Mara Carfagna
Encyclopedia
Maria Rosaria Carfagna (born December 18, 1975 in Salerno
) is an Italian
politician and former showgirl
and topless model. After obtaining a degree in law, Carfagna worked for several years on Italian television shows and as a model. She later entered politics and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies
for Forza Italia
party in 2006. On May 8, 2008, Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi
appointed her Minister for Equal Opportunity, a move that received international attention due to her background. Carfagna had been named "the most beautiful minister in the world", and was ranked number one on Maxim
's "World´s Hottest Politicians".
, where she attended the Liceo scientifico
Giovanni da Procida
. In 2001 she graduated in law
from the University of Salerno
, with a thesis
on information law and broadcasting
systems.
contest in 1997, finishing in sixth place. About the experience she later said: "That competition makes you as a woman, it matures you...all that stress, that desire to win, it makes you understand who you are."
Later she started working in television for the company Mediaset
, controlled by the family of Silvio Berlusconi
. From 2000 to 2006 she participated as a showgirl
in the television program La domenica del villaggio ("Sunday in the Village") with Davide Mengacci
. In 2006 she led the program Piazza grande ("Main Square") together with Giancarlo Magalli. Carfagna has also been part of the television programs I cervelloni, Vota la voce and Domenica In.
Mara Carfagna has in the past posed nude
on several occasions, for magazines such as Maxim
. Reluctant to talk about her modelling past, she has nevertheless suggested that she had certain reservations about the work. On one occasion she said: "I am a bit of a prude and I found getting undressed in front of a camera not a pleasant experience." She states that she is a firm believer in family values, and claimed in an interview that she once refused to take part in a movie directed by erotic filmmaker Tinto Brass
.
(presently The People of Freedom
). In the elections of 2006
she was elected into the Chamber of Deputies
for Forza Italia, and in the 2008 elections
– running as the third candidate from The People of Freedom in the district "Campania
2" – she was reelected. When she first entered parliament Berlusconi jokingly commented that Forza Italia practiced the law of primae noctis
; the right of a feudal
lord to take the virginity
of his female subjects. As a deputy she was secretary of the Commission for Constitutional Affairs, and has been described as a diligent, hard-working parliamentarian. On May 8, 2008 she was appointed Minister for Equal Opportunity, in the fourth cabinet
of Silvio Berlusconi
, an appointment that was widely publicised internationally, with focus on her special background.
Carfagna has been vocal on certain issues, such as the level of crime in her home town of Salerno, after having herself been the victim of burglary on three different occasions. She describes herself as an antifeminist
, as she believes that "liberty" depends not on independence, but on rules and discipline. She opposes gay marriage, and says that matrimonial rights should be tied to reproduction.
Soon after her accession she refused to back a gay pride
march, arguing that discrimination was no longer a problem for homosexuals in Italy because the homophobia was just a thinking offence, a statement that was strongly criticised by gay rights groups.
In September 2008, Carfagna introduced proposal for a new law making street prostitution
a crime, with fines for both clients and prostitutes. The bill was her first major initiative as a minister. She said that at present in Italy, "as in the great majority of Western countries", brothels and the exploitation of prostitutes by pimps were illegal but prostitution as such was not. She described street prostitution as a "shameful phenomenon". Carfagna was criticized by prostitutes' representatives and other charities for introducing the bill. However, some Catholic charities praised her for having the courage to "take on prostitution as a serious social evil".
In 2009 she became the first political promoter of the law against stalking offence. This law was finally approved in 23 February 2009, introduced as a package of bills known as the Decreto Maroni. In the same year she signed a campaign against homophobia in Italy, with television spots, images on magazines and wall attachments on cities. She also proposed a bill against homophobia, in which homophobia was considered as an aggravating circumstance in bullying events. This bill was next refused by the Parliament.
In 2010 during political debate for the 8th March celebration she claimed that women gained the right to vote in Italy in 1960 (while they did in 1946) and that the law that rules intrahousehold relationship was reformed in 1970 (while it was in 1975)
award show, Berlusconi said about Carfagna that "If I was not already married I would have married her immediately". The comment caused Berlusconi's wife, Veronica Lario
, to demand an apology through a national newspaper, something which she also received. Carfagna herself has later described the comment as "gallant and harmless," and said that she did not quite understand Lario's reaction.
On July 5, 2008, the Argentine
journal Clarín
reported about telephone wiretap records authorized for an anti-corruption investigation. Reporter Julio Algañaraz wrote that Carfagna and Silvio Berlusconi
engaged in a telephone conversation with explicit allusions to oral sex
. The wiretap transcripts have not been published, but the Italian newspaper La Repubblica
interviewed the former vice-minister of Foreign Affairs in the Berlusconi II Cabinet
and socialist executive Margherita Boniver
, who admitted the existence of some messages.
