Panel: GENDER (IN)EQUALITIES IN RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS: THEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORKS, NORMATIVE PRACTICES, AND CONTEMPORARY RECONFIGURATIONS



162.9 - PAGAN QUEERNESS. GENDER DYNAMICS AND POLITICS IN CONTEMPORARY PAGANISM

AUTHORS:
D'Agostino E. (SIMBDEA - Italian Society for Museum and Heritage Anthropology ~ Roma ~ Italy)
Text:
Since its origins, contemporary paganism has been a social field in which alternative narratives about gender have been constructed in contrast to dominant models. As a result, it is not uncommon for individuals who identify with the worldviews of contemporary paganism to display a greater openness toward the idea that gender roles can be diverse, multiple, and "fluid" compared to those promoted by hegemonic religious paradigms. This openness to queerness—understood here as a spectrum encompassing gender expressions and identities conceived as a continuum of phenomena, both at the individual and collective level—is so significant that it permeates virtually all manifestations of contemporary paganism, including those that might initially appear less likely to be associated with queer perspectives. Through a sociological and anthropological approach, this paper examines the ways in which queerness has entered contemporary pagan worldviews, from ecofeminist milieus to the strands of contemporary paganism that are closer to right-wing political interpretations and sovereigntist ideologies.