this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2025
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Italy’s parliament on Tuesday approved a law that introduces femicide into the country’s criminal law and punishes it with life in prison.

The vote coincided with the international day for the elimination of violence against women, a day designated by the U.N. General Assembly.

The law won bipartisan support from the center-right majority and the center-left opposition in the final vote in the Lower Chamber, passing with 237 votes in favor.

The law, backed by the conservative government of Premier Giorgia Meloni, comes in response to a series of killings and other violence targeting women in Italy. It includes stronger measures against gender-based crimes including stalking and revenge porn.

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[–] gbzm@piefed.social 222 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (25 children)

People here seem weirdly confused about the term "feminicide": it means homicide motivated by misogyny. It's a subset of hate crimes.

They exist in all western societies I'm aware of, if you're confused it's probably only because you're unused to thinking of women as a protected class and hate for women as aggravating circumstances, the way hate for any race of religion is in most legal systems.

Yes they're 50% of the population, but also yes they're disproportionately the targets of violence because misogyny exists. Yet they are rarely treated as such in many legal systems.

[–] Drekaridill@lemmy.wtf 83 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Genuinely thought it just meant killing a woman and was confused

[–] daizelkrns@sh.itjust.works 47 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It does get misused in that exact way sometimes. I'm from Mexico, these cases have been making big headlines here for a while now, some prosecutors are misclassifying cases as femicide to grab attention to their political careers.

Local one a couple of years ago where a dude ran over a woman. Local prosecutor was pushing for femicide, fortunately it was moved to manslaughter as it should have been from the start. Not everything constitutes a hate crime and cases like that (in my opinion at least) would make the distinction meaningless

[–] dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 6 points 3 weeks ago

Sometimes people run over others intentionally, so drag supports the recognition of vehicular murder, but yes, it's usually manslaughter. A prior history between victim and accused or history of hateful conduct by the accused should be used as clues that a deeper investigation is required.

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 42 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

It seems weird to consider half the people as "protected class". But only one gender. Dunno why they didn't just make hate crime the charge and make misogyny fall under that

[–] yesman@lemmy.world 47 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (6 children)

They're a protected class because they're singled out for violence because of their class. And it's a real world problem not a logic quiz. Misogyny and misandry are not equivalent in reality the way they are in the dictionary.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago (31 children)

Does that make hate crime murder against men less worth prosecuting as such? Why shouldn't the legal definition be symmetrical?

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

How many hate crime murders of men are there in Italy?

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 18 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (6 children)

Idk probably less and so the law against hate crimes for men would be used less than the one against them for women. Again, why would you not treat them the same in each individual case? If 80% of thievery was committed against women, would you not also prosecute the 20% committed against men just the same?

[–] ISuperabound@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

At no point did anyone suggest that they weren’t prosecuting murder against men, nor did they suggest they would do so with less effort. All this law does is allow the courts to take misogyny into account so that motive isn’t ignored or downplayed during the charging proces.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (9 children)

Yes, they prosecute murder for both genders. I'm asking why the hate crime aspect that increases the sentence is not the same.

To be clear, I think the femicide change is a good thing, just unnecessarily restrictive.

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[–] RamRabbit@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago (15 children)

If someone murdered a male due to their sex, would you treat that any differently than someone murdering a female due to their sex?

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[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 26 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I would assume the thinking is centered around wanting to draw specific attention to the issue. And to more clearly cite it as a unique thing for awareness purposes.

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca 23 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

This. The goal is to send a message. Over half the women killed were murdered by intimate partners. Such a crime would already be punished by life imprisonment for Aggravated Homicide.

However femicide also includes refusal for emotional relationship, or resistance to limiting her freedom as motivators, as admissible motives for femicide.

https://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/20211564_mh0421097enn_pdf_0.pdf

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[–] RamRabbit@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Exactly. This should have been something that applies to all: 'murdering someone due to their sex is now a hate crime'.

Having the law give more consideration to one sex over another, particularly with something like murder, is quite sexist.

[–] its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

This would be true if there were commensurate rates of murder where the motivation is misandry. Otherwise you just like the veneer of equality to cover up the rot underneath.

[–] RamRabbit@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (30 children)

If perpetrators happen to be of one sex more often, then it means the rates of being charged with the relevant crime will be higher for that sex.

A crime must be treated equally, regardless of sex. The law treating one differently based on their sex is itself sexist. As I stated before, this should have been something that applies to all: ‘murdering someone due to their sex is now a hate crime’.

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[–] village604@adultswim.fan 6 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

So it's only a hate crime if it happens to the gender that has a higher rate of being targeted?

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

This is typically how the legal system responds to increases in specific kinds of crimes, they adjust the system to more efficiently prosecute that crime.

If you have a better idea for how to combat disproportionate crime statistics without targeting that specific kind of crime, from a legal standpoint, I'm sure the world would love to hear it.

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[–] Devial@discuss.online 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Women may not not be a mathematical minority, but they absolutely are a cultural/societal minoritiy.

Cultural minorities have nothing to do with the absolute number of members the group has, but how much political and social power and influence the group holds.

That's why black africans during apartheid Africa would still be considered minorities, even though they made up the mathematical majority of inhabitants.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Shouldn't it be gynocide? Since it's clearly pulling from Latin. Activists should be forced to work with linguists for their words, or face the penalty of be hit with a 2x4.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Goddamn I wish the biggest contention about this story was the etymology.

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