Without the Distinction of Sex? The Construction of the Homosexual Anti-Citizen in 1950s Italy

For twenty years the Fascist regime put youth at the center of its ideological myths and state policies. The creation of a “new man” was at the core Mussolini’s political and pedagogical project. After the end of the Second World War, youths were still deemed essential to revitalize the Italian nation and initiate a new socio-political era. The media and police therefore underlined the necessity of defending and protecting the youths from the homosexual contagion. Reading the Italian press in the 1950s and browsing police orders reveals how homosexuals were perceived as a biopolitical threat attacking the social body and undermining the national collective health. Homosexuals were a problem because they failed to procreate, refused to live up to ideals of tough masculinity, and above all, because they were seen as the origin of a vicious circle of perversion menacing future generations, cancerous cells that infected the youth and compromised the future of the state. The new 1948 Constitution established that all citizens were equal before the law, without distinction of sex, race, language, religion, political opinion, personal and social conditions. But, were they really? Homosexuality was not illegal in Italy, but individuals with same-sex desires and behaviors were not accepted as full members of Italian society. This paper focuses on how post-Fascist Italy did not guarantee sexual equality. Incited by sensational press—and perhaps embracing directives coming from the other side of the Atlantic—the Italian state implemented police measures that relegated homosexuals to the status of second-class citizens.