A tutorial aired on public television that gave women tips on how to “shop in a sexy way” has sparked outrage in Italy.
The guide was transmitted during Detto Fatto, a programme on the state broadcaster’s Rai 2 channel, and featured the ballerina and pole dance teacher Emily Angelillo advising women on how to look sensual in the supermarket.
The segment began with Angelillo, dressed in leather mini-shorts and high heels, doing a dance before advising a young woman on how to wear heels. She then demonstrated how high heels could be worn in places where they wouldn’t ordinarily be worn, such as at the supermarket.
Tips included how to walk in an alluring way while pushing a shopping trolley and how to reach for a packet of crisps on a high shelf, all the while jauntily raising the leg for additional intrigue. Angelillo also demonstrated how to pick a product up from the floor, should one accidentally drop it, in a “non-vulgar” way.
Indignation over the episode was amplified by its scheduling on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against women. Some viewers were so shocked they initially thought the guide was a parody. Government ministers have demanded to know why it was shown on public television.
“For how long must we continue talking about women in a false, stereotypical way, with stiletto heels, sexy moves, always perfect, mermaids or witches?” Italy’s agricultural minister, Teresa Bellanova, wrote on Twitter.
Rai has cancelled Detto Fatto amid the backlash, and its chief executive, Fabrizio Salini, has ordered an investigation into the episode, which he said had “nothing to do with the spirit of the public service and with the editorial line of Rai”.
Bianca Guaccero, the show’s host, apologised for the episode’s “superficiality”.