A-Infos (en) Italy, Sicilia Libertaria #463 - Virtual Sewers of the Patriarchy: "My Wife" and "Phica.net" (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The case of the private Facebook group "My Wife," active since 2019 and 
closed at the end of August 2025 by Meta under pressure from the postal 
police, has opened a Pandora's box as large as the entire patriarchy. To 
begin with, the report was made by a woman active on Instagram under the 
pseudonym lhascrittounafemmina, confirming once again that indignation 
and the need to intervene are reactions not usually expected from men.
It was thus discovered that a significant number of people-just over 
32,000 men-used to share in the social media group photos of their wives 
and partners, stolen without their knowledge, to be exposed to the rest 
of the gang, who, at best, would comment vulgarly on them in clear 
approval. News of what was happening led many women to investigate and 
discover that they had been subjected to this illicit and humiliating 
practice, at the hands of their partners. The issue, which immediately 
drew widespread attention, initially unfolded within the confines of 
that violated intimacy, with testimonies from women experiencing sudden 
marital crisis, and from men defending themselves by claiming good 
intentions, all intent on valorizing their wives.

This practice, which psychoanalyst Massimo Recalcati explains as the 
product of an ancient mentality-that of "the most ferocious machismo, 
expressed in the age of social media"-carried out by men to turn women 
into objects of consumption, falls squarely within the realm of revenge 
porn and is not limited to the Italian group "Mia Moglie." The 
investigation that opened into this group then expanded to the even 
broader, more underground world of "Phica.net," a site that has been in 
existence for approximately twenty years. Its manager, Vittorio 
Vitiello, appears to be the primary target for his February 4, 2022, 
statements in which he authorized and encouraged the dissemination of 
images of minors, provided they were clothed, as well as for the 
extortion he had been practicing since 2017 for the removal of content 
from the page. But beyond Vitiello, a large number of amateur 
pornography experts profit from this exchange of illicit content, which 
has also involved celebrities and the institutional world. The site 
appears to be linked to a network of various companies, one of which is 
also present in Italy, engaged in the production of porn videos. While 
there is no apparent connection to the page in question other than the 
homonymy, there is evidence of a dense network, leveraging anonymity and 
multiple management to muddy the waters and therefore make them easier 
to navigate for those seeking to exploit them.

As the investigation continues, the men belonging to the recently 
defunct "My Wife" group, bold and stubborn because many of them were 
protected by their nicknames, have reorganized on "My Wife 2." They are 
careful not to share explicit content, but they are explicitly 
continuing the same activity for which they were reported, requesting 
content exchanges. This time, however, they are crafty, moving the 
communication to Messenger or Telegram, making the exchange of images 
private.

Now, unlike the first phase of the scandal, when testimonies from women 
poured in, we are witnessing a surprising but actually predictable focus 
on those men and their new page, which receives numerous requests for 
access. These are quickly granted without much scrutiny, so much so that 
even women who want to be there to see what's happening and report it 
are members. Every day, a large number of men ask to be included in the 
"My Wife 2" group, and this, in addition to stirring up a great deal of 
anger and fanning the flames of already festering mistrust, cannot go 
unnoticed.

What is profoundly shocking is the epidemic nature of this type of 
practice, so much so that it forces us to suspend an analysis of 
psychological imbalances, which we initially attempted to conduct, but 
which truly cannot find any answer in such a widespread phenomenon. 
Faced with all these people intent on engaging in revenge porn, the 
alleged issue of sexual disorder collapses and we dutifully enter the 
realm of legitimizing certain practices simply because they are 
widespread, with that foolish underlying reasoning that minimizes, 
confuses seriousness with humor, conforms to the masses while finding 
comfort in its absurd mechanisms of legitimacy, but above all, that 
demonstrates a still absurdly solid foundation of woman as an object, as 
a useful piece of equipment, and of the dominant relationship between 
man and woman with their bodies. It's yet another case of a humiliating 
viral attitude, encompassing a bit of everything, from the man who 
believes he's honoring his wife by highlighting her physical beauty to 
the pervert who asks if their daughters and children are there.

The common denominator is the commodified woman, mostly in pieces, 
frames, and scraps, who, because she's not physically touched, shouldn't 
feel violated. The common denominator is the practice, so widespread 
that it's become normalized, transformed into a regulated game (no naked 
children, no explicit public messages, and so on). The common 
denominator is patriarchy, which transforms a perverse pleasure-that of 
being able to feed a woman's image to others-into one of a man's many 
pastimes, passing off profanity as praise, perversion as virility, and 
virtual swinging as hedonism. A culture that won't be dismantled by a 
few investigations and specific circumstances, but one that must be 
opposed in all its aspects, every day. And this must also be said to the 
female politicians who are now outraged and rising up, even from the 
right-women we see heatedly, but who, as we know-Mara Carfagna above 
all-are not only themselves subservient to the patriarchy, but have 
never missed an opportunity to oppose feminist struggles by dissociating 
themselves, attacking, promoting vulgar laws, and becoming enemies. Now, 
feeling threatened, they find support and open arms in the feminist 
tide. A definitive, cross-party fight against patriarchy, or the usual 
exploitation of feminism?

Désirée Carruba Toscano

https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
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