Today marks the launch of the “Family Portraits” campaign, a campaign that takes place both online and in the streets of Rome. The aforementioned campaign is organized by an informal network of civil society associations. This campaign restores the term “family” to its broadest meaning, aiming to reflect the real-life experiences of people. Indeed, families are diverse, fluid, chosen and varied. By utilizing social media, billboards and moving images our aim is to represent the diversity and plurality of relationships which are present within our society.
According to Istat (Provisional data 2023) families in Italy amount to roughly 26.2 million. This represents a decrease in number from previous years. However, what the data also reflects is a notable variety among such family units. Couples with children comprise 50.3 percent of the whole. While such families remain the predominant family type, the proportion they represent has decreased by nearly 10 percentage points over the course of the past twenty years. On the other hand, there has been an increase for what concerns couples without children, who now represent roughly a third of all family units (32.4 percent). Similarly, we have witnessed an increase in single-parent household units, which represent 17.3 percent of the total. Lastly, within the span of the last twenty years, there has been an increase in percentage of single-person families, which has been accompanied by a decrease in the percentage of large families.
Hence, we wish to highlight the importance that lies in recognizing civil and social rights for all people by broadening the definition of the term “family”. This is necessary given the constant evolutions of society. There is no single or ideal family model; rather, there are as many family forms as there are ways of living in the world in various forms of relationships, cohabitation, mutual support, friendship, and solidarity.
We have chosen to showcase this inherent diversity among family units. Among them, we included the more common family model—a model that an individual with an integralist and reactionary perspective would impose as the sole family model, referring to it as “traditional”. In reality, however, the uniting factor between the various forms of family and life is the element of choice. A choice that each individual makes for themselves.
Join us! Use the hashtag #ritrattidifamiglia on social media and spread the word!
All families are different. Rights ought to be equal for all. www.ritrattidifamiglia.info
The associations promoting the campaign are: Aidos, Certi Diritti, Cgil, Circolo di cultura omosessuale Mario Meli, Civiltà Laica, Famiglie Arcobaleno, Laiga, Obiezione respinta, Period Think Tank, Pro-choice rete italiana contraccezione e aborto, Rete Lenford, Rete Umbra 2020, Se non ora quando Torino, Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti (Uaar).
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