A Six-Week Curriculum From Understanding Violence to Changing the NarrativeThe University of Florence recently announced the second edition of its six-week interdisciplinary course on gender-based violence, welcoming all students and the wider university community to attend. The course's relevance stems from recent cases of violence against women in Florence and the university's mission to help students recognize, prevent, and become aware of the legal and social resources available.Based on the online curriculum published by the University of Florence, the first online session addresses how society and culture shape perceptions of gender and violence, along with how education, images, and language can challenge those constructs. The second online session covers practical knowledge: how to recognize different forms and dynamics of gender-based violence, and how to respond, including reporting cases, victims' rights, institutional protection, and support services available. The third online session addresses understanding the consequences without victim-blaming, covering topics such as psychological and forensic consequences, recognizing early signs and prevention, visible and invisible evidence, sexual violence, consent and vulnerability, and toxicological assessment.The fourth online session focuses on stalking, harassment, and digital violence, topics that extend beyond physical violence. This lesson is particularly relevant to university students, as it illustrates how gender-based violence can go beyond physical assault; the session covers stalking, harassment, persecutory behavior, early-childhood violence, digital and online violence, and protection mechanisms. The fifth and final online session focuses on what happens when someone asks for help, and what follows: support services, personalized plans, anti-violence centers, self-protection strategies, programs for men who perpetrate violence, and secondary victimization. Finally, the sixth session takes place on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This final, in-person meeting is centered on changing the narrative: giving voice to experiences, shifting public perspective, and turning individual cases of violence into collective awareness, through a short film and a podcast produced by the University of Florence featuring true stories of violence and recovery. The entire curriculum circles back to culture and narrative: understanding, recognizing, responding, supporting, and changing the narrative. Recent cases of gender-based violence in Florence add urgency to the course. These include the alleged case of an 18-year-old student held captive in the city, who used the "Signal for Help" gesture, which was recognized by someone nearby who then sought help on her behalf. The course teaches students how to recognize and respond to exactly this kind of situation, and the case offers a real-world example of why identifying less obvious warning signs matters right now. The case of Lorena Isceri, a 45-year-old woman killed near Florence by her ex-partner, who abducted her and threw her from a highway overpass, is another recent example; her death marked the seventh alleged femicide in Italy since mid-August. Both cases connect directly to the course's core focus: recognizing violence, understanding support systems, asking for help, institutional response, and preventing escalation. Universities have become important settings for this kind of education, offering students a vocabulary for identifying different forms of violence, along with instruction on warning signs, consent, legal rights, support services, digital abuse, and how to respond when someone asks for help. The course's structure addresses more than violence against women alone; it brings together cultural, legal, psychological, medical, social, and institutional perspectives. The University of Florence hopes this gender-based violence course will guide students from understanding the cultural roots of violence, to recognizing its different forms, to knowing the support services available to those affected, and ultimately to changing how violence is discussed and understood.

The University of Florence recently announced the second edition of its six-week interdisciplinary course on gender-based violence, welcoming all students and the wider university community to attend. The course's relevance stems from recent cases of violence against women in Florence and the university's mission to help students recognize, prevent, and become aware of the legal and social resources available.Based on the online curriculum published by the University of Florence, the first online session addresses how society and culture shape perceptions of gender and violence, along with how education, images, and language can challenge those constructs. The second online session covers practical knowledge: how to recognize different forms and dynamics of gender-based violence, and how to respond, including reporting cases, victims' rights, institutional protection, and support services available. The third online session addresses understanding the consequences without victim-blaming, covering topics such as psychological and forensic consequences, recognizing early signs and prevention, visible and invisible evidence, sexual violence, consent and vulnerability, and toxicological assessment. The fourth online session focuses on stalking, harassment, and digital violence, topics that extend beyond physical violence. This lesson is particularly relevant to university students, as it illustrates how gender-based violence can go beyond physical assault; the session covers stalking, harassment, persecutory behavior, early-childhood violence, digital and online violence, and protection mechanisms. The fifth and final online session focuses on what happens when someone asks for help, and what follows: support services, personalized plans, anti-violence centers, self-protection strategies, programs for men who perpetrate violence, and secondary victimization. Finally, the sixth session takes place on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This final, in-person meeting is centered on changing the narrative: giving voice to experiences, shifting public perspective, and turning individual cases of violence into collective awareness, through a short film and a podcast produced by the University of Florence featuring true stories of violence and recovery. The entire curriculum circles back to culture and narrative: understanding, recognizing, responding, supporting, and changing the narrative. Recent cases of gender-based violence in Florence add urgency to the course. These include the alleged case of an 18-year-old student held captive in the city, who used the "Signal for Help" gesture, which was recognized by someone nearby who then sought help on her behalf. The course teaches students how to recognize and respond to exactly this kind of situation, and the case offers a real-world example of why identifying less obvious warning signs matters right now. The case of Lorena Isceri, a 45-year-old woman killed near Florence by her ex-partner, who abducted her and threw her from a highway overpass, is another recent example; her death marked the seventh alleged femicide in Italy since mid-August. Both cases connect directly to the course's core focus: recognizing violence, understanding support systems, asking for help, institutional response, and preventing escalation. Universities have become important settings for this kind of education, offering students a vocabulary for identifying different forms of violence, along with instruction on warning signs, consent, legal rights, support services, digital abuse, and how to respond when someone asks for help. The course's structure addresses more than violence against women alone; it brings together cultural, legal, psychological, medical, social, and institutional perspectives. The University of Florence hopes this gender-based violence course will guide students from understanding the cultural roots of violence, to recognizing its different forms, to knowing the support services available to those affected, and ultimately to changing how violence is discussed and understood.