baldasar, l(1999)_marias and marriage_ethnicity, gender and sexuality among italo-australian youth...

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DOI: 10.1177/144078339903500101

1999 35: 1Journal of SociologyLoretta Baldassar

Italo-Australian youth in Perth1Marias and marriage: ethnicity, gender and sexuality among

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Marias and marriage: ethnicity,

genderand

sexuality amongItalo-Australian youth in Perth1Loretta Baldassar

Department ofAnthropologyUniversity of WesternAustralia

Abstract

Using an ethnographic account of weddings and network activities amongItalo-Australian youth in Perth, and, in particular, a symbolic analysis of garters and

bouquets, this paper exploresthe

intersections of ethnicity, gender and sexuality, andreviews social scientific theories of ethnic identity and cultural transmission. Byinvestigating the double standard-where men are free to be sexually active andwomen are not-it confronts some of the stereotypes about second generationAustralians and culture clash, female oppression and the control of sexuality. Of

particular concern is the way that some Italo-Australian women perceive sexualfreedom inAustralian society. The paper argues that the moral community representedby the youth network and, in particular, the challenges posed by it to the traditionalmodel of female honour, allow for significant generational changes in the constructionof ethnic identity. By analysing how identities are constructed and articulated across

difference, and how this kind of relativising is embodied in the habitus [cf. Bourdieu

1977] of the second generation (Bottomley 1992a: 132), the paper explodeshomogeneous conceptions of what is Italian, and ltalo-Australian culture.

IntroductionThere are two theoretical issues I wish to highlight in relation to the ethnographicmaterial presented in this paper. The first concerns the construction of ethnicidentity in the second generation and how cultural transmission is theorised. Thesecond relates to the feminist concern with how women express themselves

socially and sexually within the constraints of patriarchy. These two issues arebrought together through an examination of two ethnographic case studies to

explore gender and sexuality construction in relation to ethnicity. The paper beginswith a brief overview of the literature on these topics, with particular reference tothe manner in which second generation Italian-Australian identities have been

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theorised about. Following this, and a brief section outlining my methodology, Ipresent my fieldwork findings.

Ethnographic research among the Italian communities in Perth revealed thatsome Italo-Australian youth in Perth form an informal network which isseparate, or bounded off from, their parents networks. Through an analysis ofthe social activities and perceptions of the participants of this informal network,along with a symbolic analysis of the rituals which comprise their weddings, Iexamine how the youth deal with restrictions of family honour and in so doingestablish their own moral community. I argue that this moral community con-stitutes part of the emerging culture of these second generation Italian migrantsand that they construct their identities in accordance with certain traditionalvalues held by their parents. Not all of their parents traditional values are

embraced, however,and the

ambiguitiesand contestations that occur

pointto the

fact that ethnicity, gender and sexuality are generation-specific constructsinfluenced by the particular socio-economic status of the subjects. Most impor-tantly, however, the Italo-Australian youth define themselves in opposition to the

perceived identity, pattern of gender relations and sexuality of their Australianpeers.2

Theoretical considerations .

Social science research on so-called second generation Italian migrants inAustraliahas been steadily increasing in both quantity and sophistication. The initial interestin the second generation was in attempting to gauge how ethnic they were and, byimplication, how viable was the ethnic community to which they belonged. Inmost early studies on ethnic groups inAustralia, researchers tended to believe thatthe second and subsequent generations would become increasingly assimilated intoAustralian society (see, for example, Borrie 1954, 1959; Cox 1976; Bowen 1977;Zubrzycki 1960, 1982; Wilton and Bosworth 1984; Storer 1985).

