«Ci lasciaron libere dopo averci tolto l’onore». Usi e abusi del corpo femminile in tempo di brigantaggio (1860-1865)

Abstract

This article examines the role of sexual violence in the context of post-unification brigandage (1860–1865), interpreting it as a central mechanism of political and social conflict in southern Italy. Drawing on judicial, medical, and administrative sources, it explores the transformation of rape from a private crime into a public and political issue, highlighting its progressive incorporation into the institutional languages of evidence and repression. Nineteenth-century legal and medico-legal frameworks assigned a privileged evidentiary role to the female body, subordinating victims’ testimony to anatomical proof. In brigandage trials, this paradigm was reshaped: sexual violence was mobilized to define the enemy and support strategies of political delegitimization, while evidentiary
practices expanded to include indirect testimonies and community narratives. Rape thus emerges as both a concrete and symbolic practice, shaping honor codes, collective memory, and forms of political legitimacy.