Loving More Than One Color: Bisexuals of Color in Italy Between Stigma and Resilience

Abstract

The present research explored the narratives of Bi + people of Color living in northern Italy and the strategies they used to deal with multiple identity negotiations, stigma, and discrimination. As previous research suggests, Bi + people of Color face a double stigma due to the intersection between a nonmonosexual orientation and a nonwhite skin tone. Following an interdisciplinary approach between social psychology and cultural anthropology, we conducted qualitative interviews with bisexual men of Color with different migratory backgrounds (e.g. Sub-Saharan Africa and South America). Narratives of stigma and resilience emerged by focusing on the intersections between the axes of sexual orientation and skin tone. Findings illustrate how the double stigma that Bi + people of Color experience affects their personal and political lives through their relationships with relevant social actors and networks.

Keywords:

• Bisexuality
• Italy
• migratory background
• biphobia
• minority stress

Notes

1 We use the label LGBTQI+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex) as a potential inclusive acronym for all identities that go beyond the category of LGBT.

2 With this category, we refer to migrants who possess a long-term permit of stay, that in Italy is provided to individuals who have been living and working within the national territory for at least 5 years. This qualification may be extended also to family members of long-term workers (Idos Research Center 2018).

3 Previously known as “Northern League” until 2017.

4 The present paper is the result of a collaboration between the two authors. Specifically, Dany Carnassale wrote the paragraphs 1, 2 and 6, whereas Aurelio Castro wrote the paragraphs 3, 4 and 5. The other paragraphs, Methodology, Reflexivity, Findings and Discussion, must be attributed to both.

5 According to this perspective, gender studies are perceived as a dominant ideology that imposes on children and teenagers new ideas and values around bodies, genders and sexualities (Bernini, 2016; Lavizzari & Prearo, 2018). As a result, conservative movements hinder the teaching of key elements of gender studies in primary and secondary schools.

6 For instance, the XIII World Congress of Families (a meeting with conservative and restrictive attitudes in the field of bodies, families, genders and sexualities) took place in Verona (a town in Northern Italy) from 29th to 31st March 2019. Against this event, thousands of people participated in a march to protest against the ideologies expressed by the Congress of Families’ organizers.

7 The current Italian citizenry paradigm is based on ius sanguinis (lit. right based on blood), that qualifies as Italians only individuals born from two or at least one parent possessing the Italian citizenship. On the contrary, ius soli (lit. right based on soil), not recognized in Italy, qualifies as a citizen of a country also the person who is born or raised in that country for a long period of time, like in the case of France. At the moment, long-term migrants living in Italy may acquire the Italian citizenship after at least 10 years of legal permit of stay as workers, or marrying a person already possessing the Italian citizenship.

8 Another research that did not explored specifically the experiences of lesbian migrants in Italy, but that of women from Peru living in northern Italy (including some lesbians and bisexuals) was carried out approximately in the same period by the anthropologist Helen Ibry (2010).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aurelio Castro

Aurelio Castro is currently completing a Ph.D. in Social Sciences at the University of Padua (Italy) with a research on the social construction of sexual orientation and masculinity in heterosexual and bisexual men. A social psychologist, his research framework includes narrative studies, sexual scripts, and social constructionism. E-mail: [email protected]

Dany Carnassale

Dany Carnassale holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the University of Padua (Italy). His research focused on the intersections of migration experiences, cultural and religious diversities and hon-heteronormative sexualities. A cultural anthropologist, his research framework includes migration studies, anthropology of genders and sexualities as well as queer studies. E-mail: [email protected]