Masculinity

Abstract

This chapter examines how “Italian masculinity”—and, by comparison, femininity—changed during the Fascist period, from the regime’s initial successes to its disastrous end in the Second World War. The purpose is to analyze the regime’s political interference in the sexual realm and, at the same time, people’s ability to adopt behaviors that did not conform to Fascist ideology or priorities. The sources used in this contribution are diaries, books of memoirs, autobiographies, and letters that help reconstruct how the protagonists perceived themselves, their motivations for participating in the regime, the depth of their Fascist faith, the level of their internalization of a behavioral model, and their conception of the ideal man.

Trans. Jennifer Newman