Why everyone on TikTok is talking about Giulia Tofana

Giulia Tofana was a serial killer and a sorceress, a courtesan in the circle of Philip IV of Spain. Born in Palermo and died in Rome in 1651, her grandmother (or mother, her origins are shrouded in mystery) was executed for poisoning her husband in the Sicilian capital. It was she who invented Acqua Tofana, a natural poison that was very difficult to detect. It is believed that Giulia expanded the market, starting to sell it to the wives of violent men, effectively killing almost 600 of them. Her secret was later passed on to her stepdaughter Girolama Spana, who was assisted in the preparation by four women, her "comrades." In the end, the five women were discovered and sentenced to death at Campo dei Fiori in 1659.

Acqua Tofana is Trending on TikTok

Among the reactions to the election of Donald Trump, alongside the 4B movement - which is based on the refusal by South Korean and later American women to engage romantically or relationally with men, identifying the couple and heterosexual marriage as the foundational core of patriarchal society - there has also been a sort of revival of this character, straddling the line between legend and reality. Many girls have shared her story, and some, half-jokingly, post names of poisonous herbs in the comments. The recipe for Acqua Tofana, of course, is not available, and we doubt these users have any real intention of poisoning anyone.

Female Rage, Irony, and a Reaction to a World That Feels Out of Control

The main point here, it seems, is female rage, the much-discussed female rage that these elections have sparked, perhaps more than ever before. Women, frightened and horrified by the clampdown on reproductive rights and abortion, by the regressive positions of Donald Trump, his vice JD Vance, and his staff (including Elon Musk), have decided to respond with aggression, at least online. Intensifying this anger is the feeling of helplessness and isolation, the conviction that nothing can be achieved, at least not peacefully, and the sense of betrayal by men and by people in their lives in general. Rather than worrying about the poison, we should keep an eye on this anger, its implications, and its future, hoping it becomes more and more constructive for feminism and destructive towards the patriarchy.