Berlusconi's Sexism Has Italian Women Up in Arms

Silvio Berlusconi often declares that he is passionate about the opposite sex, but for many Italian women the feeling is very far from being reciprocated.

An article about the "Women offended by the premier" appeal published by the Italian newspaper La...

An article about the "Women offended by the premier" appeal published by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica is seen in Rome October 22, 2009. 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 100,000 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.

(Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters - Massimo Di Nonno/Getty Images)

A petition against the Italian prime minister's chauvinistic quips and saloon bar repartee has attracted more than 100,000 signatures and thousands of captioned self-portraits.

The grass-roots rebellion was prompted by an insult thrown by Mr. Berlusconi recently at a female political opponent.

During a national television debate about a pair of corruption trials he is facing the 73-year-old premier found himself in an argument with a matronly, bespectacled opposition member of parliament, Rosy Bindi.

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Angry and frustrated with the direction the debate was heading, he lashed out and told her she's "prettier than she is intelligent" – implying that she was neither.

Ms. Bindi tartly replied that she was not a woman at the prime minister's "disposal" – a dig at his penchant for elevating into politics a string of beautiful women, including a former model, Mara Carfagna, who is now his Minister for Equal Opportunity.

Berlusconi's remark provoked indignation and anger among many Italian women, who objected to him muddying a political discussion with personal insults.

The online petition is hosted at the website of the centre-left La Repubblica newspaper, with many posting photographs of themselves bearing indignant messages.

Some of the photos were superimposed with the words: "We are not your concubines," while others read: "I am not a woman at your disposal."

A self-portrait of a bare-shouldered young woman in a straw beach hat, with a cigar in her mouth, was simply captioned: "Unavailable."