Silvio Berlusconi

Then, Berlusconi dug his hole even deeper by telling Rosy Bindi, vice president of the Chamber of Deputies and one of Italy’s most powerful female politicians, on state TV that she was “always more beautiful than intelligent” — a comment many interpreted to mean that she was especially unintelligent. Her retort, “I’m not one of the women at your disposal,” galvanized some 100,000 women to send in photos and notes of protest to a liberal newspaper, many of which declared, “Mr. Premier, I’m not at your disposal.”

A new documentary, “Videocracy,” also takes a critical look at Berlusconi’s “skin is in” approach. In the film, “crowds of eager parents and grandparents egg on skittish young women” auditioning for the coveted role as a “velina,” one of the many pieces of eye candy featured on Italian news programs and game shows, the Associated Press reports. (Think Barker’s Beauties or “Deal or No Deal” models.) In the (NSFW) trailer for the documentary, a bevy of girls wiggle their hips and flip their hair in the desperate mating dance of 20-somethings everywhere. On a similar tack, the popular video “Il Corpo delle Donne,” which translates as “The Body of Women,” compiles some of the most shameless moments of T’n'A from Berlusconi’s stations and state television. The most egregious example: A woman is shown suspended from the ceiling in skimpy underwear next to a literal piece of meat clad in a matching pair of panties; it’s awfully reminiscent of that infamous meat-grinder Hustler cover. Worse than anything shown in either video, though, is the fact that a recent poll of young girls in Milan found that most want to grow up to be a velina.

Of course they do. In Berlusconi’s world, there is no dividing line between politics and entertainment; instead, he’s created a politi-tainment conglomerate of sorts. His minister for (of all things) equal opportunity is a perfect example of this: She started as a showgirl on state TV; that alone is her qualification for the job. Formidable female politicians like Rosy Bindi are derided as ugly old crows for forgoing the cleavage and collagen look of veline, while inexperienced Berlusconi appointees are giddily celebrated for being fuckable. There are many factors at play here (like a deeply entrenched patriarchal culture) but it would be hard to overstate Berlusconi’s particular influence on the current sexual culture; the guy holds sway over an estimated 90 percent of Italian media.

The recent outcry shows there is hope yet for those little girls, though. More and more Italians are looking beyond the nearly naked women Berlusconi has surrounded himself with to discover that it’s the emperor who has no clothes.