“Morta ammazzata dal compagno dopo l’ennesima lite”: come si scrive di femminicidi in Italia?

The proposed activity was developed as part of the research conducted by Dr. Sara Gemelli for her doctoral dissertation titled Gender-Based Violence in Media Representations in Italy: Critical Discourse Analysis, Framing, and Perception Studies (38th cycle of the PhD in Linguistic Sciences), currently being prepared at the University of Bergamo. The proposer is her academic supervisor. The activity will be carried out jointly by the proposer and the PhD student. ● Description: The workshop activity, aimed at high school students, focuses on how femicides are reported in the Italian press and on the role that linguistic choices play in shaping readers’ representation and perception of events. The activity is divided into three parts: 1) The first part introduces key linguistic concepts useful for the subsequent analysis. In particular, it highlights how reflecting on the language we use—its "grammar"—is not an end in itself, but can be a concrete tool for analyzing the world around us. 2) The second part offers a reflection on gender roles and stereotypes, presents the different forms of gender-based violence, and explores why the term "femicide" is used. 3) The third part involves an interactive workshop analyzing newspaper articles in light of the earlier discussions. It includes a practical exercise where students are provided with information about a real-life news case and are then asked to write a newspaper headline and a short subtitle. The goal is to prompt them to reflect on which pieces of information are included or omitted, and on the choice of specific lexical elements used to describe the event.