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鈥檛 even try to hide the teacher鈥檚 face or her name. In fact, according to reports, he even shared a screenshot with the girl鈥檚 name.
In fact, soon someone recognized her as her kid鈥檚 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鈥檚 when the victim shaming started. Especially when the father gave an interview to La Stampa, although with the alias Franco.
鈥淲hen you send such videos, you have to take into account that someone will share them,鈥� 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鈥檛 like that. She sent a voice message to the other teachers, which said 鈥渉elp me to push towards a mistake. So I have an excuse to kick her out. Please do me this favor. I hate her.鈥�
La Repubblica 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鈥檛 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 鈥渙nly鈥� 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鈥檛 apologize, not for the victim blaming nor for their actions. Not at all. 鈥淲e are all bad wolves. This is a story not told well,鈥� the school principal said after the verdict.
The young teacher seemed satisfied. At least, that鈥檚 what her lawyers told the press.
鈥淭his ruling shows that no one, not even women, have to be judged by what they do in their bedroom,鈥� 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鈥檛 only the person who starts the circle. It鈥檚 everyone who shares and scares the victim.
If you want to check deeper: Look at the laws governing in the United States.
