~.gender/sexuality/italy Continuing Discussions – Early View Volume 12 (2026)

Nicoletta Marini-Maio Issue: Category: Contents, Editorials, Continuing Discussions
  • Nicoletta Marini-Maio, Journal Editor – Continuing Discussions Editor
  • Guido Capaccioli and Samantha Gillen – Managing Editors
  • Deion Dresser, Matthew Guyton-Docherty, Mattia Mossali, Samuel Sylvester – Assistant Editors

Early View Volume 12 (2026)

Articles for the Continuing Discussions section are published on a rolling basis. The following articles have been peer-reviewed and accepted for the Continuing Discussions section of Volume 12 (2026).  They are in conversation with previous articles, or Themed Sections, published in past issues of g/s/i.

Articles for the Themed Section, Invited Perspectives, Open Contributions, and Reviews for volume 12 (2026) are currently in production and will be published upon completion.

Editorial: Continuing Discussions (Volume 12, 2026)

NICOLETTA MARINI-MAIO, Dickinson College

We are delighted to present the latest contributions to the Continuing Discussions section of gender/sexuality/italy (g/s/i), Volume 12 (2026). Designed to foster ongoing scholarly dialogue, this section builds directly upon themes explored in previous issues, ranging from Southern and colonial critique to literary subversion, educational performance, and non-binary sociolinguistic agency.

Together, these five new articles examine how gendered and sexual identities are constructed, negotiated, and contested across historical periods, cultural practices, and everyday life in Italy. They explore geographies of queer otherness and Southern identity (D’Acunto, Clemente), performative girlhood in literature and education (Finozzi & Forni, Taddia) , and linguistic agency and non-binary inclusion (Grossi). 

Returning to g/s/i’s ongoing engagement with Southern queerness, postcoloniality, and regional subversion, Frances Clemente explores Pino Daniele’s 1979 landmark track “Chillo è nu buono guaglione,” demonstrating how Neapolitan music brought the femminiello to the foreground to articulate an intersectional, subaltern Southern queer identity.

Extending past journal discussions on youth culture, gender roles, and institutional norms, Anna Finozzi and Dalila Forni analyze AFAB-to-M (assigned female at birth to male) cross-dressing in Bianca Pitzorno’s La bambina col falcone, revealing how classic literary devices in children’s literature open spaces for destabilizing binary gender constructs. Moving from literary representation to contemporary classrooms, Maria Taddia examines how high-achieving female students in upper-secondary education construct their identities while navigating the contradictions of post-feminist ideology and neoliberal individualism.

Connecting with broader debates on language and inclusivity, Ade Grossi provides a grounded sociolinguistic study examining the motivations, feasibility, and identity performances driving non-binary Italian speakers to adopt innovative, non-gendered grammatical strategies in a predominantly binary language.

Complementing these perspectives, Elena D’Acunto‘s upcoming article—which will be available online very soon as part of this rolling section—investigates how post-Unification legal frameworks, colonial archives, and positivist anthropology constructed Southern Italy as an inherently feminized and deviant space. 

By placing historical archives, literary narratives, musical expressions, educational experiences, and living language in dialogue, this selection deepens our understanding of how gender and sexuality continue to shape Italian culture and society. We invite you to explore these rich, open-access contributions as we await the upcoming publication of the full volume.

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