Femminiello

Last updated
Il femminiello , painted by Giuseppe Bonito (1707-1789) sometime between 1740 and 1760. The femminiello 's missing teeth and goitre are signs of poverty and malnutrition, but the red coral necklace represents good fortune. Il femminiello.jpg
Il femminiello, painted by Giuseppe Bonito (1707–1789) sometime between 1740 and 1760. The femminiello's missing teeth and goitre are signs of poverty and malnutrition, but the red coral necklace represents good fortune.

Femminielli or femmenielli (singular femminiello, also spelled as femmeniello) are a population of people who embody a third gender role in traditional Neapolitan culture. [4] [5] It may be hard to define this term within modern Western notions of "gay men" versus "trans women" since both these categories overlap to a degree in the case of femminielli. [5] This term is not derogatory and does not carry a stigma; instead femminielli are traditionally believed to bring good luck. [4] [5]

Contents

Etymology

The name of this role means 'little women-men'. This is derived from Neapolitan femmena 'woman' with the suffix -iello, which is a diminutive term of endearment, with a masculine -o ending. This is neither derogatory nor an insult. [1] [2]

Gender analysis

It is reductive to insert the Neapolitan femminiello within the macro-category of "transgender" usually adopted in Northern European and North American contexts. According to University of Naples Federico II professor Eugenio Zito, "The alternative identity of femminielli is possible from a transformed, disguised, and transfigured body, a complex phenomenon that could be considered 'endemic', and is peculiarly linked to the territory and the population of the city". [6] The femminiello, instead, could be considered as a peculiar gender expression, despite a widespread sexual binarism. The cultural roots that this phenomenon is embedded in confer to the femminiello a cultural and even socially legitimized status. For the historical and symbolic coordinates of Naples, the identity construct of the femminiello is not superimposable to more common European and euro-centric transgender clusters. [7]

In late 2000s many sex scandals have rocked Italy involving high-profile politicians (e.g., former President of Lazio, Piero Marrazzo) and transgender sex workers often of Latin American descent, who are usually referred to as transessuali (shortened to trans) in Italian media. In 2009 the term femminiello gained some notoriety in Italian media after a Naples native femminiello Camorra mobster Ketty Gabriele was arrested. Gabriele had engaged in prostitution prior to becoming a capo. Gabriele has been referred to both as a femminiello [4] and transessuale or trans [8] [9] in Italian media.

However, others maintain that i femminielli are decidedly male despite their female gender role, saying that "they are male; they know it and everyone else knows it." [5] Achille della Ragione has written of social aspects of femminielli. "[The femminiello] is usually the youngest male child, 'mother's little darling,' ... he is useful, he does chores, runs errands and watches the kids." [5]

Zito proposes in his study that the femminielli "seem to confirm, in the field of gender identity, the postmodern idea of continuous modulation between the masculine and the feminine against their dichotomy." [6]

History

Statue of a gallus priest in contemporary feminine clothing, 2nd century, Capitoline Museums Statue of Gallus priest.jpg
Statue of a gallus priest in contemporary feminine clothing, 2nd century, Capitoline Museums
Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite Print made by Francesco Bartolozzi after Giovanni Battista Cipriani, 1770.jpg
Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite

The constant references in many sources to the ancient rituals behind the presence of the femminiello in Naples require little comment. The links to ancient Greek mythology are numerous: for example, Hermaphroditus, who possessed the beauty of their mother, Aphrodite, and the strength of their father, Hermes; or Tiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes, famous for being transformed into a woman for seven years. Both of these personages and others in many cultures in the world are presumed to possess something that others do not: the wise equilibrium that comes from knowing both worlds, masculine and feminine. [5] [10]

