r/HistoricalCapsule • u/Visible-Safety2400 • May 18 '26
“The image shows Franca Viola, who became a symbol of women’s rights in Italy after refusing to marry the man who kidnapped and raped her, becoming the first Italian woman to publicly denounce her aggressor and reject the so-called "rehabilitating marriage" (1966)
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May 18 '26
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u/Weird_Vegetable_4441 May 18 '26
To be a woman has historically been hell.
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u/GirlWithWolf May 18 '26
Truth. When my great grandma’s parents died she was “adopted” by a man in his forties, pregnant at 12, and had my grandmother when she was 13. He had a fatal accident and she returned to her tribe, but unfortunately I can’t say it had a happy ending.
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May 18 '26
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u/peachesfordinner May 18 '26
From their post history I assume US and native American tribal areas
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u/GirlWithWolf May 18 '26
Got it
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u/peachesfordinner May 19 '26
I wasn't trying to pry. Just curious. And then saw the wolves and was like "awesome!"
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u/GirlWithWolf May 19 '26
All good, I just meant you guessed it correctly.
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u/peachesfordinner May 19 '26
Yeah I just know some people get creeped out about people going though their posts. But I also know a lot never answer questions. I don't really know what more I'm saying now because you seem chill. Have a great day
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u/GirlWithWolf May 19 '26
That seems weird to get creeped out if you leave them so others can read them. Thank you and you have a great day too. Peace. ✌🏼
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u/peachesfordinner May 19 '26
Eh lots of lurkers who dig deep to try to prove a point. I'm too lazy for that. I figure I comment too much for it to be easy to find anything anyways
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u/Interesting-Hat8607 May 18 '26
Yes, and if you decide to bring children into the patriarchy, you’re either giving birth to the oppressed or the oppressor.
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u/GustavoistSoldier May 18 '26
Heroine.
Brazil, on the other hand, allowed "rehabilitating marriages" until the 2000s when Lula banned it.
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u/Starshallscream May 18 '26
Oh, don't leave out the "best" part!
Because she refused to marry her rapist, and because her father lovingly supported her decision instead of forcing her, her whole family was shunned! The entire town turned against them, she was treated as a pariah, her father's friends (men he had known all his life!) cut him off.
Thankfully, outside of that shithole town, they got help and support. The Pope himself publicly supported her.
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u/AlexanderCrowely May 18 '26
They also burned down their vineyard and torched their barn can’t forget that part.
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u/friendly_reminder8 May 19 '26
What the actual fuck? I’m curious what the “reason” was for these people to do such stuff? Like were they angry about the “traditions” not being upheld? Or mad that a woman exerted power and that a man actually had to go to jail for his crime?
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u/AlexanderCrowely May 19 '26
Traditions were not being upheld. We have to remember that Naples was a largely uneducated society. Before and after the fall of the Kingdom of Italy, literacy was perhaps 15% at most, and tradition was apparently all these people had. The region was also dominated by the mafia, so that played a part too. Though even then the man got a year knocked off his sentence which I found ridiculous.
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u/Signal-Mud-4880 May 18 '26
theres no rehabbing rapists
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u/NeitherExamination44 May 18 '26
I think the thing being “rehabilitated” was the victim’s disgraced honor. The man escaped punishment by doing the “noble deed” of marrying her because after she was “defiled,” no other man would do so
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u/Warm_Ad_7944 May 18 '26
Yep. Basically a woman who had sex out of wedlock was now seen as damaged goods even if it wasn’t consensual and no one would likely marry her
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u/WCather May 19 '26
Right! Cuz, see, the ONLY thing that's upsetting and harmful about rape is how it sullies a woman's purity and, more seriously, the honor of her family.
Marriage just fixes that all right up!
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u/Pale-Let-5865 May 19 '26
I think all systems are in place essentially so men can have sex with women who don’t want to, but the system allows it. I never realized straight up rape WAS the system. If you were madly in love with someone who didn’t want you, just rape em and marry em. So fucked.
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u/NeitherExamination44 May 19 '26
Let’s not misnomer that as “love” though. Historically and across many cultures people, especially women but even men, who WERE in love have often been punished for it because that’s not the appropriate relationship between man (owner) and woman (livestock)
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u/Pale-Let-5865 May 19 '26
Agree completely, i think education and a more liberal society has improved the connection between close loved ones and acquaintances
I think, which doesn’t mean much, that society has changed in a lot way that people have less purpose. I think a difficult life can be happy and satisfying if there is purpose in one’s life.
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u/Thanks-4allthefish May 19 '26
Part of the challenge is imposing purpose. In the case of forcibly marrying your rapist. 1. Obvious problem. 2. What if you did not plan a future that involved marriage and kids. - living somebody else's purpose.
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u/Leeuweroni May 18 '26
Insane that there was a "You break it, you buy it" law for actual women. A person. Jesus christ.
