Yesterday a jury in a federal court in New York found that Donald Trump sexually abused advice columnist E Jean Carroll in a department store changing room 27 years ago. The jury - comprising three women and six men - ruled that Trump sexually abused the New York writer, but did not convict him of rape.
As this was a civil rather than a criminal case, the only legal sanction Trump will face is financial. He was indeed condemned to pay $5m for compensatory and punitive damages (about $2m on the sexual abuse count and close to $3m for defamation, as he branded Carroll a liar).
During the trial Carroll remembered the events: while leaving the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York one evening in spring 1996, she ran into Trump. He asked her to help him buying a present for a woman and she suggested a handbag or a hat. Trump wasn't interested, but mentioned lingerie.
In the lingerie department, Trump "snatched up" a grey-blue bodysuit and told Carroll to try it on. Carroll refused, but Trump suggested they both try it on and motioned toward the dressing room. Initially, Carroll thought this was a joke, but the mood changed. "He immediately shut the door and shoved me up against the wall. He shoved me so hard my head banged. I was extremely confused," Carroll recounted in court. "He leaned down and pulled down my tights," she continued. "I was pushing him back. It was quite clear I didn't want anything else to happen."
Ashamed to go to the police, Carroll chose not to report the incident, but eventually found the strength to talk about what happened in 2019, motivated by the #MeToo movement.
The attack left Carroll unable to have a romantic relationship and to even smile at a man she was attracted to (in court clinical psychologist Dr Leslie Lebowitz stated Carroll exhibited aspects of post-traumatic stress disorder, and highlighted that she manifested "avoidance syndromes" that stopped her having a romantic life). The author went through more suffering after she went public. Trump denied the attack and called Carroll a liar, she lost her reputation and her job as Elle magazine sacked her after she went public.
This is the first time a verdict brands a former US president as a sexual predator. But legal woes are not over for Trump: last month he entered a plea of not guilty to a staggering 34 criminal charges in New York. These charges revolve around the alleged falsification of business records pertaining to a hush-money payment made to the renowned porn star, Stormy Daniels, during the tumultuous 2016 election. Furthermore, there are mounting indications that Trump may face additional criminal charges in relation to his relentless attempts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election in the state of Georgia and he is also under the scrutiny of a federal inquiry that delves into his alleged role in the incitement of the shocking and unprecedented attack on the United States Capitol.
Can art provide us moments of reflections about issues such as the male gaze and sexual abuse? Let's try to look at these themes through a painting and a photograph.
The painting in question is "La figlia di Iorio" (The Daughter of Iorio, 1895) by Francesco Paolo Michetti. The painting was inspired by a scene the painter witnessed in Tocco da Casauria, his hometown. On a summer day, a disheveled young woman appeared running in the square, chased by a group of drunk men, as recounted by writer Gabriele D'Annunzio, who was present with him during the scene.
The scene inspired Michetti the painting and D'Annunzio the eponymous play (1904). The story of the play focuses on a young shepherd, Alici, who falls in love with a young woman, Mila di Crodo, daughter of Iorio, a prostitute and therefore an outcast. In the play both Alici and his father Lazzaro vie for the woman, and Aligi ends up killing his father. Mila, who loves the young shepherd, accuses herself of bewitching him to save him and dies on the stake, despised by Aligi himself who is unaware of her sacrifice.
In the painting we see in the foreground a young woman passing by a group of men. She is wearing a long red dress with a shawl that she uses to cover her head to conceal her allure. This gesture actually emphasizes the innocence of the protagonist, her unwillingness to provoke gazes. Each man conveys a different emotion through their gaze. The first one on the left (probably a self-portrait of Michetti) has a mischievous look; the second character, positioned behind the woman and resembling the musician and poet Paolo De Cecco, looks spellbound. The third man maintains a calmer demeanor, almost urging the others to composure and moderation. Next to him is another slender young man, withdrawn into himself, his hands clasped between his knees, perhaps uttering an inviting phrase. The fifth man displays a dreamy gaze, clearly enchanted by the woman.
This is an incredibly dynamic scene, with the woman swiftly walking as you can see from the position of her legs, one in front of the other, and the shawl moving around her. Michetti and D'Annunzio's protagonist was fictitious, but still based on a real woman they had both seen chased by men, a woman they didn't stop to help, turning themselves into passive spectators.
The second artwork is a photograph by Ruth Orkin. Arriving in Italy in 1951, Orkin visited Venice, Rome, and Florence where she met Ninalee Craig, an American student. Craig was 23 at the time and was travelling in Europe and taking art classes in Florence. Orkin asked her to model for a photo shoot aimed at depicting the experience of a woman traveling alone in a foreign country.
Orkin's black and white picture, entitled "American Girl in Italy", became iconic: the scene captures Craig walking in a calf-length skirt, and clutching a shawl with her right hand and a modest handbag with the other. With her head held high and her hair gathered up Craig is portrayed as surrounded by fourteen idlers of all ages and sizes who ogle her passage. Again, we have a dynamic pose, with the woman passing by and the men staring, maybe uttering a compliment or whistling.
Alongside with other images by Orkin (there is currently an exhibition of her photographs at Turin's Palazzo Reale, until 16th July 2023), this picture was published in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1952 in the photo essay, "When You Travel Alone…". The latter explained readers not to get worried about public admiration, highlighting "Ogling the ladies is a popular, harmless and flattering pastime you'll run into in many foreign countries. The gentlemen are usually louder and more demonstrative than American men, but they mean no harm." In later years, commenting about the picture that in the meantime became a piece of conversation about street harassment, Craig highlighted that those were different times and there was no danger. In fact, Craig represented independence, freedom and self-determination and the shoot encouraged women to be independent and travel alone and also challenged gender roles at the time.
Yet there is a sense of objectification in both the painting and the photograph, with the women portrayed as the exotic element: in Michetti's painting, the woman clad in red is beautiful and mysterious, like Mila "the witch" in D'Annunzio's play; Craig, the American in Italy, the foreigner in a time when there were fewer travelers and visitors, also represents an intriguing novelty.
In images portraying E Jean Carroll, rather than being surrounded by men, the author is often circled by photographers or protesters - some supporting her, others defending Trump. Like the other women in the painting and the photograph, she is scrutinised (interestingly enough, though, while Mila is the witch in Gabriele D'Annunzio play, here the former president considered himself the victim and "the witch". In an attack on his social media site, Truth Social, Trump called Carroll's accusations a "made-up SCAM" and a "witch-hunt").
Carroll found the strength to get rid of the suffocating grip of shame; her decision to take legal action challenged the status quo and demanded accountability, while being a stark reminder that, while progress has been made, there are still battles to be fought and oppressive structures to be dismantled (will being found liable for sexual assault really be the end of Trump?).
In "American Girl in Italy" Craig walks with half-closed eyes, almost knowing the sidewalk is nearing its end, and the commotion will become but a memory. While Trump's lawyers may attempt to appeal, for now, Carroll has reached a pivotal moment in her journey - standing strong and determined, she has reached the end of that pavement, a testament to her resilience and unwavering spirit.
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