A subject that always provokes debate, this lecture's focus will be on the transformations in the models of perception and representation of sex and gender in Italy.

Caroline听Vesce is a prolific author on the subject of gender and, amongst many publications, is the author of the publication听Corpi che cambiano. Una ricerca etnografica sulle femminelle napoletane听(Bodies that change. An ethnographic research on the Neapolitan feminine). This work takes as its starting point an examination of the Neapolitan 'femminiello' or 'feminella' - an 'in-between' gender that exists, and is accepted, in some Neapolitan neighborhoods before moving on to address the horizon of meaning outlined by gender approaches in the social sciences which, by deconstructing and declining sex, gender and sexual orientation and thus overcoming sexed dimority as the essence of the distinction between masculine and feminine, have shown that biological data, social role and desire do not always (nor necessarily) coincide and that different societies, in different historical moments, include or exclude non-conforming forms of belonging (and therefore of identity) of gender.

Caroline Vesce earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Historical-Linguistic Studies at the University of Messina. She听has carried out field research in Naples and in Samoa.听Her interests focus on the issues of the body, gender and the person, with particular regard to non-heteronormative gender experiences and the impact of gender biomedical categories on local contexts.

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