The model of masculinity under fascist Italy was an idealized version of masculinity prescribed by dictator Benito Mussolini during his reign as fascist dictator of Italy from 1925—1945. This model of masculinity, grounded in anti-modernism and traditional gender roles, was intended to help create a New Italian citizen in a budding New Italy. The model represents a mix between purported Roman ideal, comprising both mental and physical qualities. As such, it was later superimposed onto the political persona portrayed by Mussolini himself as he rallied to gather popular support for his fascist state.
Earlier movements and influences Following the birth of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, the state was still culturally fragmented.Gori, Gigliola. (1999). "Model of masculinity: Mussolini, the 'new Italian' of the Fascist era". International Journal of the History of Sport, 4, 27–61 Following World War I, there was an uprising of civil religion in Italy as a "state of collective euphoria" roused the nation.
In 1909, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti founded the Futurist Movement, which advocated values such as instinct, strength, courage, sport, war, youth, dynamism and speed as exemplified by modern machines. Amid the introduction of this revolutionary, non-conformist ideology, it did not agree with the political philosophies of fascism, which was also just beginning to bud at that time. Futurism was thereby abandoned after 1920, and political regions became increasingly fervent as Mussolini came into power shortly thereafter.
Mussolini, after having been elected to power in 1922, created a myth of himself, craftily adapting the image of the of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche to the Italian , which was grounded in the following credo: absolutely hegemony over life and death and good and evil.
Mussolini underlined how Nietzsche had advocated an imminent return to the ideal, stating that "a new kind of 'free spirit' will come, strengthened by the war ... spirits equipped with a kind of sublime perversity ... new, free spirits, who will triumph over God and over Nothing!" Accordingly, war was regarded as the training ground of virility: a place to cultivate, embrace, and exercise masculinity to its fullest extent in the name of serving for one's nation with others as a collective entity.Bellassai, Sandro. (2005). "The masculine mystique: anti-modernism and virility in fascist Italy". Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 3, 314–335 Novelist Mario Carli provides a first-hand account of what was expected of Italian soldiers in this era:
The wartime climate provided an opportune environment for Mussolini to reinforce the values which he extolled as central to his purported hegemonic masculinity. In addition, the wartime front provided a public stage for effective public actions. Mussolini openly boasted about conducting his efforts to introduce himself as a New Italian for the New Italy that was to come.
Mussolini's exalted virility: a fascist anti-modernism Fascist anti-modernism is a political ideology that consists of these salient elements: ruralism, anti-urbanism, anti-intellectualism, anti-bourgeoisie, anti-feminism, and pro-natalism.
The fascist regime imparted a carefully controlled, diversely dispersed propaganda which was in the name of delivering the New Italian, or the New Italy. Public media was monitored: newspapers, magazines, as well as lowbrow popular romances and biographies, were rigorously controlled by the regime because they were broadly diffused throughout society, and the implications of the public of Mussolini could be positive or negative depending on the content of such mass media. Also, overt suggestions were made as to the proper conducts of an ideal Roman citizen: exaltation of the virile, dominant, and nationalistic masculine identity. The term 'virility' represents a key feature of the fascist vision of the world. The imparting of this hegemonic masculinity had the purpose of allowing fascist leaders to maintain their status quo, aside from the management of their public image. It is for this reason that all forms of 'modern' masculinity were seen as a direct threat to the stability of the fascist state, and thus were actively rendered obsolete.
As an ideology that prefers traditional ways, fascism emphasized a hierarchical relationship between male and female relations, one that was grounded in a patriarchal view of gender dynamics. Arguments were made by the fascist government that the involvement of female workers in traditionally all-male workplaces would disrupt the power hierarchy that supported society. In addition, arguments were put forth that a mother working in the workplace would be transferring all her maternal responsibilities to that of the husband, which may become exasperated with the aspect of familial caretaking all together, further endangering the integrity and sustenance of the family unit. As per issues involving masculinity, fascist rhetoric advocated for misogynistic, homophobic, and virilistic values in their campaign during the 1920s and made direct references as to the accepted and unaccepted gender codes, as explained in this passage:
Ruralism The rural man was exalted to be among the ideal hegemonic forms of masculinity by the fascist government because it did not pose a direct threat to the integrity of the fascist government. It was traditional, and it was anti-modern. Ardegno Soffici describes such hegemonic masculinity as apparent in rural Italy:
As the antithesis of the bourgeoisie, such a figure was iconic of the suggestions put forth by the fascist government as the way to be when it came down to cultivating masculinity. It is important to keep in mind that fascist ruralism aimed explicitly at the restoration of a traditional, pre-modern and rigidly hierarchical moral order. In other words, the fascist regime used the depiction of ruralism as a gateway through the regime attempted to revert modernism to traditionalism thinking styles, which were far from modernism, deeply rooted in traditionalism. In this respect, village youth that sought to leave the village and relocate to larger cities were portrayed as individuals putting the fate of the nation at risk through their behavior:
Modernism, one phenomenon which includes the relocation of youth from villages to more developed urban cities, is seen in negative light by the fascist government because it is creating a sub-type of Italian masculinity that is more adept in living within metropolitan areas, taking on less responsibilities suggested by the regime (as indicative of hegemonic masculinity). In other words, the Italian youth are no longer working in the farmlands cultivating the soil, but are instead, "de-masculinizing" themselves in the light of the fascist government and rendering the entire Italian country less fertile. Metaphorically, this means that they are cultivating less of their hegemonic masculinity that they should be embracing, and physically, they are contributing less to the state because those that move into the city usually have less children and marry less frequently, the regime argued. In addition, the safe environment of the metropolis prevents the New Italian (male) from enjoying his contact with nature, and has prevented him from contemplating deeply about the moral challenges, none of which are brought upon to him as a result of the artificial, "materialistic" metropolitan atmosphere that is void of dangers and adversities.