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
) is an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
politician and former showgirl
Showgirl
A showgirl is a dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show. Showgirl is also often used as a term for a promotional model in trade fairs and car shows, etc...
and topless model. After obtaining a degree in law, Carfagna worked for several years on Italian television shows and as a model. She later entered politics and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of deputies is the name given to a legislative body such as the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or can refer to a unicameral legislature.-Description:...
for Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
party in 2006. On May 8, 2008, Prime Minister
Prime minister of Italy
The Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government of the Italian Republic...
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
appointed her Minister for Equal Opportunity, a move that received international attention due to her background. Carfagna had been named "the most beautiful minister in the world", and was ranked number one on Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
's "World´s Hottest Politicians".
Background
Carfagna was born in SalernoSalerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, where she attended the Liceo scientifico
Liceo Scientifico
Liceo Scientifico is a secondary school type in Italy. Along with Liceo Classico, it is considered the peak of the Italian upper secondary education. The access to this school is possible after the successful completion of the three year middle school and the corresponding final examination...
Giovanni da Procida
John of Procida
John of Procida was an Italian medieval physician and diplomat.He was born at Salerno, educated in the Schola Medica as a physician. He was a noted physician for his age and received at professorial chair at this university...
. In 2001 she graduated in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
from the University of Salerno
University of Salerno
The University of Salerno is a university located in Salerno, Italy. It is organized in 10 Faculties.-History:Salerno, a city in which, as Michelet said, “emperors, kings, popes, and the richest barons all had their own doctor”, developed during the Middle Ages around its prestigious School of...
, with a thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
on information law and broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
systems.
Career as showgirl and model
After having studied dance and piano, she participated in the Miss ItalyMiss Italia
Miss Italia is the name of a beauty pageant awarding prizes every year to young, female contestants from Italy. Since the first edition of the contest in 1939 many of the contestants have gone on to notable careers in television and film.-History:...
contest in 1997, finishing in sixth place. About the experience she later said: "That competition makes you as a woman, it matures you...all that stress, that desire to win, it makes you understand who you are."
Later she started working in television for the company Mediaset
Mediaset
Mediaset S.p.A., known as Gruppo Mediaset in Italian, is an Italian-based media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country...
, controlled by the family of Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
. From 2000 to 2006 she participated as a showgirl
Showgirl
A showgirl is a dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show. Showgirl is also often used as a term for a promotional model in trade fairs and car shows, etc...
in the television program La domenica del villaggio ("Sunday in the Village") with Davide Mengacci
Davide Mengacci
Davide Mengacci is an Italian television host who has been working in television since 1986. From 2000 to 2005 he worked on the show La domenica del villaggio with Mara Carfagna, who in May 2008 was appointed Minister for Equal Opportunity in the fourth cabinet of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi...
. In 2006 she led the program Piazza grande ("Main Square") together with Giancarlo Magalli. Carfagna has also been part of the television programs I cervelloni, Vota la voce and Domenica In.
Mara Carfagna has in the past posed nude
Nude photography
Nude photography is a style of art photography which depicts the nude human body as a study. Nude photography should be distinguished from glamour photography, which places more emphasis on the model and her/his sexuality, and treats the model as the primary subject. Nude photography should also be...
on several occasions, for magazines such as Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
. Reluctant to talk about her modelling past, she has nevertheless suggested that she had certain reservations about the work. On one occasion she said: "I am a bit of a prude and I found getting undressed in front of a camera not a pleasant experience." She states that she is a firm believer in family values, and claimed in an interview that she once refused to take part in a movie directed by erotic filmmaker Tinto Brass
Tinto Brass
Giovanni Brass , better known as Tinto Brass, is an Italian filmmaker. He is noted especially for his work in the erotic genre, with films such as Così fan tutte , Paprika, Monella and Trasgredire...
.
Political career
Carfagna entered politics in 2004, and became responsible for the women's movement in the political party Forza ItaliaForza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
(presently The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom is a centre-right political party in Italy. With the Democratic Party, it is one of the two major parties of the current Italian party system....
). In the elections of 2006
Italian general election, 2006
In the Italian general election, 2006 for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy held on April 9 and April 10, 2006 the incumbent prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the center-right House of Freedoms, was narrowly defeated by Romano Prodi, leader of the center-left The...
she was elected into the Chamber of Deputies
Italian Chamber of Deputies
The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
for Forza Italia, and in the 2008 elections
Italian general election, 2008
A snap general election was held in Italy on 13 April and 14 April 2008. The election came after President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved parliament on 6 February 2008 following the defeat of the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi in a January 2008 Senate vote, and the unsuccessful tentative...
– running as the third candidate from The People of Freedom in the district "Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
2" – she was reelected. When she first entered parliament Berlusconi jokingly commented that Forza Italia practiced the law of primae noctis
Droit de seigneur
Droit du seigneur is an alleged legal right allowing the lord of a medieval estate to take the virginity of his serfs' maiden daughters. There is no historical evidence that such a right ever existed.-Terminology:...
