Martina Carbonaro, victim of femicide at 14 years old: but in Italy we continue to ignore the urgency of emotional education

Martina Carbonaro was 14 years old and from today she is a victim of femicide. At 14 you should think about the summer that is about to begin. To that last question that the final vote plays you, to the trip with the class, to the music you listen to in loop. You should think about friends, the first bath by the sea. Not to defend yourself from those who tell you to love you. Don’t run away. Martina Carbonaro was killed by a 19 -year -old boy, his ex -boyfriend, Alessio Tucci, who confessed. He killed her brutally, hitting her with what he found, a stone. This is not just another femicide, it is a precise photograph of how late we are. When gender violence already explodes in the relationships between teenagers, it means that the culture of possession, jealousy as a form of love, permeates their lives. And if so soon, it is because nobody taught them the opposite. Or showed him.

Why don’t you act in Italy in Italy in Italy? It serves affective education. It serves consent education. We need to talk about emotions, respect, boundaries. And you need to do it now. It is necessary to structure an educational path that starts from middle schools, if not before. In 2024, in Italy, 113 women were killed. Of these, 99 in family or affective contexts. And 61 were killed by the partner or the former partner. A woman every three days. Martina is the youngest victim. And this should be enough to change everything but it does not happen: Italy remains one of the few European countries not to have a national plan for sexual and emotional education. In many institutes, it all depends on the will of individual teachers or external projects.

Alessio Tuccio, a confess guilty of the femicide of Martina Carbonaro, is 19 years old. A border age, in which the tools must be had to experience relationships in a healthy way. Why at 19 years of age is the only response to an emotional disappointment is violence? In 2025, a bill of popular initiative has collected over 50 thousand signatures to request the introduction of sentimental education in Italian schools. But it is still firm. In the meantime, according to the data collected by the Save the Children international organization, In sentimental relationships more than 1 in 2 teenager has experienced harmful and violent behaviorfrom the calls insistent to real aggressive attitudes. Although there is a greater awareness than gender -based violence because we talk about more with friends, for 43% of teenagers, if a girl does not really want to have sexual intercourse, the way to escape can find it. And 29% believe that girls can help cause sexual violence with their way of dressing or behaving. Yes, again. The data show that between 14 and 17 years of age many girls experience violent or control behaviors from the partner: from control of the smartphone to insults, to social isolation. And too many do not recognize these signals as violence. Because nobody has ever explained to him. How long?