The history of the femminielli may trace back to a real, non-mythological group: the Galli (also called Galloi or Gallae, singular gallus), a significant portion of the ancient priesthood of the mother goddess Cybele and her consort Attis. This tradition began in Phrygia (where Turkey is today, part of Asia Minor), sometime before 300 BC. [11] After 205 BC, the tradition entered the city of Rome, and spread throughout the Roman Empire, as far north as London. [11] They were eunuchs who wore bright-colored feminine sacerdotal clothing, hairstyles or wigs, makeup, and jewelry, and used feminine mannerisms in their speech. They addressed one another by feminine titles, such as sister. There were other priests and priestesses of Cybele who were not eunuchs, so it would not have been necessary to become a gallus or eunuch in order to become a priest of Cybele. The Gallae were not ascetic but hedonistic, so castration was not about stopping sexual desires. Some Gallae would marry men, and others would marry women. The ways of the Gallae were more consistent with transgender people with gender dysphoria, which they relieved by voluntary castration, as the available form of sex reassignment surgery. [12] [13] [11]

Contemporaries who were not Gallae called them by masculine words, Galloi or Galli (plural), or Gallus (singular). Some historians interpret the Gallae as transgender, by modern terms, and think they would have called themselves by the feminine Gallae (plural) and Galla (singular). [14] [15] [16] The Roman poet Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD) says their name comes from the Gallus river in Phrygia; [17]

Phrygians and Romans believed the Gallae had spiritual powers to tell the future, bless homes, have power over wild animals, bring rain, and exorcise evil spirits. The Roman public viewed them with a mixture of awe and contempt, seeing them as practicing shocking foreign customs, so they were just as often honored as they were harassed and politically persecuted. They were not allowed to be Roman citizens, and vice versa. [18] [11]

Ceremony

A ceremony called the matrimonio dei femminielli takes place in Torre Annunziata on Easter Monday, where a parade of femminielli dressed in wedding gowns and accompanied by a "husband" travel through the streets in horse-drawn carriages. [19]

Tradition

The femminiello in Campania enjoy a relatively privileged position thanks to their participation in some traditional events, such as Candelora al Santuario di Montevergine (Candlemas at the Sanctuary of Montevergine) in Avellino [20] or the Tammurriata, a traditional dance performed at the feast of Madonna dell'Arco in Sant'Anastasia. [21]

Generally femminielli are considered to bring good luck. For this reason, it is popular in the neighborhoods for a femminiello to hold a newborn baby, or participate in games such as bingo. [10] Above all the Tombola or Tombolata dei femminielli, [22] a popular game performed every year on 2 February, as the conclusive part of the Candlemas at the Sanctuary of Montevergine.

