Boundaries among Genders in the Mediterranean Area: between Reality and Imagination

The present work is a reflection on the collective imagination built around the ideas of “masculine” and “feminine” within the cultures of the countries bordering the Mediterranean, on the assumption that the concept of “gender” has recently become one of the symbols that best expresses what is now conceived by many as a clash of civilizations, or between Western and Muslim countries. This paper aims to analyse the ways in which Western countries help outline the debate on gender differences in the Mediterranean area. This debate often reveals the persistence of a certain degree of ethnocentrism and the inability of Western countries to take account of alternative models emerging in other Mediterranean contexts – particularly those of Islamic tradition – often considered culturally and morally “backwards” with regard to women's rights and the plight of LGBT individuals.