Naples. Sexist insults at woman reporter during taxi protest

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The journalist Selvaggia Lucarelli was targeted by demonstrators in Naples and other cities for some social posts in which she criticized the sector by collecting comments from citizens who complained of the service

OSSIGENO 1st September 2022 – “Selvaggia Lucarelli is a whore”, some taxi drivers shouted through a megaphone in Naples, on the 6th July 2022, whilst taking part in a protest called together with a 48-hour strike to demand greater protection against unlicensed private competitors. Similar insults were also repeated by female taxi drivers and in other Italian cities, during protest convoys by the sector (read here). Videos of the marches with the insults were uploaded to social networks where they immediately went viral.

THE JOURNALIST – Selvaggia Lucarelli, who writes for the newspaper ‘il Domani’, has for some time been publishing criticisms of taxi drivers on her social page based on testimonies from citizens who report inefficiencies. This time she asked the social network for help: “I’m trying to find out the identities of the taxi drivers who insulted me in order to file a complaint. If you know them, would you write to me in private?” She indicated her personal e-mail address to receive information (read). Contacted by Ossigeno, the journalist said she had not yet been able to trace anyone’s identity: “I publicly asked to be helped but so far no indication …”

SOLIDARITY – Ossigeno per l ‘information condemns the expressions of the demonstrators against Selvaggia Lucarelli, already a victim of oral violence by the participants in the anti-vaccination parade during the demonstration at the Circus Maximus in Rome in November 2021 (see Ossigeno here) and reaffirms its solidarity . This new incident shows how sexist insults are still the most used means to denigrate a journalist as a woman, to de-legitimize a person who does her job and reports criticisms. This legacy of a sexist and discriminatory culture against women is difficult to eradicate and it is necessary to fight it, as Selvaggia Lucarelli does, every time it happens and, on the part of others affected, by highlighting it and showing tangible solidarity with to the journalists who are affected. LT wt gb