Anti-intellectualism Intellectuals were seen as a threat by the Fascist regime because they advocated for a masculinity which was associated with the bourgeoisie. More importantly, the values upheld by the intellectual class were in direct opposition to the values advocated by the fascist government, which were the exaltation of action, impulsivity, and youth. Youth was amongst the many ambiguous terms employed by the fascist government to manipulate the public's perception of hegemonic masculinity. It was ambiguous in that the term was often used to refer to the promising potentialities of current, present-day youth, as well as the youthful Roman soldiers, gleaming with their sharp mind and shining armor, eons ago. This narrative passage provides the stance on intellectualism very clearly:
As such, intellectualism was defined by the fascists as a pathology of masculinity.
Anti-feminism During this era, there was a salient, overarching belief grounded in science that females were biologically inferior to men. It is for this reason that a prevalence of feminine elements in a person corresponded to an actual regression of the human being on the evolutionary scale. It is for this reason that the active pursuit of vehement exercising and modern sports activities was strongly suggested as a measure to increase masculinity and combat any signs of femininity in one's lifestyle. In other words, it was through the indoctrination of the belief that weak males were inferior like females that Mussolini raised the importance of sport and exercise, which he managed to list as one of the essential quotas for qualifying as an acceptable male in the New Italy.
The effort by Mussolini to exalt the inferiority of females in relation to men created an imbalance in the public sphere. Women were forced and coerced to stay and remain in the domestic sphere, and the public generated an environment where this was deemed a convention: countless novels, moralizing works and articles of all sorts of publication aimed to exalt the woman as wife and mother and extinguish any spark of the terrible modernist conflagration.Paolo Ardali, "La politica demografica di Mussolini", Casa Ed. Mussolinia, Mantua, 1929, cited in Meldini (1976:162)" In this way, in the name of maintaining status quo, women were rendered into means of achieving and maintaining male supremacy: a representation of the 'new woman' in pathological terms was advanced in order to trace a line between orthodoxy and deviance, but the description of a monstrous figure devoid of feminity, rather than presenting a solution to the problem, often achieved the effect of amplifying the very sense of alarm that the problem itself provoked". Females were forced to remain as figures of antiquity, stationary, serving as an unchanging foundation onto which males stood on to maintain their supremacy. The theme of rejecting feminism has been prevailing throughout Italy's history, dating back to the days of peasant farmers and feudal lords.
Anti-bourgeois The fascist regime regarded the bourgeois as an obstacle of modernism because of its purported par excellence. The bourgeois and the bourgeois spirit were exploited, with the latter being used to manipulate the public. For example, Benito Mussolini, in a 1938 speech, voiced the clear distinction between capitalism and bourgeoisie, in which case he described the bourgeoisie as a moral category, a state of mind. In the final years of the regime, interests of Catholic circles and that of Benito Mussolini merged. During this period, one priest who founded the journal Frontespizio, Giuseppe De Luca, declared that:
The bourgeois was perceived as unmanly, effeminate, and infantile in the following quote:
The economic freedom and mobility as exemplified by the bourgeois posed a direct threat to the integrity of the fascist regime. If and when the bourgeois gain power, there is the potential loss of control and unity as maintained by the state, so this is seen as threatening by Mussolini and his followers. To become bourgeois was still a fault pertaining to the masculine mystique: not by change, shortly after, the bourgeois was scornfully defined as someone who was "spiritually castrated".
Mussolini as the hegemonic male