are you?” “What do you do? How do you feel about being a woman?”
The English language version of the video – when released last December—caused such an outpouring of criticism that the Pontifical Council pulled it off their website. (You can still find it on-line using the hashtag #lifeofwomen) The comments on YouTube and twitter were devastating.
Interestingly, Italians did not seem to be bothered by the video, and the Italian version remained on the Vatican’s website. I asked my Italian husband about this and he did not see what the big deal was, neither did many of my Italian male colleagues. After years of living in the Bunga bunga culture of Silvio Berlusconi, perhaps Italians have become inured. I asked a British colleague about it and she said the video was “porntastic”.
Aside from the initial blunder, the idea behind the Plenary is a good one. They say they want to “understand the feminine specificity in considering themes such as function, role, dignity, equality, identity, liberty, violence, economy, politics, power, autonomy etc.
Their working document discusses eating disorders and dysmorphophobia, the debasement of women in advertising, feminicide and domestic violence. The document said “plastic surgery is like a burqa made of flesh.”
In defense of actress Nancy Brilli, she was at the press conference and openly defended some kinds of plastic surgery, noting that her husband is a plastic surgeon. She said that there is no damage in a woman having plastic surgery if it makes her feel better about herself, however “If it is a case of becoming that ideal that society desires of a woman…In that sense it should be defined as a burka.”
On plastic surgery, Cardinal Ravasi pointed out “In the US the exponential growth of plastic surgery to fit into an extrinsic model is tremendous—the 18-year-old who asks for new breasts as a birthday present has become the norm.”
The Vatican working document asks: “What spaces are proposed to women in the life of the church?” and “What ways can women play a more active part in the life of the church?”
Good questions, but the paper excludes some obvious answers. The paper says: “There is no discussion here of women priests, which according to statistics is not something women what.”
Who said so? What statistics? I asked at the press conference at the Vatican today and did not get a clear answer. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi – the Vatican’s equivalent of a Minister of Culture, a brilliant man who speaks a plethora of languages (Italian, English, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic to name a few) pointed out that at the the last supper Mary was the most important person in the room after Jesus. I guess the point being that you don’t have to sit at the table to have the power.
Gosh, I didn’t even know Mary had been there (help blog readers, does anyone know what Mary was doing during the last supper? And should women sit at the table or not? The board room table, the Oval Office desk, the kitchen table? Is it better to let the men sit and hover nearby but have more soft power?)
The document also says, “feminine voices of good sense are not thinking of or wanting to tear away the jobs and positions from men, turning on its head the relation of power between the sexes, nor, do they wish to wear a purple berretta…”
Hey, wait a minute. Who said so? I think it might be kind of neat to wear a purple berretta (that’s the bishop’s hat for formal occasions), even better a red berretta. I think it would be really cool to take part in a Conclave and vote for a Pope.
Ok, that may be pushing it a bit too far, but the point is that sometimes the Vatican – with its all male hierarchy misses the obvious.
The Vatican does need to reach beyond Italy and listen to Catholic women around the globe. I wasn’t on the Papal trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, so I was not on the plane when the Pope said that he supports the Catholic church’s longstanding ban on the use of contraception but that there are plenty of other ways to “regulate childbirth” and that Catholics don’t have to breed “like rabbits”.
Well, it occurred to me that perhaps the Pope—and I do not mean to be disrespectful here- has not spoken to many young Catholic mothers about this rabbit business.
As a mother of three, I can say maybe the old “I have a headache, honey” worked back in the 1950s, but in 2015, after a long day at work and dealing with kids, if a young Catholic mother (who follows the church ban on birth control) finds her husband happily jumping into bed like a fluffy bunny ready to go, what is she supposed to say, “Sweetie, no bunny humping tonight, Pope Francis says we can’t do that rabbit breeding stuff!”
That said, the conference the Vatican is holding this week will have a lot of women involved – Monica Maggioni the Director of the 24 News Channel RAI News 24, Sister Mary Melone, Rector of the Pontifical University Antonianum, Micol Forti, Director of the Contempoary Art Collection at the Vatican Museums—professors, scholars, psychologists and ambassadors.
I hope they make their voices heard loud and clear. The Vatican tripped, but they’ve gotten up and and are opening the door a crack.
The very definition of perspective means that a man cannot outline a woman’s perspective.
Your are right. Interestingly they had a committee of Italian women who were behind both the working document and the video–which makes it more discouraging.
Did you ask any Italian women what they thought of the video? Sadly, I’d guess most American men, like Italian men, wouldn’t see any issue, but I’d think women’s thoughts on it would be more interesting.
When I showed it to Italian women they laughed and thought it was ridiculous but were not as shocked or offended as non-Italian women. As far as American men are concerned there were some pretty rated X comments on the internet suggesting they saw her just as a sex object and nothing more.
Hello fellow mama of three :) I must confess, just about everything the Vatican produces these days is annoying to me. That said, I didn’t find this video to be offensive in any way. Italians are fixated on beauty. This goes for men and women. I used to be stunned at the fact that whenever I went to the estetician’s for a wax or facial treatment, there were always men there. Hair, eyebrows, nails, skin tone – you name it, it all had to be perfect. Is this superficial? Yes. Sexist? Not really. Italian? 100%.
