Italy: Viva la Differenza

The sexual double standard is not only a way of life in Italy, it is written into the statute books. Under the Penal Code, a wife is subject to a year's imprisonment for adultery if she so much as kisses a man other than her spouse; a wandering husband, on the other hand, is free to keep a mistress if he does so discreetly—which, in Italian legal parlance, means not under the same roof as his wife. Last week, to the dismay of militant Italian feminists, 15 judges in Italy's highest court ruled for the double standard.

Deciding against two wives...

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