Price

(1982),for

instance,looked at intra-ethnic

marriagestatistics as an

indication of ethnic community viability. He found that Italian in-marriage forthe period 1947-1978 was just under 50 per cent for the first generation andapproximately 30 per cent for the second. From these statistics, Price concludedthat most immigrant groups are breaking up quite rapidly (1982: 4), and thatthe second generation, while sometimes being quite proud or intrigued at theirethnic origins, will be identified with the mass of the population asAustralian(1982: 5).3 In this work, ethnic groups are presented as being at risk of losingtheir ethnicity through the loss of their subsequent generations and, by implica-

tion, their failure to transmit culture. This view is summed up by Bertelli (1985:70) who described intergenerational difference as the major challenge to theItalian community in the next few decades (my emphasis).Although this cultureloss or straight line theory has been criticised as too simplistic (see Gans 1979,1994), it has been a dominant viewpoint regarding the future of migrants in

Australia. NotwithstandingAustralias policy of multiculturalism, the process ofcultural transmission is often portrayed as breaking down or weakening; seepingout to be lost forever and replaced byAustralian-ness.



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The forecast of the loss of culture in the second and subsequent generations isnot based on empirical evidence, but rather is derived predominantly from thetheories of ethnicity and the ethnic group models used to represent them. What isat issue here is the way cultural transmission is theorised. For example, in herwork on Italians in California, di Leonardo (1984) debunks the family modeltheory of ethnicity which defines ethnicity as dependent on family culture. In thisview, culture is thought to be static and unchanging, and its transmissionconceptualised in terms of normative behaviour: ethnic cultures are merelymental tracks, transmitted through families (women), over which ethnics travel-rather than cognitive resources that they strategically choose and alter over time(di Leonardo 1984: 23). Similarly, the conflation of culture with ethnicity impliesthe existence of homogeneous categories (such as Italian culture) masking the

divisions and intersections that exist within such categories.4More recent research reveals that ethnic groups in modern settings areconstantly recreating themselves, and ethnicity is continuously being re-inventedin response to changing realities within the group, in the host society and in thehome country (cf. Banks 1996; Jenkins 1996; Govers and Vermeulen 1997;Yinger 1997; Bottomley 1998). Proponents of the invention of ethnicity theory(cf. Sollors 1989) and symbolic ethnicity theory (cf. Gans 1979, 1994;Alba 1985)argue that culture is not being lost, but that ethnicity is taking on an expressiverather than an instrumental function. People are recognised as having some

ability to choose the expression of ethnicity that best suits them (cf. Waters 1990).The study of ethnicity has thus become a study of ethnic consciousness (Goversand Vermeulen 1997).

Some of the latest theorising about the second generation refers to HomiBhabhas (1990) notion of the third space inhabited by so-called hybrids orhyphens.A focus in this literature is on the in between status of these dualidentities. Various commentators on the subject present conflicting viewsregarding the implications of this position, which can be described as double-

edged.The

positive implicationshave been identified as the

developmentof

double cultural competences (Vasta 1993: 220) or double vision (Hannerz1992: 133, 199) and the ability to act as bridges (Bottomley 1992a: 133). Thenegative consequences revolve around the idea of being caught between twocultures.Ang (1994: 9), for example, is cautious about the positives she sees inthis position, and reminds us that assimilation is often desired by migrants them-selves for they are longing for fitting in rather than standing out, even thoughthis desire is often at the same time contradicted by an incapability or refusal toadjust and adapt completely. Naficy (cited inAng 1994: 17) defines such a

position as liminal and thus temporary. Similarly, Papastergiadis (1986: 56) seesit as bound for annihilation.

While there is no agreement on the implications of this in-between-ness forthe second generation individuals, the debate does highlight the profoundcreativity of such hybridity and the potential for creative syncretism.Ang (1994:16) refers to the multiperspectival productivity of the position and cites Bhabha,who sees it as representing sites of resistance against the assimilatory impositionsof the dominant culture (Ang 1994: 17). Similarly, Benmayor and Skotnes (1994:



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9) point out that new generations born out of mixed ethnic/racial, and cross-cultural marriages resist conformity to an &dquo;assimilated&dquo; norm (whether that ofthe dominant society or of the home culture) and affirm instead a more con-

sciously complex notion of who they are.This approach to the second generation identities allows us to see culture not

as a zone of shared meanings but as a zone of disagreement and contest (Verdery1994: 42, her emphasis). Recognising culture as political process in this mannereschews the straight-line and family models of cultural transmission, highlight-ing instead the intersections of various aspects of identity, such as ethnicity,gender and sexuality, as they are continuously negotiated between the gendersand the generations.