Danielle — that is an excellent point. I am so glad you sent in that comment. You are right, I also often see men at the hairdresser’s getting various things waxed and nails done — I guess it is very Italian — bella figura and all that.
Excellent post, Trisha. My head aches from listening to these highly educated men spout such drivel. The Last Supper: was held, all gospels agree, in the home of Mary and Martha. Jesus is pointedly affectionate to Mary, the sister (not his mother and not Magdalene).throughout the gospels. And he raises their brother, Lazarus, in response to Mary’s tears. Only these sequestered men would think of that Supper in terms of a hierarchy of importance. The table has always, always, been a lower-archy, a place where everyone is the same. Jesus even talked about not taking the best place at the table. It is outrageous that Ravasi spoke as he did about the table! And the Scripture does not say that only the twelve were present. Surely the sisters who owned the house were there! And I would think many more, Magdalene, and Jesus’ mother are only two of the many. The paintings are not telling the story, they are inviting us all to join the supper party, and in every painting, the empty space at the table is the place for us. DaVinci painted one whole side of the table empty, it is for us. Most paintings leave open a seat or two, thinking we are each coming separately to the table. In accepting the invitation to take the empty place, we are becoming equal to those already there, part of the table company. This is the very opposite of Ravasi’s thinking. The gospel gets women right, as part of the company of Jesus, and Magdalene is the primary disciple, we know this because she is the first to see the resurrection. She leads the way to the grave on Easter, in all four gospels. That is likely evidence that she was Jesus’ wife, the one whom the authorities would let anoint his body . . . also, she and his Mother stood at the foot of the cross, again, the position of the wife. The Vatican is so busy defending its falsehoods that, for all its brilliance, it cannot see what is before its eyes.
Thank you for this fascinating and enlightening comment Nancy. I was hoping you would shed some light for us on the question about the Last Supper — I feel so lucky to have you as a blog reader. You also pointed out something I never realized about Da Vinci’s Last Supper — there is a whole side of the table available for us to pull up a seat. How many times have I looked at images of that painting and that simple fact never occurred to me. Thank you!
What RUBBISH! I just turned 60 and work full time in IT. I treated myself to a Botox treatment on my forehead for my birthday because the lines between my eyes are the only thing that let on that I’m not 12-15 years younger. It didn’t hurt, it wasn’t very expensive and it makes me look very well-rested and happier. That’s about as far from a burqua as I can imagine.
As for boob jobs being the norm? Uhhhhh, I know about a dozen 18-20 year old girls (friends of a child I am close to) and the only one who has has any plastic surgery is one girl who slipped and fell through a window and gashed her forehead in her early teens. And if the surgeons didn’t do any vanity surgery, they’d not have the skills to repair such an injury so that it is barely visible in strong light.
I’d be more impressed if he spoke out against tattoos and the way people are defacing themselves in that manner.
As for a man, a celibate man, and I don’t care how *nice* he is, presuming to lecture married people on birth control and reproduction? Ludicrous.
Great reply Valeria! I think this is what I was trying to say — the Vatican needs to talk to women out there — they need to talk to you and those girls you mentioned. They need to have more women working inside the Vatican so they can understand more. I think this conference is a sincere attempt– but as you point out, some of it really does sound like rubbish.
Besides, he isn’t taking on men who have hair transplants, which is just as vain as elective plastic surgery. Face it, even this pope is hopelessly out of touch with real life. The latest bit about childless people being selfish is another example.Some of them are undoubtably childless who also aren’t supposed to use artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, etc. Bah!
Hi,
The comment on plastic surgery appeared in the local paper several days ago. I have never had any desire for plastic surgery, but I found it offensive not only to women but also to some Muslems because of the “burqa made of flesh” comment. I had already seen the English version of the video and thought it was just plain stupid. And my thought about the comment was “here we go again.” And I would say that also to the quote from the paper for the meeting and to the cardinal’s answer to your question.
However, I have to mention also the delicious irony of the local paper’s “somewhere on a computer” copy and layout editors who placed on the page opposite the rather prominent story that included the plastic surgery comment a full page ad for a local plastic surgery clinic. I’ll bet they loved the placement.
a presto
Thanks for you comment Joan. The placement in the local newspaper really is “delicious irony”. I feel a little sorry for the Vatican — they are trying, but with the predominantly male culture there they so easily trip all over themselves every time any issue related to women comes up.
When are you Americans going to stop this fucking self righteous attitude? Years of Berlusconi? You have decades of brothels, prostitution rings, presidents having orgies in the white house….your fucking country is an open air whorehouse. Go back studying something about your country
If you clean up your language a bit Diego, I would be happy to have a conversation about what is wrong with the US. Not so sure about the orgies at the White House — but certainly JFK did have his share of fun while he was there. Still, I cover Italy, not the US, so I leave it to Italian journalists to write about the many aspects of my country both good and bad.