Da vicino nessuno è normale: la categoria di identità sessuale alla prova della storia

This essay critically examines the historiography of sexuality, questioning its tendency to focus on non-normative sexualities and identities, often labeled “queer,” “non-conforming,” or “transgressive.” Rooted in late 19th-century sexological studies that categorized and pathologized “deviant” sexualities, this approach has led to an overemphasis on identifying and studying “eccentric” sexual experiences while leaving the realm of “normal” heterosexuality, especially male heterosexuality, largely unexplored. The essay calls for dismantling the dichotomous approach (homosexual/heterosexual, queer/heteronormative) that has dominated the field, and instead embracing the variability and complexity of sexual experiences and expressions across history, by interrogating the very category of “normal” sexuality.