Discussions of ethnic identity have thus moved from an attempt to measure or

quantify just how ethnic a group is to a critical appraisal of both the politics ofrepresentation, and the politics of articulation (cf. Hall 1987). This recognition ofboth objective and subjective interpretations of identity (Bottomley 1991) ensuresthat adequate attention is paid to how the construction of ethnicity is not onlysubject to control by the state and academics,s but also by migrants themselves.6The state and academic discourses have tended to function as hegemonic mecha-nisms rendering the migrants voices muted, if not invisible.A consequence of theorising about second generation identities without ade-

quate attention to empirical data is the tendency to assume, rather than investi-gate, ideas and values designated in cultural terms (as Italian, for example) (cf.Bottomley 1991: 102), let alone how these ideas and values may differ betweenthe genders, and how they may change over time as they are transmitted from onegeneration to the next. This is particularly the case with regard to notions offemale oppression and subordination.An increasing amount of feminist andother literature shows that much of what passes as female subordination is not

self-evident (see, for example, Herzfeld 1983; Bottomley 1984, 1992a; Martin1986; Pallotta-Chiarolli 1989; Loizos and Papataxiarchis 1991; Vasta 1992). The

question of degrees of female freedom isa

complexone

and, given its patriarchalcontext, contains ambiguities.There is a limited amount of empirical research on the intersections of ethnicity,

gender, sexuality and second generationAustralians. One such rarity, by Pallotta-Chiarolli and Skrbis (1994), advocates the incorporation of a feminist perspectiveinto the study of ethnicity wherein sexuality is analysed as a site of contention inpower and authority relationships (Pallotta-Chiarolli and Skrbis 1994: 259).Their research deals with issues of parental, communal and societal authority andhow these impact on gender codes and regulations of sexuality. This paper

expands on their analysis to include the young peoples own moral community (adomain of meaning and social action that has often been ignored), not only as anadditional type of authority (in which gender discourses can be identified), but asthe domain in which parental, societal and communal expectations are tested,negotiated and transformed.No discussion of the politics of culture, identity and representation among the

second generation is complete without reference to Barths (1969, 1994) seminal



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work on the management of socially constructed boundaries. In this paper,recognition of boundary maintenance as a principal factor in ethnic groupcontinuity makes it clear that generational changes in constructs such as ethnicity,gender and sexuality do not necessarily imply the demise of the ethnic group;ethnic groups and their features are produced under particular interactional,historical, economic and political circumstances: they are highly situational, notprimordial (Barth 1994: 12). Bourdieus notion of habitus is also employed toaccount for the manner in which these second generation identities are both

reproductions and reformulations of shared beliefs and practices that arehanded down from the parents generation.

The notion of habitus not only allows us to study culture as political process,but also to acknowledge both subjective and objective representations of

ethnicity.As

systemsof

durable, transposable dispositions (Bourdieu1977:

72)or, to quote Bottomley (1992a: 122), as categories of perception and appre-ciation that provide a commonsense understanding of the world, the habitus ofthe second generation is characterised by in-between-ness and relativising:

[Tlhese categories are themselves socially produced within very specific contexts andthey continue to mediate the experience and interpretation of changing objectiveconditions. Thus, the durable, transposable dispositions acquired in childhood areoverlaid and transformed by adjustment of later circumstances. But those adjustmentsare themselves biased by pre-existing perceptions, which mostly operate below the level

of consciousness (Bottomley 1992a: 122).In this paper I show how categories of perception about sexuality, ethnicity

and marriage are both socially produced and articulated within specific contexts.Examples include the highly delineated context of the marriage rite and the lessformal social contexts of the youth network activities. I present a symbolicanalysis of some Italo-Australian wedding ceremonies as rites of transition inwhich the rituals of the bouquet and the garter, as rites of institution (cf. Bourdieu1992), fix legitimacy and establish consensus as to how things should be. I

investigate gender stereotypes as they are played out in social practice (cf.Herzfeld 1991), to explore how some second generation women express them-selves socially and sexually within the constraints of patriarchy, particularly with

regard to the double standard-where single men are free to be sexually activeand women are not. Such an analysis challenges the classical dichotomy between

virginal and diabolical images of women forcing a revaluation of the traditionalmodel of honour and shame and supports a dialectical analysis of ethnic identityand cultural transmission incorporating history, structure and volition.

