An Italian judge’s decision that sexual harassment takes 10 seconds to occur has sparked outrage and sparked a social media trend of Italians groping themselves to show how long it lasts.
“How is that possible? How do you measure 10 seconds? Who decides?” White Lotus actor Paolo Camili told Fox News Digital in an op-ed. “Some think it’s a very short time, that it’s nothing, that it happens by accident… If you stand there and count for yourself, you’ll realize that 10 seconds really is a long time.”
A judge ruled that 66-year-old Antonio Avola did not sexually molest a 17-year-old student at a Rome high school because the incident happened too quickly in April 2022, the BBC reported.
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The student said she was walking up a flight of stairs when a janitor pulled down her pants, touched her buttocks and grabbed her underwear. A public prosecutor demanded a prison sentence of three and a half years for the act.
In a courtroom facing the gavel. (iStock)
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The janitor admitted to groping the student without consent but insisted it was a hoax. The judge acquitted the man, claiming the incident “did not constitute a crime,” shocking and outraging many youth across the country.
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Many Italians took to social media to express their anger at the judge’s decision. (Paolo Camilli/TikTok)
The victim herself asked if the judge was “joking” with his decision and insisted the janitor “took her from behind” without saying anything. “This is not, to me at least, a joke,” she said, noting that the ruling could actually discourage women from reporting violence because they fear it “isn’t worth it.”
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“In general, silence protects attackers,” she said, hoping prosecutors would appeal the verdict, according to Day Italia News. “I’m starting to think that trusting the institutions was wrong. That is not justice.”
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Camili took to social media to vent his anger at the “palpaga breve” — or “short touch” — rule by placing a timer over a video of him touching his own chest for 10 seconds before entering angry tirades broke out.
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He published the video with the comment “Lo Stato non dovrebbe proteggere?” or “Shouldn’t the state protect?”
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A view of Trevi Fountain Square in Rome with tourists, in Rome, Italy, on June 3, 2022 in Rome, (Photo by Andrea Ronchini/NurPhoto via Getty Images) (Photo by Andrea Ronchini/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Other influencers followed and also posted videos of themselves either using a timer or counting to 10 on their fingers to show how long it was taking. The posters remain silent the entire time and stare at the camera, mostly clutching their own chests.
Activist Francesco Cicconetti released his own video and wrote: “Women’s bodies don’t belong to men. They belong to nobody but the women themselves.”
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