Bottom pinching 18th August 2011

Bottom pinching 18th agosto 2011

Hot off the presses - Italy is changing...

Today in MSN.com there is an article entitled "12 stereotypes we get completely wrong about foreigners" in which one is:

'Women will always get their bottoms pinched in Italy'

Reality: Old editions of plenty of guide books will inform you that the pinching of attractive (and possibly less-than-attractive) derrieres by Italian men is a big problem but in fact it's one largely consigned to the past. A slow-but-sure uptake of equality laws and sentiment in Italy means you are fairly unlikely to have to look around sharply and shout, "Who did that?" in your best phrase-book Italian. Indeed, in 2005, judges in the supreme court ruled that bottom-pinching was illegal, rapidly followed by a ruling (aimed at the same group of potential offenders?) that groping oneself in public was also against the law.

I can certainly say that I have not seen any of the sort of lechery from Italian men that I expected to see coming here. Certainly Siena is a very tame place so maybe I have not been exposed to it, but really I have not seen any of that. Most Italians seem to pick their partners very young, in their late teens and then stay together. The only embarrassing scenes I have seen in my time here are loud US college girls, drinking in the Irish pub talking about how big their houses are back home and how big a car daddy is going to buy them,

On that theme, last night was the first time that I have seen Jersey Shore for the first time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore_(TV_series)

A rather disgusting look at these exact same people before they come to Europe. In fact, Jersey Shore did hit these shores and come to Florence for a month a couple of months ago. It is fascinating and I shall probably watch because it is on MTV and is subtitled rather than overdubbed which means I can watch it. Overdubbing is a pain as my language skills are not skillful, and certainly not skillful enough to pick out the Italian quick enough to get a good understanding. Anyway, thank you MTV.it for throwing a few occasionally english language tv stuff my way. Although they do play that song by Lady GaGa - "I'm on the Edge" far far far too much.

These people are such scum, that even Abercrombie and Fitch want to pay the cast to stop wearing their clothes!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14562953

Apparently Geordie Shore is now rocking the UK, the same program uprooted and moved to Newcastle, this program sounds like scum, exactly the same as I saw on Jersey Shore last night. I can imagine the youth of the UK watching this before going out for a nice riot and a looting. Thankfully Italy in my experience has not been like this. So, back to the title of my article, if you are worried about bottom pinching, leave the UK and come to Italy!

Ciao for now!