Women in Grey Literature. The Political Discourse on Women's Body in Italy in the Decade of the Cultural Revolution.

This research examines how the Second Wave of feminism in Italy was able to break the cultural taboos on women's bodies starting a relevant change in the society through the use of the language. The transformation in public speaking and the effects on public opinion of the simple action of "nominating the body", especially in terms of its reproductive functions, using the words of the women themselves, is studied using grey literature (flyers, documents, interviews) which were a relevant part of the means of communication of the movement at that time. Moreover, some practices that women invented to redefine bodies perception (i.e. self-help and self-consciousness, self-managed family counselling) are analysed to investigate the difficult relation between women movements and social perception. An evident case of the inability of the Italian institutions to read and understand the cultural change that was sweeping through society like a wind, is represented by the case of "La Zanzara", a school newspaper that was at the centre of animated debates towards the end of the Sixties. The analysis of this type of documents allows up to emphasise the perspective of women, the protagonists of this body disclosing process, which is still ongoing in our societies modifying the public perception of sexuality and gender role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]