Bologna, July 4, 2014 Arcigay enthusiastically welcomes the new feature that Facebook will introduce to its users' profiles in the coming hours, asking them to choose the gender identity they want to represent themselves with to their contacts from a broad list of options that transcend the "male/female" dichotomy. "This is an important innovation," says Flavio Romani, president of Arcigay, "which allows many people who didn't previously identify with the either/or of masculine/feminine to feel included in the world's largest social network. This initiative gives us the opportunity to bring the issue of gender identity back into the realm of individual, self-determined choices, breaking down the male/female binary that in many cases acts as a veritable wall excluding those who, with respect to their own identity, don't conform to that model. Furthermore, scrolling through a list that includes terms like cisgender or transgender means creating culture, injecting knowledge into an area where Italy is still struggling to engage in serious debate."“
“"The key to understanding the meaning of Facebook's initiative," adds Ottavia Voza, Arcigay's Head of Transgender Rights, "lies in the reference to Gender, or rather, Gender Identity. People in Italy will finally have the opportunity to transcend the confines of the sexual binary and define their own gender identity by choosing one from among many, or by adding one of their own. Just as the Two-Spirit identity, typical of Native American culture, was introduced in America, so too will Italy have our own "territorial" identity: the "Femminiello" gender, present in Neapolitan tradition and culture. This figure, rooted in the history of the city of Naples (among the earliest sources, Giovanni Battista della Porta in De Humana Physiognomonia, 1586), is a phenomenon that some believe is dying out, others say is undergoing significant change, but it is still alive and well in the social fabric of working-class neighborhoods, where the Femminielli have always occupied a well-integrated and defined role. Even today, in Naples there is an association, the AFAN (Associazione Femminelle Antiche Napoletane) which collects archival and documentary material on the Femmimielli (or Femminelle) of Naples“.
“"The launch of personalized gender options in Italy is an important step towards enabling all Facebook users who don't identify as male or female to express their identity. The collaboration with Arcigay was extremely important because it allowed us to identify the categories most relevant to Italians," commented Laura Bononcini, Head of Institutional Relations for Facebook Italy.
