Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the genealogy of the sexualisation of women in the Italian news. Newspapers, weekly news magazines and television were analyzed through content analysis and then photo elicitation interviews were used to deepen the content analysis interpretation. Three main results are: first, the popularization of the images of women bodies in the news begins in Italy both in popular and elite weekly news magazine; second, the sexualisation did not concern the newspapers and the television; lastly, a racialization of the sexualisation was already evident in that period and the first women represented with naked bodies were black African women.