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Ideologia del gender: towards a transcultural understanding of the phenomenon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2019

Beatrice Spallaccia Open the ORCID record for Beatrice Spallaccia [Opens in a new window]
Beatrice Spallaccia*
Affiliation:
Department of Interpretation and Translation, University of Bologna
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*Email: beatrice.spallaccia@unibo.it
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Abstract

The Italian debate over gender inclusivity has recently been dominated by a ubiquitous term: ideologia del gender. This expression has been used extensively by a galaxy of reactionary forces to thwart the implementation of gender-mainstreaming policies. Recent research has shown that similar anti-gender manifestations have mushroomed across Europe, with discursive elements which recall the Italian anti-gender narrative. This article first sets Italian anti-genderism within a broader transnational movement. Second, through a feminist critical analysis of Italian anti-gender discourse, it shows that ideologia del gender should be interpreted as a new rhetorical device used to reaffirm gender-based prejudice in Italy and other European countries. Third, drawing on the work of Wolfgang Welsch (1999), the paper discusses whether this movement can be interpreted as a transcultural phenomenon, and suggests a transcultural model of culture as the antidote to the anti-gender backlash.

Negli ultimi anni il dibattito sull'inclusività di genere in Italia ha ruotato attorno alla cosiddetta ideologia del gender, espressione tanto onnipresente quanto oscura, utilizzata da una galassia di forze reazionarie per contrastare l'attuazione di politiche di gender mainstreaming. Studi recenti hanno rintracciato la presenza di simili atteggiamenti anti-gender nella maggior parte dei paesi europei, con strategie discorsive che ricordano quelle italiane. Per questo motivo, il presente contributo in primo luogo contestualizza l'antigenderismo italiano in un più ampio movimento di carattere transnazionale. Attraverso un'analisi critica femminista del discorso italiano anti-gender, dimostra che l'espressione ideologia del gender vada interpretata come un nuovo dispositivo retorico utilizzato per riaffermare le discriminazioni di genere, tanto in Italia quanto in altri paesi europei. Infine, riprendendo il contributo di Wolfgang Welsch (1999), l'articolo propone di analizzare questo movimento attraverso la nozione di transculturalità, e suggerisce lo sviluppo di un modello transculturale come antidoto al backlash anti-gender a livello europeo.

Keywords

ideologia del gendergender ideologyanti-genderismanti-gender movementtransculturalityfeminist critical discourse analysis
Type
Special Issue
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 25 , Special Issue 2: Transcultural Exchanges and Encounters in Italy , May 2020 , pp. 131 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 Association for the Study of Modern Italy

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