Femminiello

Femminielli or femmenielli (singular femminiello, also spelled as femmeniello) are a population of people who embody a third gender role in traditional Neapolitan culture.

[1][2] There has been dispute about whether it is accurate to insert the Neapolitan femminiello within the contemporary term transgender, usually adopted in Northern European and North American contexts.

[6] Despite conflation of the term in mainstream media,[7][4] historians maintain that an important aspect of i femminielli is that they are decidedly male despite their female gender role.

Some scholars, including Eugenio Zito of the University of Naples Federico II, propose that the femminielli "seem to confirm, in the field of gender identity, the postmodern idea of continuous modulation between the masculine and the feminine against their dichotomy.

The links to ancient Greek mythology are numerous: for example, Hermaphroditus, who possessed the beauty of their mother, Aphrodite, and the strength of their father, Hermes; or Tiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes, famous for being transformed into a woman for seven years.

[5][10] The history of the femminielli may trace back to a real, non-mythological group: the Galli (also called Galloi or Gallae, singular gallus), a significant portion of the ancient priesthood of the mother goddess Cybele and her consort Attis.

In a stage production La Gatta Cenerentola ('Cinderella the Cat'), by Roberto De Simone, femmenielli play the roles of several important characters.