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My Profile Top News Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day. Subscribe You are here: Home > News > International > Article Home Business & Finance News U.S. Politics International Technology Entertainment Sports Lifestyle Oddly Enough Health Science Special Coverage Video Pictures Your View The Great Debate Blogs Weather Reader Feedback Do More With Reuters RSS Widgets Mobile Podcasts Newsletters Your View Make Reuters My Homepage Partner Services CareerBuilder Affiliate Network Professional Products Support (Customer Zone) Reuters Media Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Berlusconi sparks feminist backlash in Italy Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:34am EDT Email | Print | Share | Reprints | Single Page [-] Text [+] By Deepa Babington ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's cutting remark about a female rival's lack of beauty has stirred a rare public backlash from thousands of Italian women who had largely kept silent about the prime minister's womanizing and sex scandals. About 97,000 Italian women have signed the "Women offended by the premier" appeal after Berlusconi told the matronly, bespectacled leftist Rosy Bindi that she was "more beautiful than intelligent" in a swipe at both her looks and brains. Since then, Facebook sites offering solidarity have sprung up, protests have been held in towns like Reggio Emilia, while Bindi's response -- "I'm not a woman at your disposal" -- has become a rallying cry printed on T-shirts and placards. "Someone tell Berlusconi he's no George Clooney," centrist Senator Patrizia Bugnano said, calling him a "chauvinist." "It's offensive that he always refers to women in aesthetic terms." The campaign is publicized by left-leaning newspaper La Repubblica and draws support heavily from the left. It is a rare example of a feminist initiative against Berlusconi that has managed to gain momentum. Bindi says it signals a "new feminism" taking root in Italy, where Berlusconi's quips about women being "God's most beautiful gift to men" and Italy being "homeland of great lovers, Casanovas and playboys" are usually met with indifference. Still, pollsters say that without a credible political rival to challenge him, the feminist backlash will do little to lower Berlusconi's support among conservative women voters -- even if they may be less enthusiastic about him than before. "Berlusconi has not changed his approach to women and it's not the first time he has made such comments about women," said Maurizio Pessato of the SWG polling group. "It's likely that some of the women already against him were spurred into action since the remark was so harsh, but others are used to this. We're in the phase where those supporting him continue to do so, and those against him are markedly so." Another pollster, Luigi Crespi, said some female Berlusconi supporters may be disillusioned, but not enough to switch sides. "WE ARE NOT YOUR CONCUBINES" In a country where few batted an eyelid when former showgirl Mara Carfagna became equality minister and scantily-clad women are the mainstay on TV, especially channels owned by Berlusconi, his comments on women have so far triggered little outrage. The only concerted feminist protest Berlusconi faced while battling charges of an improper relationship with a teenager and parties with prostitutes was a failed bid by four academics to have leaders' wives boycott the Group of Eight Summit in Italy. But the insult hurled at Bindi during a late-night talk show just after a court stripped Berlusconi of his immunity from prosecution unexpectedly opened the floodgates of female wrath. "We protest against this cretinization of women, democracy and politics," writer Barbara Spinelli, academics Nadia Urbinati and Michela Marzano wrote in the appeal. "This man offends women and democracy. Let's stop him." Continued... View article on single page Share: Del.icio.us Digg Mixx Yahoo! Facebook LinkedIn Next Article: BlackRock net jumps;cites client appetite for risk also on reuters Blog: “Balloon Boy” and the drive for reality TV fame U.S. to end war on medical marijuana in legal states Video Video: Comcast deal could shake up NBC More International News Battle intensifies as Taliban retake Pakistani town | Video Karzai agrees to Afghan election runoff | Video Iran honors Guards killed in attack, blames U.S | Video Iran court jails U.S.-Iranian scholar: report Honduras de facto government scolds Zelaya, talks stall More International News... Editor's Choice Slideshow A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. 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