Sarah e Veronica kissing during New Year's Eve party in the house of the Big BrotherDiversamente Etero (diversamente means “differently “ and etero “straight”) is a documentary about lesbian visibility in the Italian media. The starting point is the story of Sarah and Veronica, two housemates on the Italian Big Brother, and the huge number of fans they have, not only in Italy, but all around the world.

Sarah and Veronica are two beautiful, young girls that, during their stay in the house of Big Brother, fell in love with each other, sharing a “kind of love”, kissing each other and constantly repeating “ti amo” (I love you).

They have nevertheless always affirmed that they are heterosexual. This is a paradox: these two (supposed) heterosexual girls gave visibility to female homosexuality like nobody did before in Italy.

But why a documentary?

Their love affair (but never so clearly defined) burst into the waste landscape of Italian television. In Italy, if the gay community has quite a little visibility on Tv, lesbians have almost none.

There are no declared lesbians in showbiz and only two women in politics. Except for imported programs, at present, only two Italian television series and one movie have shown lesbian characters (often marginal and “destined” to a tragic end). There is an enormous gap, compared to other Western and European countries: in Italy same sex unions are not recognized and episodes of homophobic aggression are still frequent.

In such distressing scenario, Mediaset (the Italian media corporation that broadcasts Big Brother) offered a distorted representation of homosexuality: the two girls were often portrayed as “sluts”, while Big Brother (and other collateral programs) employed all the typical stereotypes about homosexuals to describe their relationship.

Other housemates insulted the two girls on various occasions: some of them used to call Sarah “Pasquale”, a male name, echoing the idea that a lesbian cannot be a woman. Another said that Veronica is worth only acting in porn movies (even though she is not a porn-star!). Another called them “lesbians” to offend them. No ban or punishment were imposed on these participants for their disparaging remarks.

Following these events, supporters of Sarah and Veronica protested and rallied against Mediaset, asking the support of LGBT associations that eventually refused to take part. Actually Italian LGBT associations didn’t defend them because Sarah and Veronica never came out or publicly affirmed they have a love affair. But, in our opinion, when the word “lesbian” is used as an offence, the LGBT community must react – and vigorously.

There is also another aspect to be mentioned: Sarah and Veronica are real, are both “characters” and “persons”. That’s the effect of reality shows: the audience followed a show that – somehow – continued into real life, mingling real and fiction. For this reason, months after the end of the program, there are still so many fans that continue to support “il Sogno” (“the dream”, the name Sarah and Veronica gave to their 'special' relationship).

Despite their real intentions, these two young girls became “gay icons” as well as the idols of so many women (lesbians, bisexuals or “diversamente etero”) who perceived them not only as a representation of homosexuality, but a “real” couple, that – because of Italian spreading homophobia – is compelled to hide.

We think this is a very significant story. The last edition of Big Brother has been watched by 8-11 million people per episode. We believe that homophobia and prejudices against lesbians are reinforced by such programs, and that such lesbian visibility as there is on Italian television is dramatically distorted.

The enormous number supporters of Sarah and Veronica is the most remarkable indicator of lesbian absence in the Italian public sphere. We want to start a discussion about lesbian visibility in Italian media and society, to tell what happened in the house of Big Brother, and analyze stereotypes and prejudices not only against lesbians, but against women in general.