L'effet-Sanremo. Dénoncer le viol, normaliser le sexisme

Sanremo Music Festival is one of the most important Italian media events. The 2020th edition’s, whose main topic was violence against women, unfolded in the crucible of a controversy that compelled the host and the public to put to question on air what “real” gender violence was. Our aim is to provide a better understanding of the effect of the norms of a television genre on the narrative about gender violence. The result is paradoxical: while exposing rape, it normalizes sexism. In order to put into perspective the “Sanremo-effect” with contemporary debate on “rape culture”, we propose a cartography of the tropes structuring the discourse of the show on gender violence: the denouncing of sexism, the counterargument of benevolent sexism, and the strategy of whataboutism.