Spaghetti Sissies Queering Italian American Media

This contributed volume brings together personal accounts and scholarly research in an examination of the LGBTQIA+ Italian American experience and representation in North American media. This is a population that has long been ignored both as an object of study and as a media-maker and consumer. Through consistent filmic representation, the image of the Italian American has become archetypal, leaving us with a set of immediately recognizable characters: the hyper macho blue-collar greaser, the anti-intellectual GTL Guido, the child-obsessed mamma, and the heteronormative mafia family. The rhetorical and literal loudness of these characters drowns out other possible embodiments of Italian American identity so that few examples survive of Italian Americans that do not conform to these classed, heterosexual modes of being. This volume fills that void, foregrounding the importance of representation and of rethinking the historical narratives and cultural stereotypes surrounding Italian American identity. This book is especially designed for those with an interest in queer theory, gender and sexuality studies, Italian American studies, and media and cultural studies. Julia Heim is a Lecturer of Italian at the University of Pennsylvania. She has published or is co-author of the recent articles “Queer Italian Studies: Critical Reflections from the Field,” “Why LGBTQIA+ Inclusivity Matters for Italian Studies,” “Italian LGBTQ representation in Transnational TV,” and Queering Italian Media. In addition to her research, Dr. Heim is the co-founder of Asterisk, an LGBTQIA+ Inclusivity taskforce. Sole Anatrone is an Assistant Professor of Italian Studies at Vassar College. Her publications include: Queering Italian Media; “Almeno non hai un nome da negra:” Race, Gender and National Belonging in Laila Wadia’s Amiche per la pelle; “Disciplining Narratives and Damaged Identities in Rossana Campo’s Lezioni di arabo.” She is a co-founder of Asterisk.