Theatre

In a stage production called La gatta Cenerentola  [ it ] ('The Cat Cinderella'), by Roberto De Simone, femmenielli play the roles of several important characters. Among the major scenes in this respect are the rosario dei femmenielli and il suicidio del femminiella. [23]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "The Femminiello." Portland Art Museum. http://portlandartmuseum.us/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=68749;type=101
  2. 1 2 "The Femminiello in Neapolitan Culture." Naples: Life, Death, & Miracles. November 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2020. http://www.naplesldm.com/femm.php
  3. ↑ Lang, Nico (11 Jul 2016). "This 18th-Century Italian Painting Proves Gender Nonconformity Is Far From a Modern Invention". Slate. The Slate Group LLC.
  4. 1 2 3 Fulvio, Bufi (2009). "Presa Ketty, boss "femminiello" Comandava i pusher di Gomorra". Corriere della Sera (February 13, 2009): 19. Archived from the original on September 14, 2015. Femminiello è una figura omosessuale (..) è una persona dall' aspetto effeminato o spesso un travestito. È rispettato e generalmente il femminiello viene considerato una persona che porta fortuna.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jeff Matthews. "The Femminiello in Neapolitan Culture". Archived from the original on 2011-05-15.
  6. 1 2 Zito, Eugenio. "Disciplinary crossings and methodological contaminations in gender research: a psycho-anthropological survey on Neapolitan femminielli." International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, vol. 7, no. 2, 2013, p. 204+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.uaccess.univie.ac.at/apps/doc/A354578053/AONE?u=43wien&sid=AONE&xid=103bdda0. Accessed 23 Oct. 2018.
  7. ↑ Hochdorn, Alexander, Paolo F. Cottone and Dania Vallini (2011). Gender and discursive positioning: Doing transgender in highly normative contexts. 69th Conference of the International Council of Psychologists. 29 July - 2 August 2011, Washington DC (US) http://www.icpweb.org Archived 2012-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ "Corriere della Sera". city.corriere.it. Retrieved 7 May 2018.[ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ "Arrestata Ketty, transessuale e boss a Scampia » Panorama.it - Italia". Archived from the original on 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  10. 1 2 "I femminielli (Achille della Ragione)". www.guidecampania.com. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Raven Kaldera. Hermaphrodeities: The Transgender Spirituality Workbook. Hubbardston, Massachusetts: Asphodel Press, 2008. P. 174-179.
  12. ↑ Kirsten Cronn-Mills, Transgender Lives: Complex Stories, Complex Voices (2014, ISBN   0761390227), page 39
  13. ↑ Teresa Hornsby, Deryn Guest, Transgender, Intersex and Biblical Interpretation (2016, ISBN   0884141551), page 47
  14. ↑ Kirsten Cronn-Mills, Transgender Lives: Complex Stories, Complex Voices (2014, ISBN   0761390227), page 39
  15. ↑ Teresa Hornsby, Deryn Guest, Transgender, Intersex and Biblical Interpretation (2016, ISBN   0884141551), page 47
  16. ↑ Laura Anne Seabrook, "About this comic." Tales of the Gallae. http://totg-mirror.thecomicseries.com/about/
  17. ↑ Maarten J. Vermaseren, Cybele and Attis: the myth and the cult, translated by A. M. H. Lemmers, London: Thames and Hudson, 1977, p.85, referencing Ovid, Fasti IV.9
  18. ↑ Maarten J. Vermaseren, Cybele and Attis: the myth and the cult, translated by A. M. H. Lemmers, London: Thames and Hudson, 1977, p.97.
  19. ↑ Lo Strillone: Pasquetta con i femminielli nel quadrilatero Carceri Archived 2012-10-31 at the Wayback Machine , 9 April 2012
  20. ↑ Il Santuario di Montevergine e la Candelora Archived 2012-01-27 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ↑ "Traditional Dances - The Tummurriata". liceoumberto.eu. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  22. ↑ "Tombolata dei Femminielli: divertimento e tradizione ad Avellino". irpinianews.it. Archived from the original on 31 May 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  23. ↑ "The Songs of LA GATTA CENERENTOLA - Roberto de Simone - Universitas adversitatis - Organiser Ed Emery". www.thefreeuniversity.net. Archived from the original on 10 March 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2018.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domenico Cimarosa</span> Italian composer

Domenico Cimarosa was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School and of the Classical period. He wrote more than eighty operas, the best known of which is Il matrimonio segreto (1792); most of his operas are comedies. He also wrote instrumental works and church music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naples</span> City in southern Italy

Naples is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's administrative limits as of 2022. Its province-level municipality is the third-most populous metropolitan city in Italy with a population of 3,115,320 residents, and its metropolitan area stretches beyond the boundaries of the city wall for approximately 30 kilometres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cybele</span> Anatolian mother goddess

Cybele is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest neolithic at Çatalhöyük. She is Phrygia's only known goddess, and was probably its national deity. Greek colonists in Asia Minor adopted and adapted her Phrygian cult and spread it to mainland Greece and to the more distant western Greek colonies around the 6th century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galli</span> Eunuch priest of the Phrygian goddess Cybele

A gallus was a eunuch priest of the Phrygian goddess Cybele and her consort Attis, whose worship was incorporated into the state religious practices of ancient Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transvestism</span> Dressing and acting in a style or manner traditionally associated with a different gender

Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional, or ceremonial reasons. The term is considered outdated in Western cultures, especially when used to describe a transgender or gender-fluid person.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonardo Leo</span> Italian composer

Leonardo Leo, more correctly Leonardo Ortensio Salvatore de Leo, was a Baroque composer.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to transgender topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neapolitan language</span> Italo-Romance language spoken in southern Italy

Neapolitan is a Romance language of the Italo-Romance group spoken in Naples and most of continental Southern Italy. It is named after the Kingdom of Naples, which once covered most of the area, since the city of Naples was its capital. On 14 October 2008, a law by the Region of Campania stated that Neapolitan was to be protected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Fontana</span> Italian lawyer and astronomer

Francesco Fontana was an Italian lawyer and an astronomer.