; the right of a feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
lord to take the virginity
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
of his female subjects. As a deputy she was secretary of the Commission for Constitutional Affairs, and has been described as a diligent, hard-working parliamentarian. On May 8, 2008 she was appointed Minister for Equal Opportunity, in the fourth cabinet
Berlusconi IV Cabinet
Berlusconi IV Cabinet has been the cabinet of the government of Italy from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011.As of July 2011, it was composed of 24 ministers, 4 deputy ministers and 39 under-secretaries, for a total of 67 members.-Sources:*...
of Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
, an appointment that was widely publicised internationally, with focus on her special background.
Carfagna has been vocal on certain issues, such as the level of crime in her home town of Salerno, after having herself been the victim of burglary on three different occasions. She describes herself as an antifeminist
Antifeminism
Antifeminism is opposition to feminism in some or all of its forms. Modern antifeminists say that the feminist movement has achieved its aims and now seeks higher status for women than for men.-History:...
, as she believes that "liberty" depends not on independence, but on rules and discipline. She opposes gay marriage, and says that matrimonial rights should be tied to reproduction.
Soon after her accession she refused to back a gay pride
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
march, arguing that discrimination was no longer a problem for homosexuals in Italy because the homophobia was just a thinking offence, a statement that was strongly criticised by gay rights groups.
In September 2008, Carfagna introduced proposal for a new law making street prostitution
Street prostitution
Street prostitution is a form of prostitution in which a sex worker solicits customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, beaches, etc. The street prostitute is often dressed in a...
a crime, with fines for both clients and prostitutes. The bill was her first major initiative as a minister. She said that at present in Italy, "as in the great majority of Western countries", brothels and the exploitation of prostitutes by pimps were illegal but prostitution as such was not. She described street prostitution as a "shameful phenomenon". Carfagna was criticized by prostitutes' representatives and other charities for introducing the bill. However, some Catholic charities praised her for having the courage to "take on prostitution as a serious social evil".
In 2009 she became the first political promoter of the law against stalking offence. This law was finally approved in 23 February 2009, introduced as a package of bills known as the Decreto Maroni. In the same year she signed a campaign against homophobia in Italy, with television spots, images on magazines and wall attachments on cities. She also proposed a bill against homophobia, in which homophobia was considered as an aggravating circumstance in bullying events. This bill was next refused by the Parliament.
In 2010 during political debate for the 8th March celebration she claimed that women gained the right to vote in Italy in 1960 (while they did in 1946) and that the law that rules intrahousehold relationship was reformed in 1970 (while it was in 1975)
Controversies
In January 2007, Carfagna was at the center of a controversy that received international attention. On the evening of the TelegattoTelegatto
Telegatto is an Italian television award first given out in 1971 following the contest "Gran Premio internazionale dello Spettacolo", sponsored by the weekly magazine TV Sorrisi e Canzoni and aired on Canale 5...
award show, Berlusconi said about Carfagna that "If I was not already married I would have married her immediately". The comment caused Berlusconi's wife, Veronica Lario
Veronica Lario
Veronica Lario is a former Italian actress, ex wife of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, although she has filed for legal separation, which is the first step towards divorce in Italian law.-Biography:Born in Bologna, Lario was an actress in low budget films...
, to demand an apology through a national newspaper, something which she also received. Carfagna herself has later described the comment as "gallant and harmless," and said that she did not quite understand Lario's reaction.
On July 5, 2008, the Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
journal Clarín
Clarín (newspaper)
Clarín is the largest newspaper in Argentina, published by the Grupo Clarín media group. It was founded by Roberto Noble on 28 August 1945. It is politically centrist but popularly understood to oppose the Kirchner government...
reported about telephone wiretap records authorized for an anti-corruption investigation. Reporter Julio Algañaraz wrote that Carfagna and Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
engaged in a telephone conversation with explicit allusions to oral sex
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
. The wiretap transcripts have not been published, but the Italian newspaper La Repubblica
La Repubblica
la Repubblica is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. Founded in 1976 in Rome by the journalist Eugenio Scalfari, as of 2008 is the second largest circulation newspaper, behind the Corriere della Sera.-Foundation:...
interviewed the former vice-minister of Foreign Affairs in the Berlusconi II Cabinet
Berlusconi II Cabinet
The Berlusconi II Cabinet was the 57th cabinet of the Italian Republic, and the first cabinet of the XIV Legislature. It took office following the 2001 elections, and held office from 11 June 2001 until 23 April 2005, a total of 1,412 days, or 3 years, 10 months and 12 days...
and socialist executive Margherita Boniver
Margherita Boniver
Margherita Boniver is an Italian politician.Until 1962 she lived abroad, in places such as Washington, D.C., Bucharest and London. In Italy she founded the Italian section of Amnesty International which she led from 1973 to 1980....
, who admitted the existence of some messages.
External links
- Ministry biography
- Personal blog
- Mara Carfagna - slideshow and video by The Huffington Post