Changing Femininities, Changing Masculinities. Social Change, Gender Identities and Sexual Orientations

This collection of papers on the theme of gender transformation is a call for a range of discussions about issues and problematics which are crucially important for the discipline of sociology, but also of central importance for how we understand processes of social change. This special issue sets out to contribute to the culture of diversity, opening up new paths for reflection on tensions and challenges linked to the changes in gender identities. The intention is to discuss, in the light of new contributions for both qualitative and quantitative reflection and research, certain directions in the major transformations in the perceptions and self-perceptions of women and men and in gender relations, also in the light of the plurality of sexual orientations. The directions taken by women and men writers are multiple and strongly inter-connected: transformations in gender identity; changes in the relations between women and men (in particular among the younger generations); the relation between research, the school system and gender; the plurality of family models; homosexuality; transgenderism; transsexuality. All the papers witness that gender is a rich, complex relational and historical dimension. Only the examination of the mutual influence of women and men, of their bonds and contrasts, may enable us to understand what the 'women's' and 'men's condition' is. Masculinity and femininity are a function of (present, past and future) reciprocal perception and interaction. Being a woman and being a man are both the product of a historical process which has traversed different cultures and societies, within which masculine and feminine have been differently defined, creating specific collective and individual identities. Gender relations also change constantly, as the social norms regulating specific behaviours vary between cultures. The collection of writings lastly bears witness to the importance of reflection on the plurality of sexual orientations and hence of female and male models. The process of gender identity acquisition may turn into experiences and behaviours fully, slightly or in no way concordant with biological sex and with the social expectations related to it. This highlights the tension between the terms of sex, gender and desire, on which the normalisation of heterosexuality is based. To sum up, the aim of this Special Issue is to contribute to conveying masculine and feminine models which are as dynamic, realistic and free of stereotypes and prejudices as possible, but which may at the same time reflect the complexity, richness and creativity characterising gender identity and the relations between sex and gender. A more balanced, innovative vision, more attentive to the on-going changes, seems fundamental to resolve many of the questions which today affect relations between genders and generations