Italian grammar is the body of rules describing the properties of the Italian language. Italian words can be divided into the following lexical categories: articles, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eduardo De Filippo</span> Italian actor, director and playwright (1900–1984)

Eduardo De FilippoOMRI, also known simply as Eduardo, was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter and playwright, best known for his Neapolitan works Filumena Marturano and Napoli Milionaria. Considered one of the most important Italian artists of the 20th century, De Filippo was the author of many theatrical dramas staged and directed by himself first and later awarded and played outside Italy. For his artistic merits and contributions to Italian culture, he was named senatore a vita by the President of the Italian Republic Sandro Pertini.

The primary languages of Calabria are the Italian language as well as regional varieties of Extreme Southern Italian and Neapolitan languages, all collectively known as Calabrian. In addition, there are speakers of the Arbëresh variety of Albanian, as well as Calabrian Greek speakers and pockets of Occitan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gender neutrality in languages with grammatical gender</span> Usage of wording balanced in its treatment of the genders in a non-grammatical sense

Gender neutrality in languages with grammatical gender is the usage of wording that is balanced in its treatment of the genders in a non-grammatical sense. For example, advocates of gender-neutral language challenge the traditional use of masculine nouns and pronouns when referring to two or more genders or to a person of an unknown gender in most Indo-European and Afro-Asiatic languages. This stance is often inspired by feminist ideas about gender equality. Gender neutrality is also used colloquially when one wishes to be inclusive of people who identify as non-binary genders or as genderless.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Four Days of Naples</span> Uprising against German forces in 1943

The Four Days of Naples was an uprising in Naples, Italy, against Nazi German occupation forces from September 27 to September 30, 1943, immediately prior to the arrival of Allied forces in Naples on October 1 during World War II.

Ketty Gabriele is a reputed Camorra figure. Gabriele, a femminiello and member of the Camorra, was reported as the first transgender mafia figure following an arrest by Naples police in February 2009. According to authorities, Gabriele is a small-time capo behind a drug and prostitution ring for the Scissionisti di Secondigliano.

Gender systems are the social structures that establish the number of genders and their associated gender roles in every society. A gender role is "everything that a person says and does to indicate to others or to the self the degree that one is either male, female, or androgynous. This includes but is not limited to sexual and erotic arousal and response." Gender identity is one's own personal experience with gender role and the persistence of one's individuality as male, female, or androgynous, especially in self-awareness and behavior. A gender binary is one example of a gender system.

The Benevento dialect is a vernacular variety from the Campanian dialect that has undergone an evolution in a restricted space, roughly corresponding to the territory of the pontifical exclave of Benevento; this vernacular is placed side by side with other similar linguistic types referable to the same lineage and, in terms of phonetics, morphology and lexicon, it differs in some respects from Neapolitan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giuseppe Cassella</span>

Giuseppe, Antonio Pietro Cassella was an Italian astronomer, professor of Astronomy at the Naples University and first director of the Astronomical Observatory of Naples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema of Naples</span>

The history of cinema in Naples begins at the end of the 19th century and over time it has recorded cinematographic works, production houses and notable filmmakers. Over the decades, the Neapolitan capital has also been used as a film set for many works, over 600 according to the Internet Movie Database, the first of which would be Panorama of Naples Harbor from 1901.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vico and Vicoletto of the Zuroli</span> Alley in Naples

The Vico, and Vicoletto, dei Zuroli, also called Vicolo dei Zurli are two historic alleys in the city of Naples, they are located near via Forcella in the historic center of the city, they are located near via Forcella and near the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia, between Via dei Tribunali and Via Vicaria Vecchia, in the Pendino district.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.