Ranucci and the advances. Calling a man in power who makes a pass at you ‘ugly’ is freedom

It is not necessarily the case that Western women’s journey along the extremely rocky path to success must lead to Palazzo Chigi. It may well include intermediate stages – small and seemingly frivolous ones – such as being able to reject an unattractive man by telling him that one prefers handsome, tall and muscular men, which is precisely what men in power have always done to women, taking it out not only on the unfortunate woman in question, but also on the painter who, for a variety of reasons, had softened her physical flaws; see Henry VIII of England and Hans Holbein the Younger, who had sent him a portrait of Anne of Cleves in which she did not at all resemble a ‘damned Flemish mare’, as the sovereign had ascertained by presenting himself to his betrothed in disguise and already in poor health. A man might possess the infamous bad breath of Henry of Navarre, the hump of Henry III of England, the keeled sternum of a pigeon, or all these things combined, as in the case of Charles V and, generally speaking, the Habsburgs who married amongst themselves; and yet no portrait ever managed to conceal their physical unattractiveness entirely, and yet the sun never set on their empires – not even when it came to women.

For this reason, young women should be delighted by Angela Camuso’s article on Sigfrido Ranucci’s alleged unwelcome advances, in which she emphasised in "Il Tempo" that she rightly prefers a man who is handsome and fit because, you see, until the day before yesterday, a woman would never have dared to do such a thing. Provided he provided board and lodging, the man could even be ‘not particularly handsome’, as Mamie observes despondently to Scarlett O’Hara when she marries Frank Kennedy, who is twice her age, so that he can pay Tara’s taxes, whilst her colleague can choose – like an ever-increasing number of women – albeit at the very slow pace typical of Italy and with her salary handed over directly and in full to the childminder due to a chronic lack of nurseries where to leave the little ones whilst trying to build a career and become independent. The only constraint women have ever imposed on themselves so as not to reject a pot-bellied man was precisely material circumstances, as men have, moreover, always known full well in every context and culture; and there is no need even to look to post-2021 Afghanistan to believe that things have turned out all that differently in Europe: give a woman the means and opportunities to study and make a name for herself, and you’ll see that at the first sign of offence she’ll walk out the door and you’ll never see her again—which is precisely what all gender studies know full well, and what the observatory set up by Giovanna Paladino at Intesa Sanpaolo confirms every year: the first form of violence is economic; subjugation is born of need. Not all women have had the means of Catherine I of Russia to rid themselves of their deformed husband and take his place; for many, it would have been enough simply to have one who wasn’t too repulsive.

Until last week, appearance was either an afterthought or not a concern at all – as Anita Loos also writes when she lends Lorelei Lee her brilliant observations on sex, beauty and the respective power of women and men. The fact that my colleague remained silent for years about Ranucci’s inappropriate remarks is of no consequence; nor does it matter whether they actually happened – after all, the voice recordings would prove it anyway; sister, I believe you, and in any case, who cares? That’s not the point. The point is the freedom to be able to tell a man, ‘I’m not sleeping with you because I don’t fancy you, because all your power doesn’t make me go weak at the knees, and because I can make my own way in life, thank you’, instead of sidestepping the issue or pretending not to understand, as our mothers and countless generations before us did. Today, you can put it in writing that the morning after, you’d rather not have to cut off your arm just to avoid waking the bloke sleeping next to you, and that in doing so, you’re not at all afraid of ending up in hell like Francesca, who’d welcomed the handsome Paolo Malatesta as a go-between when he came to her house, only to discover she’d have to sleep with his brother Giovanni – also known as ‘Gianne the Lame’ or, indeed, ‘the Cripple’. These are fine achievements, even better than that of Anne of Cleves, who, after graciously accepting the annulment of her marriage, received estates, an annuity and the official title of ‘beloved sister of the king’, outliving not only all her replacements but the king himself.