Gender-variant identities worldwide: Difference between revisions
Added information about the femminielli.
imported>Sekhet (Added a trans-masculine identity from 9th century Islam, called mutarajjulat. Fixed some reference errors.) |
imported>Sekhet (Added information about the femminielli.) |
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=== | ===Femminiello=== <!--T:132--> | ||
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[[File:Il femminiello.jpg|thumb|200px|''Il femminiello,'' an oil painting 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.<ref name="Femminiello Portland" />]] | |||
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* '''Name of identity:''' | * '''Name of identity:''' ''il femminiello'' (singular), or ''i femminielli'' (plural), meaning "the little female-men." This comes from the word for "woman," with ''-iello'', which is a diminuitive term of endearment, with a masculine ending. This is neither derogatory nor an insult.<ref name="Femminiello Portland">"The Femminiello." ''Portland Art Museum.'' http://portlandartmuseum.us/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=68749;type=101</ref><ref name="NaplesLDM">"The Femminiello in Neapolitan Culture." ''Naples: Life, Death, & Miracles.'' November 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2020. http://www.naplesldm.com/femm.php</ref> | ||
* '''Culture:''' Italy | * '''Culture:''' Naples, Italy.<ref name="teenvogue">Lucy Diavolo. "Gender variance around the world over time." ''Teen Vogue'' (magazine). June 21, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2020. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/gender-variance-around-the-world</ref> Specifically, they are centered in "the Spanish Quarter, the most impoverished neighborhood in the city."<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /> | ||
* '''Era:''' | * '''Era:''' from at least as far back as the 1500s CE, to the present<ref name="RoadsAndKingdoms">Danielle Oteri. "Femminiello Pride." ''Roads and Kingdoms'' (magazine). December 30, 2015. Retrieved July 28, 2020. https://roadsandkingdoms.com/2015/femminiello-pride/</ref> | ||
* '''Description of sex/gender:''' AMAB and feminine | * '''Description of sex/gender:''' AMAB and feminine<ref name="teenvogue" /> | ||
* '''Role in society:''' | * '''Role in society:''' "Women's work," according to local traditional gender roles, such as looking after children, housework, and running errands. Sex work. Priests, and a source of good luck.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> | ||
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In Italy, the | In Italy, the femminielli are people who were assigned male at birth, and who begin to express femininity in mannerisms and clothing preferences from early childhood.<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /> They continue to do so into old age. However, they do not hide that they were assigned male at birth.<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /> The locals have always been accepting of the femminielli, and see them as good luck.<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /><ref name="NaplesLDM" /> Neapolitans invite a femminiello to come with them when they gamble in order to improve their luck,<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /> and mothers ask feminielli to bless their new-born babies.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> There is a Neapolitan proverb: "If you need good luck, get blessed by a queer priest."<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> The femminielli are said to come from all over Europe to Torre del Greco to hold a secret and sacred ceremony once a year, ''filgiata dei femminielli'' ("marriage of the femminielli"), led by priests from a modern continuation of the [[gender-variant identities worldwide#Gallae|Gallae]] priesthood of the goddess Cybele, which came to Rome from western Asia in antiquity.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> The ''filgiata'' has been practiced for centuries, only temporarily suspended during World War II, and then resumed after the war.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> At festivals, femminielli use musical instruments such as bells and tambourines, which also came from the worship of Cybele.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> The remote mountain church at Montevergine is built atop what was once a temple to Cybele. Its icon, the Madonna of Transformation, Mamma Schiavona, "serving mother," is the Catholic syncretization of Cybele. According to legend, in 1256 CE, a mob had beaten a male-male couple, and then Mamma Schiavona miraculously saved the lives of the couple, so they lived happily ever after. Today, she is seen as a patron of transgender people as well. In 2002, a priest at Montevergine threw out a group of pilgrims who were LGBT. Hundreds of pilgrims who were LGBT activists and allies came to Montevergine two weeks later, which established the festival of Candelora on February 2 as also being Femminiello Pride. It is celebrated with the long and energetic tammurriata dance, and a candle-lit procession, by pilgrims who are visibly gender nonconforming.<ref name="RoadsAndKingdoms" /> | ||
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Due to being criminalized, persecuted, and exterminated by the Christians, the Gallae were gone by the 6th century CE. Today, some trans women and worshipers of Cybele call themselves Gallae, and [http://gallae.com one of their modern temples is in New York]. Laura Anne Seabrook, a trans woman and follower of Cybele who considers herself a modern gallae, created an educational web-comic, [http://totg-mirror.thecomicseries.com/about/ Tales of the Galli]. Her comic is a work of historical fiction about Gallae in ancient Rome, based on her extensive historical research. | Due to being criminalized, persecuted, and exterminated by the Christians, the Gallae were gone by the 6th century CE. Or, rather, the Gallae were syncretized into Christianity as the [[gender-variant identities worldwide#Femminiello|Femminiello]] of Italy, who have been recorded since the 1500s, and still exist today.<ref name="RoadsAndKingdoms" /> Today, some trans women and worshipers of Cybele call themselves Gallae, and [http://gallae.com one of their modern temples is in New York]. Laura Anne Seabrook, a trans woman and follower of Cybele who considers herself a modern gallae, created an educational web-comic, [http://totg-mirror.thecomicseries.com/about/ Tales of the Galli]. Her comic is a work of historical fiction about Gallae in ancient Rome, based on her extensive historical research. | ||
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