“I was in the middle of the greenhouse working and my uncle's daughter-in-law picked me up and said [in Italian] 'Andrea, congratulations'. She grew up with the mentality that Italians want [children] to be girls. [I] told her, 'Tell [the woman] to go to her mother. Pack your bags and go. If only I had known from the beginning... until 6 months [I thought it was a boy] they would say [others] that her belly is round and it's a boy. There was a big debate, until my people picked me up and said 'don't do that'. When my second child was born, I couldn't wait because I knew what it meant to have a girl."
This wasn't some part of a tragicomedy. No, it's a real statement, made in 2025 on a television show, without any shame.
Instead of thanking his partner for giving birth to a child, Andrea, a member of “Ferma VIP,” chose a phrase that should have remained in the hell of 15th-century mentality: “Run to your mother.” Because, for him, the fact that he was going to have a girl was not good news. It was a reason to show his wife the door. And here comes the most tragic part: he tells this as an interesting story.
Let's be honest: for some parents, the disappointment of the moment when they learn the gender of their child is not uncommon. Expectations, dreams, and even stereotypes inherited from their upbringing can feed an unconscious desire to have a boy or a girl. But this is a momentary emotion, which usually disappears as soon as the parent understands that beyond gender, they will become the father/mother of a small, innocent being.
But Andrea wasn't surprised, he wasn't upset, he wasn't silent to reflect. No. He reacted. Badly. He was emotionally violent towards a woman who was about to become a mother. And then, years later, he chose to share this with the public, as if it were some charming anecdote.
But really, what else can we expect from a man who has no idea that he determines the sex of the child himself? Yes, Andrea. The Y chromosome (which randomly determines the baby's biological sex) is your exclusive. If you wanted a "culprit" for the girl, you better have gotten a mirror.
Then, Andrea confesses that he welcomed his second daughter with great joy. Because, as he himself says, "now I know what it means to have a daughter." Beautiful. But this delayed maturity does not erase the first. Especially when that event becomes public without any very serious reflection, without any sincere apology and, above all, without a call for others not to make the same mistake.
With this, I do not intend to "crucify" Andrea, but as part of the media, which has the power and obligation to raise awareness, it is imperative that such statements be criticized and opposed, especially when it comes to issues that should have been archived in the collective shame of the past.
- Written by Sindi Salaj, editor-in-chief of Anabel.al.
