The story started when the private pictures of the teacher appeared online for revenge porn. Now, the roles have reversed. And the school principal has been sentenced to 13 months for defamation and violence.
How it began
Back in 2017, the former kindergarten teacher started dating an amateur soccer player. It was more of a fling than a relationship, but it managed to destroy her reputation. While they were dating, she sent him 18 private pictures and one intimate video.
In 2018, the soccer player shared the content to a WhatsApp chat with his friends, in a case of revenge porn. He didn’t even try to hide the teacher’s face or her name. In fact, according to reports, he even shared a screenshot with the girl’s name.
In fact, soon someone recognized her as her kid’s teacher. This father sent the pictures to his wife. In turn, she shared the content with other mothers and the school principal. In a vicious circle in which the young teacher was the target. That’s when the victim shaming started. Especially when the father gave an interview to La Stampa, although with the alias Franco.
“When you send such videos, you have to take into account that someone will share them,” he said.
The consequences for the teacher
Everyone told her not to report the events to the police. If she did, people would have found out even more details. First, she resigned. Then, she changed her mind. The principal didn’t like that. She sent a voice message to the other teachers, which said “help me to push towards a mistake. So I have an excuse to kick her out. Please do me this favor. I hate her.”
La Repubblica reported that the school principal made the young teacher stand in front of her colleagues. She was shaming her into quitting the job and when the teacher did not quit she fired her.
Revenge porn: the consequences for everyone else
But the former teacher wasn’t about to give up. She decided to defend her reputation by reporting the events to the police. She came to an agreement with the school and the ex boyfriend is doing social services -for one year. He chose this sentence to avoid harsher consequences.
The father who sent the pictures to his wife is innocent because he “only” shared the pictures with his partner. A former friend and colleague of the young teacher was condemned to 8 months in jail because she shared the pictures with the other co-workers.
The latest developments in the case
On February, 19th 2021, the school principal was condemned to 13 months in jail for defamation and private violence. While the mother who shared a collage of the revenge porn pictures has been condemned to one year.
She will also have to pay $5500 in fine. But they didn’t apologize, not for the victim blaming nor for their actions. Not at all. “We are all bad wolves. This is a story not told well,” the school principal said after the verdict.
The young teacher seemed satisfied. At least, that’s what her lawyers told the press.
“This ruling shows that no one, not even women, have to be judged by what they do in their bedroom,” they said.
Is this over? Probably not. The circle of appeals seems endless in Italy. But these rulings seem to move the country forward, for once. They show that victim shaming and revenge porn are crimes. And that the only one paying isn’t only the person who starts the circle. It’s everyone who shares and scares the victim.
If you want to check deeper: Look at the laws governing revenge porn in the United States.
