Verona: the exhibition “How were you dressed?” against gender violence arrives at the SFP ENGIM school.

Very often victims of sexual violence are asked: “What were you wearing? How were you dressed?”, almost as if to blame them for their clothing. A hard-to-die stereotype, which reverses the attribution of responsibility not on the perpetrator of violence but on the one who suffers it.

This is the theme that focuses on the exhibition 'How were you dressed?', promoted for the second consecutive year by the 3rd District in collaboration with Isolina e…, an association for the prevention of femicide.

The exhibition, set up for the first time last year inside an institute school, precisely the Maffei high school, for the 2024 edition is hosted, from 18 to 21 November, at the SFP ENGIM school, in via Angelo Berardi 9 in Chievo.

It is here that it will be available to students, offering them the opportunity to explore the stories of women victims of violence, collected by an anti-violence center.

The exhibition is also open to the public, with free admission, every day from 14.30pm to 19pm, with the possibility of guided tours led by the school's students.

During the mornings, by appointment, schools will have the opportunity to visit the exhibition, thus offering an educational space that invites reflection and discussion on a delicate and extremely current theme. The exhibition presents authentic testimonies of women who have suffered violence, accompanied by the clothes they were wearing at the time of the incidents, demonstrating how the type of clothing does not in any way justify the violence suffered.

The exhibition aims to counter the harmful stereotype often used to blame the victims, strongly reiterating the importance of consensus and supporting Amnesty International's campaign #iaskingit.

"We approach the day of November 25th with a moment of reflection on gender violence - he claims the president of the 3rd district Riccardo Olivieri –. This initiative not only denounces gender violence, but also aims to promote a culture of respect and awareness, encouraging victims to recognize and report situations of abuse. With the help of professors, students and volunteers from the local community, the event intends to spread a clear message: violence cannot and must not be justified".

Present at the press conference, in addition to the president of the 3rd Olivieri, the vice president Sara Ottolini, Marisa Mazzi of the Isolina e… association, and the head teacher of the SFP ENGIM school Paola Merci.

“Isolina e…” is an association of women and men that since 2013 has been committed to effectively addressing the very serious human, social, cultural and political emergency caused by the phenomenon of feminicides. The association takes its name from Isolina Canuti, a young woman from Verona who was killed in the early 900s by an army captain so that no trace of her pregnancy would remain.