Gender And Sport In Fascist Italy

The members of the all male Italian team at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games were affectionately called 'Mussolini's boys' in the press. The athletes represented a new, more powerful, and virile Italy. Four years later in Berlin it was the successful Italian women athletes who were praised in the press for being the exponents of 'Latin athleticism'. What does this mean about women and sport in Fascist Italy and about the construction of a new athletic femininity and masculinity in this period? The debates that took place about the sports suitable for Italian women render visible the constant process of defining femininity. The construction of masculine athleticism in Fascist Italy was less problematic since modern masculinity was already tied to sport, however it too was not a fixed identity and was particularly influenced at this time by the growing militarism and the Fascist idea of the 'new man'. Sport provides an important focus for the examination of gender issues, because of its public and visible dimension. Moreover, because it provides an arena for easy comparison with other nations, sport was thus a setting for an attempt by the regime to define 'Italian' or 'Latin' characteristics. The figure of the athletic new Italian was emblematic of Fascism itself; fluid, adaptable, ambiguous, and dynamic; faithful, devoted to the Homeland, and strong, and in the case of women, graceful as well. 

The Italian team at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1932 was affectionately referred to by the international press as 'Mussolini's Boys'. (1) This name reflected the widespread approval that Fascist Italy and Mussolini enjoyed at the time, as well as the all-male composition of the team. By the following Olympics much had changed to render this name inappropriate. In 1936 Italy's international position was starkly different; having recently invaded Ethiopia, Italy was facing sanctions from the League of Nations and was moving politically closer to Nazi Germany. (2) In Berlin, Italy presented itself for the first time as an empire, and the Italian press defiantly claimed that the Italian team was competing under a flag of war. Moreover, in Berlin the Italian athletes who were more successful in the main stadium were not 'Mussolini's boys' but his 'girls'. (3) The reception and promotion of these women Olympians and other exemplary sporting figures, notably the accademiste, the students of the Fascist Female Physical Education Academy, reveals the problematic and ongoing process of gender construction in Fascist Italy. Most of the scholarship about sporting women in this period tends to either look at them in isolation from men or as an aside, and thus does not appreciate fully the complexities of the construction of 'Latin athleticism'. (4) While historians have acknowledged the ambiguous place of women in general as well as women athletes in Fascist Italy, they have not adequately teased out the gendered sporting norms for women athletes and for the prominent figure of the donna sportiva. (5) This paper will explore the intrinsic tension in the construction of the athletic woman at a time when virility and militarism, both apparently in contradiction to normative femininity, underscored the figure of the athlete. 

In the twentieth century, sport became a significant aspect of the cultural and political self-definition of modern nations. This was particularly true in the interwar period when sport first became truly international (Riordan 1998: 1). Indeed, Barbara Keys identifies the interwar period as the time when sport became more deeply entwined with notions of nationhood and national power (Keys 2004: 165). Fascist Italy was the first European state to create a centralised and comprehensive sporting program and to use sport explicitly for the purposes of political propaganda. The Fascist regime used sport not only to define Italy but also to define and construct its version of Italians. From the beginning of the modern Italian state, given the vast cultural, linguistic, and economic variances in the peninsula, the creation of Italians was an open challenge. Massimo D'Azeglio, a leading figure of the Risorgimento, is frequently cited as having said at the time of Italy's unification in 1861: 'We have made Italy, now we must make the Italians'. (6) Others after D'Azeglio spoke of the need to create a religion of patriotism and civil consciousness, (7) but Mussolini took up this challenge with unprecedented vigour, determined to nationalise the masses and to project the image of a new dynamic population. Sport was to be the key factor in improving the health and strength of the Italian population, whose perceived lack of virility was a great concern for the regime, and in prospering the image of the 'new Italian'

La Gazzetta dello Sport

La Gazzetta dello Sport is an Italian newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. It was first published on 3 April 1896, allowing it to cover the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens. However, its role extends beyond news reporting and features, to direct involvement in major events, including (since 1909) organization of the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) cycling stage race. The newspaper, published on distinctive pink paper, sells over 400,000 copies daily (more on Mondays when readers want to catch up on the weekend's events), and can claim a readership in excess of three million. 

A sports magazine, Sportweek, is sold with the newspaper on Saturdays. Although a wide range of sports are covered in the newspaper, football is given by far the majority of the coverage. With some 24-28 pages out of 40 devoted to the sport on a daily basis, much of the journalism is speculative and sensationalist rather than the pure reporting of matches. However, the paper also has a good record for campaigning journalism, and played a significant part in exposing the 2006 Serie A scandal that rocked Italian football, and led to the relegation of Juventus and points penalties for other leading clubs. The largest and best supported teams in Italy, and especially the Milan teams of A.C. Milan and Internazionale, dominate the coverage. This focus is partly because it is published in Milan. Other sports papers in Italy do the same with teams from their own city, for example TuttosportTorino-based sides and Il Corriere dello Sport has Rome-based teams at the fore. has larger coverage of

Mou Is The Best But He Needs To Learn Good Manners

The countdown is over. Tomorrow the Gazzetta dello Sport's new 16-page insert, Extra Time, will be published for the first time. It's free, comes out with the Tuesday edition of the paper and deals with foreign championships including surveys, reports, results, league tables, features and new faces, as well as exclusive interviews. We get the ball rolling with Mario Balotelli, who tells us of his life under the blue sky of Manchester.

One for all — SuperMario, as usual, shocks us with heavy comments. For example? “Mourinho is the best coach in the world, but as a man he still has some way to go, as far as good manners and respect are concerned”. And that's not all: his reply to Berlusconi when he defined Cassano as the most talented Italian player: “Either Berlusconi is wrong or he doesn't know Balotelli well”. Mario has no doubts: the best player in Serie A is Ibra (“excellent, out of this world”), while the best Italian player is Giovinco. The Ballon d'Or? Messi? No way: "It should have gone to Sneijder”.

mancini? number 1 — Balotelli also talks about Roberto Mancini: "He's the most important manager I have had". Then the revelation: "He's going to be the best in the world soon". But it isn't over yet: "As a man he's 10km ahead of Mourinho”. He talks about his team-mates at City, too: “Johnson has great technique and Adebayor is the most fun. Vieira and Kolarov helped me out a lot when I arrived”. Then Mario makes an about turn and goes on to discuss the "scudetto". “Instinctively, I'd say AC Milan. If I think about it a bit, I'd say: but Inter gave me so much. If I think again, I decide: I hope Napoli win. I'd love to play alongside Cavani”. As regards the gossip which surrounds him, he brushes it of as “rubbish". And goes on: English football is well ahead in the grounds but so far behind in the papers. As for Sophie, I can only say that I have only seen her once and she began bombarding me with messages, but she has a friend who is much more interesting”.

charity — Finally we feel obliged to let you know that Mario Balotelli supports Extra Time's charity campaign and that he has donated his fee for this interview to the ’ong Cuey Machar Secondary School Foundation, which will go towards building a school in Southern Sudan.