Testicules, masculinités et normes de genre. Les récits scientifiques français sur les castrats italiens au siècle des Lumières

Abstract

Although Italian castrati did not feature prominently in the French Enlightenment, they nonetheless became a subject of scientific discussion in the kingdom insofar as they embodied a Western eunuchism. Used to explore the ethical limits of surgical procedures, musical castration was included in a number of treatises, both developed and more anecdotal, and raised a host of questions relating to bodily norms, gender identity, reproductive capacity and sexuality. This article sets out to investigate the way in which the physical and moral portrayal of castrati developed by French physicians and naturalists during the Enlightenment was part of the effort to construct and medically define sex, with a particular focus on setting standards for the masculine. In the second half of the 18th century in particular, the figure of the castrato served as a means of setting out the physical and moral characteristics of a hegemonic masculinity 'à la Française' and, consequently, the contours of a subordinate masculinity (Italian, southern, oriental) of which the singers would be the embodiment.

Keywords

• castration
• masculinities
• gender norms
• castrati