A New Sex Symbol
Yesterday I was chatting with my sisters in New York and, among other things we discussed Governor Andrew Cuomo’s recent metamorphosis into a kind of Corona-day sex symbol. The “supposedly feminist website” Jezebel ran a piece by Rebecca Fishbein entitled Help, I think I’m In Love with Andrew Cuomo??? and the sharp tongued New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd declared that his daily briefings make people crave Chianti and meatballs.
The matter got me thinking. I realised that a similar sentiment has been developing here in Italy with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. On March 15th, Rolling Stone ran an article suggesting Italian women were in love with Conte, and stating that his name was among those most searched on Pornhub. A slew of meme accounts have emerged on the subject, most notably one entitled Le Bimbe di Giuseppe Conte (loosely translated: Giuseppe Conte’s girls) or Daddy.Conte, featuring photographs of Conte with spicy captions, like an image of him wielding a drill and the words “What every girl wishes our beloved president would do to her…” Sigmund Freud would have a field day. Or, is it, as Rebecca Fishbein implies, more of a case of Stockholm Syndrome? Who knows, but it’s deeply psychological. I do hope British women don’t feel similarly attracted to Boris Johnson. That would be plain weird.
Yesterday I noticed that quite a few helicopters were flying over Milan, apparently helping to track recent increase in civil disobedience. The slowing of infections (we have now been at a steady 4% increase for a few days, which is slowdown, but not a flattening) has given rise to more people going out for illicit reasons. The mayor of Milan complained that too much speculation about the “end” of the lockdown and new phases, has made people think that they can relax their vigilance. So now, the city is using helicopters to increase surveillance.
As of today, masks or face (nose and mouth) coverings will be mandatory here in Lombardy. Presumably we will get fined for not wearing one. This issue continues to be hotly debated, as there are still those, like the head of civil protection Borelli, who says he does not use one. He and Trump can have an anti-mask party. As for me, I have, as previously stated, I have not worn one, because from my research and the WHO recommendation, it was not necessary, nor, in my opinion correct to take these supplies away from those who really need them. However, as a (mostly) law-abiding citizen, I will succumb to this most recent edict. Let it be known however, that it is impossible to buy anything medical grade anywhere in Milan (unless you are friends with the pharmacist). Masks remain very scarce. There is a massive effort to produce them here in Italy by fashion companies and even some prison inmates. Ironically, while these companies are feverishly making masks and have a hoard of millions of them, they don’t have the rights to distribute them because the ministry of health has not approved them…