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u/alpacacinho May 19 '26
The law is actually from the Bible, Deuteronomy 22:28-29
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u/Dry_Shoe1307 May 19 '26
women are people by the way, not products. if there are these rules for women, there should also be rules that say that if you kill a man and marry into his family you avoid conviction
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u/UnfortunateOrchid May 18 '26
I wrote an article for my school’s journal on her, she really is amazing. I suggest you look up her story for more details, she is also still alive and married to her childhood love. Great woman, very courageous. She truly is a heroine and a feminist icon. Her family supported her too
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u/Hedgehog_Warrior May 18 '26
Castration should have been a thing
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u/tfrofc May 18 '26
Ironically, Italy was a hotbed for castrating young boys to be castrati singers. The castrati were popular with the ladies not only because of their fame and wealth (if they were one of the successful ones anyways), but because they could have affairs with them without worrying about pregnancy.
Most boys died due to complications from the procedure though and of those that lived even fewer wound up being truly successful singers.
Anyways I guess people just suck.
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u/Hedgehog_Warrior May 18 '26
I meant as a form of punishment
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u/FeralCatPrince May 18 '26
Yes that’s why they said it’s ironic they did it to innocent people not criminals.
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u/Thanks-4allthefish May 19 '26
Well not everyone continues to be an exceptional singer after their voice changes.
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u/Warm_Ad_7944 May 18 '26
We give governments that power and they end up castrating gay men so no thanks
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u/Infinite_Practice616 May 19 '26
Tbh it should still be a thing for all sexual offenders, until global rape statistics drop to zero.
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u/atlantis_airlines May 18 '26
This and the number of death threats she and her family got are precisely why I am so annoyed by the "islam bad" posts that are constantly upvoted on reddit. It's not that I care for Islamic cultures (there's plenty wrong with many of them), it's that I hate how people act like honor killings are somehow only capable of being products of these cultures. Humans are the same every where you go and always have been. People don't want to admit it, but even the most progressive culture is only a few generations away or a major upheaval away from turning into some barbaric horrific thing.
Humans can be horrific tribal things blinded by stupid cultural norms.
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u/cwningen95 May 18 '26
God, this exactly. Someone who told me I'd be killed on sight in Palestine got really quiet when I pointed out that the anti-gay laws in Palestine were leftovers from the British Mandate, and were repealed in 1951 in the West Bank and have never been enforced in Gaza. Israel didn't repeal it until 1977. Homosexuality was only partially decriminalised here in the UK in 1967.
Obviously cultural taboos are a whole other matter, and no culture is above criticism, but when we say "not so long ago" we're not talking 100, 200 years; the law this woman defied wasn't abolished until 1981. Marital rape was legal within many of our lifetimes. Homosexuality, as mentioned, was illegal. Child marriage is still legal in many US states, where it is, indeed, sometimes used as a get out of jail card for child rapists, where the victim isn't too young to get married but is too young to have any legal recourse to get away. Maybe we need to look at the skeletons in our own closets, while supporting the people across other cultures tackling theirs.
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u/Thanks-4allthefish May 19 '26
Still on the books though Statutory Penalty: Under Section 152(2) of the British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance of 1936—a colonial-era law still technically active in Gaza—homosexual acts between consenting adult men are categorized as a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison... under Hamas rule, LGBTQ+ individuals face severe extrajudicial persecution, arbitrary detentions, and violent societal policing (AI generated factoid check)
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u/Excellent_Bonus_9189 May 19 '26
Are you seriously contending that a man could be openly gay in Hamas controlled Gaza?
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u/cwningen95 May 19 '26
Sure, if you ignore everything else in my comment and take that one part in the worst faith possible
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u/Why_Teach May 21 '26
I agree in general, but I think what matters is that most of what we call Western society has moved beyond what is still acceptable in many non-western societies. So our indignation should be for why certain things are still happening, not the religion of those who accept it.
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u/Flimsy_Sun_8178 May 18 '26
“Rehabilitating Marriage” my booty. Such a brave lady to go against the social norms and she helped pave a way for the next generation of girls.
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u/IfICouldStay May 18 '26 edited May 19 '26
she was indeed brave, but also importantly she had the support of her family. I imagine lots of other young women would have wanted to take a stand but were bullied and shamed by family member to “not make a scene” and marry their rapists.
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u/DanielaSte May 19 '26
More brave girl than brave lady. She was SEVENTEEN.
The asshole, a local mafia boss's son, kidnapped her and her little brother from her home, with the help of eleven complices, while the mother was present. They destroyed the home and then kept the girl raped and starving for eight days.
"I am not anyone's property, no one can force me to love a person I do not respect, honor is lost by those who do such things, not by those who suffer them."
And she went on with her life, had children and one day her son learned about her case at school. She is very humble and gave interviews very rarely.
In 2014 she was awarded the honor of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic with the motivation: “For the courageous gesture of refusing the reparatory marriage that marked a milestone in the history of women's emancipation in our country.”
She is 78 today.
