A crown upside down

Performance created with Francesco Marsili, a trans man awaiting official documents recognising his gender.

The gift of a beard carries many meanings. First and foremost, unfortunately, it is still one of the elements on the basis of which a person may or may not be granted documents that legally recognise their gender.

AlbumArte, an independent centre for artistic production, presents the live performance A Crown Upside Down, by and with Filippo Riniolo, with the participation of Francesco Marsili.
Tuesday, 28 March 2023, 6:30 p.m.

In Italy, the path of gender transition involves lengthy psychological and endocrinological procedures. The most unsettling moment, however, comes after all the mandatory steps have been completed, when the person applies to have their identity documents changed. The bureaucratic process requires a civil court judge to legally reassign the applicant’s gender.

In this case, however, the judge does not merely acknowledge the person’s journey and request. Rather, the judge has the discretionary power to decide whether the person is “male enough” or “female enough” to obtain legal recognition.

In the case of a man who was assigned female at birth, the judge, who by law cannot ask the person to undress, may assess the transition to male gender by considering a secondary sexual characteristic such as a beard. In the absence of a sufficiently bearded face, the application may be rejected.

The first paradox is that not all cisgender men have full beards. Many of them, if assessed on the basis of this specific feature, might not be recognised as belonging to the gender they were assigned at birth. It is therefore profoundly anachronistic to require non-cisgender people to move from one gender stereotype to another, without allowing them to inhabit one of the many shades that gender can assume.

This crystallisation of the male/female dichotomy serves a precise function: to reaffirm the dominance of the masculine. Patriarchy has defined genders through countless symbols, attributing to one — the masculine — all elements of strength, and to the other — the feminine — all elements of weakness, fragility and fickleness.

During the performance, on the very day of the judge’s ruling on whether Francesco is deemed worthy of being legally recognised as male, the artist Filippo Riniolo — who does not care at all for this symbolic masculine crown — gives it to his friend. Playfully, but not as a spectacle. As if masculinity were the beard. As if gender could be passed on, bestowed, or donated.

The artist thus creates an ironic performance in which the defendant awaiting judgement is no longer Francesco, but patriarchy itself.

Special thanks to Paola Ugolini and Pietro Gaglianò for the fertile and generative dialogue without which this work would not exist. Thanks also to Ultraqueer by TWM Factory for their support.