Quando Il Giardino Fiorirà
What do I have to say about gender violence, sexist discrimination, the excluding sexual dichotomy, and, ultimately, gender diversity? My perspective is that of a writer: someone who has written stories (and history) about women.
And so, I can say that from the stories I’ve encountered—all the countless stories of a family, an ordinary family, and many others, where, generation after generation, women have been farmers, workers, servants, and above all, mothers and homemakers, but also nuns and prostitutes, spinsters, or free women, scholars, teachers, professionals, artists, scientists, witches. From all these very common yet surprising stories emerges a strong identity: that of being women.
As is often the case for all discriminated and oppressed categories, the factor of exclusion or social stigma becomes predominant in self-image. Historically, a woman was forced to feel like a woman before feeling like a person. And often, this meant feeling, as a woman, like a victim or excluded from something—politics, education, learning, for example—or despised and disadvantaged compared to men.
But as has often happened to those who have long endured such denial and censorship, from the (dazzling!) moment of rupture in which one's identity is embraced with awareness and claimed: the perspective shifts. And that diversity, once opposed, now becomes a source of pride and dignity.
I have seen it bloom, generation after generation—sometimes through the shining example of a few pioneers, but truly in the life of every woman, even the most neglected: I have seen that light shine. And so I have seen that garden bloom, the garden of women’s identity, with its lush and thriving flowers.
And so, what I have to say, having listened to so many stories—and written many—is that this gender diversity is a formidable treasure: one that, perhaps through immense suffering and struggles, all the women who came before us have left and passed down to us.
It is an invaluable inheritance and also a responsibility—because we who have received it must pass it on to the women (and men!) of the future. Because being a woman is no longer a privilege reserved only for them; because now, in the future world we are building with our own hands today, men and women finally mix, meet, and recognize each other, becoming mirrors for one another and reaching out their hands.
And if there is still violence (so much!) and abuse and oppression, it is the convulsion of the old world that does not want to disappear. But the women and men of the future—our sons, daughters, and grandchildren—will transform it into the dark and unfortunate legend of the dark ages.
Angela M. – Writer
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