Doctored sexist images of women including PM Meloni on Italian website triggers widespread condemnation, taken down

The row takes place a week after the shut down of a Meta account based out of Italy where men exchange intimate photos of their wives or unknown women.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed outrage on Friday over an adult website that published unauthorised and 'doctored' pictures of women, including of hers amid a national outcry over online misogyny and abuse.

The website has also targeted the opposition leader, Elly Schlein and many other women.

The morphed images of well-known figures featured in the VIP-sections had been altered to zoom in on their body parts or suggest sexual poses. These images of the female politicians across party lines were taken from the rallies or TV interviews and while they were on holiday. The comment sections of these offensive posts were also reportedly flooded with vulgar and sexist captions.

This fresh row comes a week after another highly-publicised case of misogynist online abuse.

Earlier, Facebook took down the Mia Moglie ('My Wife') group, where users shared intimate photos of women without their consent, after a wave of public complaints initiated by author and activist Carolina Capria.

The group had over 32,000 members.

The website, phica.eu website, whose name is a play on an offensive vulgar Italian slang term for female genitalia, took it down following condemnation and legal complaints made by various women.

Meloni, whose sister Arianna was also targeted on the site, while did not react to the incident earlier, later said, "I am disgusted by what has happened, and I want to express my solidarity and closeness to all the women who have been offended, insulted, and violated in their intimacy by the administrators of this forum and its users," Meloni was quoted as saying by the daily Corriere della Sera.

Legal Proceedings:

In July, the Italian senate approved a bill legally defining femicide for the first time by sentencing the guilty with life in prison, while increasing sentences for crimes including stalking, sexual violence and “revenge porn”.

In response to the Phica scandal, Ignazio La Russa, the president of the senate, condemned the “online sexism involving numerous women” and said “This is a very serious matter, one that arouses profound outrage, and for which I hope that the relevant authorities will soon identify those responsible.”