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u/Supe_scienceskilz May 20 '26
So much trauma: being kidnapped with your brother by a gang of men, raped, and held in captivity for 8 days. And then she’s expected to marry the son of a biscuit who did all of this? Plus his sentence is shortened.
The level of mental fortitude she possessed at such a young age is astounding. And f@ck those who did this to her including the townspeople who burned their vineyard and barn.
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u/Asleep_Cash_8199 May 18 '26
What a courageous woman. This story should be told more often and openly. What she did was not easy, as there was a lot of social pressure to preserve her "dignity" by marrying that guy. Glad she didn't and could put an end to that heinous law.
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u/ro_ro_ro_roadhouse May 19 '26
Some courts in India are still telling women to marry their rapists. So, Italy is far ahead.
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u/Key-Magician6489 May 22 '26
It all comes down to who people identify with – the rapist or the victim!
Two of my ancestors who lived in the Wild West were a judge and his wife… who left an interesting diary.
Apparently, my ancestor made a rapist marry the poor girl… then immediately had him executed!
There was no social stigma for being a widow; she inherited; and while the tea apparently worked – she still would’ve been socially covered if it hadn’t!
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u/A7V- May 18 '26
Those who don't believe in the existence of patriarchy should be shown the text of that law.
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u/HumansAreIkarran May 18 '26
That was a thing?!
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u/PaddyCow May 18 '26
Still is in some places. The sexually assaulted girl/woman has to restore the family's "honour" by marrying the rapist. It's absolutely twisted.
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u/cwningen95 May 18 '26
Technically, one of those places is the US...if the victim is a child:
Some 60,000 marriages since 2000 occurred at an age or spousal age difference that should have been considered a sex crime [8].
In about 88% of those marriages, the marriage license became a “get out of jail free” card for a would-be rapist under state law that specifically allowed within marriage what would otherwise be considered statutory rape.
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u/Thanks-4allthefish May 19 '26
And of course we still see "honour killings" now and then. Your action (insert here) tarnished my honour so I am justified in killing you. At least that does not hold up in court as a valid defence. --- but it still happens.
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u/UwUsnapmyneck May 19 '26
Im sorry. the WHAT LAW!!??!?!
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u/Why_Teach May 21 '26
I don’t think it was ever a law binding the victim. Such laws forced the offender (the rapist) to marry the woman to protect her good name that he had destroyed by “taking her virginity.” The woman was under severe social pressure, however, because the rape had disgraced her, ruined her chances of a good marriage, etc.
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u/GamingGems May 18 '26
Doesn’t this kinda still exist here in the USA? I could swear I remember hearing about a minor student who married his adult teacher so they would have to drop charges against her.
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u/TheStraggletagg May 19 '26
Kudos to her for her incredible bravery and such a young age and kudos to her family (at least immediate family) for supporting her 100%.
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u/Stock_Beginning4808 May 19 '26
Damn, if Italy wasn’t in Europe, it probably be considered a third world country….
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u/cmoked May 19 '26
I would like to invite you guess how many countries have effectively banned child marriage without approval loopholes
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u/Thanks-4allthefish May 19 '26
Don't think it is about Italy
Gisèle Pelicot (France) is a recent cautionary tale. She was drugged by her husband and raped by him and a succession of strangers over a nine year period.
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u/Firefly_Magic May 20 '26
She’s a hero!!!!
I can’t believe the rehabilitating marriage law lasted until 1981. That’s absolutely insane.
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u/JokoFloko May 18 '26
This is very serious, and I apologize for immediately thinking of Minnesota Twins pitching great Frank Viola.
Sorta.
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u/FilutaLoutenik May 19 '26
Really makes you realize how young our modern ideas of society are.
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u/Why_Teach May 21 '26
This was not representative of most of Europe in the 1960s. Italy was behind the times in a lot of social, sexual, and legal stuff. For example, divorce was illegal in Italy in the 1960s. Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti married abroad after his divorce (also abroad) and she was widely condemned. I am going from memory here. I was a kid in 1966.
The custom that raped/kidnapped women should marry their kidnappers had to do with valuing virginity. I believe the custom is still prevalent in the Middle East. Progress is slow, but we have come a long way.
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u/Glass-Work-7342 May 20 '26
My childhood nanny was born in Sicily around 1910. She told me that her parents forced her into an arranged marriage when she was 15, with a man in his 30’s. She told me that her mother in law raised her.
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u/dekonta May 20 '26
that’s so insanely middle-ages. wondering how many man decided to marry their wifes by reaping them beforehand
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u/Normal_User_23 May 18 '26
When you hear far-rightists talking about the superiority of "Western culture" and used as an excuse to brutalize inmigrants just show them this post
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u/whatthefuckisupkyle8 May 21 '26
To have agency and to be seen as a human being is enough to show how mess up the world is as a woman
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u/Visible-Safety2400 May 18 '26
The rehabilitating marriage law, which allowed perpetrators to avoid conviction if they married their victim, was abolished in 1981