by Marco Ruggieri

This article examines the figure of the femminiello, a complex sexual identity rooted in the Naples area and now gradually disappearing. It challenges the common claim that femminielli have always been accepted within Neapolitan society—one often framed as liminal and in opposition to North-Western hegemony. The femminielli’s very existence has frequently been cited as proof of Southern Italy’s (Naples’ in particular) supposed innate inclusivity. By exploring their gender identity, geo-cultural context, and traditional social role and public perception, this article dismantles that assumption. While acknowledging that femminielli have enjoyed some degree of visibility and recognition, and thus tolerance, the author argues that: (a) this recognition has come at the cost of having to conform to a sexualized and marginalized stereotype and a cis-hetero normativeness; (b) their existence has been instrumentalized to construct a (self-)Orientalist mythology of Neapolitan society as the “inclusive other.” Based on this analysis, the article suggests that the case of femminielli offers a lens to understand Naples’ ongoing subaltern relationship to the North of Italy and the North-Western world at large, despite the city’s recent surge in media visibility.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15781/XF8F-KQ88