Gonzalo Barr

Women in Naples, Italy threatened not to have sex with their men if they lit fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

The group of women called itself “Se Spari, Niente Sesso” (If you shoot, no sex).  Their aim was to discourage the use of dangerous fireworks.

Carolina Staiano, […] who is leading the campaign, said it has started with twenty women in the town of Lettere near Naples “almost as a joke” but had spread “like wildfire” by e-mail and mobile phone over the past month to the point where “I can’t keep up.”  [… She] has spent her life caring for father, who became semi-paralysed after someone let off a firework next to him at New Year, injuring his legs.  […]

“If a sex strike is what it takes in order to get the attention of our men, husbands, partners and sons, then we’re ready for it,” she [said]. “This time they’re just going to have to choose: sex or fireworks.”

Lysistrata was unavailable for comment.

For more Art vs. Life, see here and here.

Image: “Lysistrata” illustration by Aubrey Beardsley (1896), article on Lysistrata, wikipedia; Source: Richard Owen, “Naples women go on sex strike over firework injuries,” The Times (Dec. 31, 2008)