Giorgia Soleri and Cathy La Torre in Repubblica delle Idee: “We want all rights immediately, we need new laws”

The right to have an abortion, to dispose of one’s body, to receive treatment for diseases that are difficult to diagnose, to be called by one’s name: this is what activists and influencers Giorgia Soleri and Cathy La Torre asked during their meeting at the Salone del Podestà, one of the events that opened Repubblica delle Idee. An audience made up of hundreds of very young people followed the debate, applauding the request for more modern laws.

“When I had an abortion I was attacked at the clinic even though I had no doubts, it seemed the right way – said Soleri – I was told: you young people use abortion as a contraceptive. They knew nothing about me. I did a feminist path and the feminism of the ’70s teaches us that the personal is political that’s why I told my story. When you have an abortion, you find yourself completely alone, from the point of view of relationships and also from the institutions. The social worker it should make you feel protected. But abortion is a right, period “. The request is to have more advanced laws immediately: “We want them immediately, we want them all, just one thing is not enough”.

“I am a non-binary person – explained Cathy La Torre – I am a non-binary person and after 20 years I decided to operate to reduce my breasts, I wanted to tell the experience of a non-binary person who performed an operation that normally occurs considers superfluous, unnecessary “. Often the enemy is social stigma (“I took a few drops of Lexotan before I came, I wrote it on Instagram the other day everyone said ‘thank you, I’m on anxiolytics too’. But if I had taken Ibuprofen no one would have said anything “, La Torre explained). Often, however, the great obstacle are laws that are missing and therefore in this way rights are transformed into concessions. “I also had to fight to be called by my name in the registry office and not to be called Damiano dei Maneskin’s girlfriend – said Soleri, even jokingly – I would say that it seems to me a basic right”.

Up to now it has often been the Constitutional Court to intervene, in cases where the parliament has failed to legislate: “When it comes to civil rights, it is first of all to say the laws that exist instead of those that are missing – said La Torre – I believe, among other things, that there is no longer a difference between social rights and civil rights. The few rights we have obtained in the last ten years have been given by the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court, but every time the Constitutional Court issues judgments on the matter , it’s like a slap in the face for politics, but we want all rights right away “. Mario’s first assisted suicide, his name was Federico Carboni and he said: “Now I’m free to fly”. “It is not possible that a person has to pay to die – said La Torre – crowfunding for a lethal drug is not acceptable”.

Talking about their experiences as a moment of sharing is one of the resources of the women who find themselves together and Soleri also talked about her suicide attempt and the stigma about mental illness. “I started talking about mental health and a pandora’s box opened – said Soleri – I suffered from very serious depression that I did not recognize and I tried to commit suicide, but I was lucky because I was saved by the people around me. . At the beginning of this year I had a relapse but I was able to recognize it and so I cured myself. To say today that you suffer from depression means to be socially marginalized, but it is very important to talk about it, because if I had been more aware in 2017 maybe I would not have attempted suicide. ” The Republic of Ideas debate was a precious opportunity to talk and meet again, in the name of rights.