MethodologyThe two case studies documented in the next sections of this paper were carefullychosen to present an analysis of gender, sexuality and ethnicity in specificcontexts involving varying degrees of formality. After briefly describing theactivities of the informal youth network to provide the necessary backgroundinformation, I examine their wedding rituals as contexts where gender, sexuality



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and ethnicity are highly formalised. In the rites that comprise the weddingcelebration, gender discourses-perceptions about the correct way for the gendersto behave-are clearly delineated, with limited space for resistance. Followingthis, I explore the less formalised contexts of the informal youth network, whererelations between the genders and the generations, and where discourses aboutsexuality and ethnicity, are produced and articulated with more freedom.

The informal youth network is comprised of second and subsequent gener-ation Perth Italian youth between the age of 17 and 25.7 I studied this network

through participant observation, network analysis and the use of semi-structuredinterviews over a period of 18 months beginning in 1985.8 Few of these youthwere tertiary students; most were employed in a range of jobs including the publicservice, small business, manual labour and trades. Their parents broadly fell intothe

categoryof

self-employed, working class-theywere all

labourers,small

business owners or tradespeople who had migrated after World War II. In themajority of cases, both parents had been born in Italy. Where this was not thecase, the mother was a second generation Italian migrant. I also conducted

twenty-eight semi-structured interviews with other network participants whoseparents came from different regions in Italy.9All interviewees were single at thetime of the research and all identified as being Roman Catholic. In 1990 Iconducted follow-up interviews with twelve principal informants, all of whomhad since married (I attended six of the twelve weddings). During 1988 and 1989

I collected comparative information on youth social networks and weddings inItaly. Where relevant, this comparative material has been included in this paper.

The informal youth networkThe network youth participate in various contexts of meaning and social action(Baldassar 1992). The most important is the family domain where youth arebrought up and traditional values are taught. The importance of the family is

evident in many aspects of Italo-Australian culture, but particularly in the factthat throughout their lives young people are continually, through gesture andword, directed to marriage which encompasses the re-establishment of the familydomain. The family domain is defined in opposition to the outside, that is,everything beyond the family, apart from Italian clubs and associations, isconsidered not to be Italian. Being Italian is set up in opposition to beingAustralian. The context of the informal youth network comprises a set ofpractices where youth frequent particular places around Perth and the routine oftheir activities makes the network function like an informal club.

In 1985 and 1986 the informal youth network had several regular meetingplaces. On Thursday evenings youth would meet in Hay Street Mall in the citycentre. This was the grapevine meeting where participants found out what was

happening on the weekend. Saturday afternoon was known by informants assoccer time. Not all youth frequented this predominantly male domain, butmost attended when the two Italian teams played each other. On Sunday after-noons youth would congregate at Kings Park, close to the city centre. Called the



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7

parade in all of the places frequented by youth, this was by far the mostconspicuous display of ethnicity and sexuality. One young woman explained:

Kings Park is really sort of famous for meeting on Sunday afternoon.A lot of the guysgo there to show off their cars. They all sit along one side of the road and inspect everycar, and every girl, that goes past and all the girls and all the guys and everyone just sortof judges everyone else, so everyones trying to act their best.

Saturday nights were reserved for night clubbing. Hannibals, a club inNorthbridge (close to the city centre), was known as the home base. It was theplace most often referred to as where people joined the network. Indeed, the net-work was often called, the Hannibals crowd. One young man explained:Hannibals is definitely no beer, no jeans and very fewAustralians. This descrip-tion is supposedly the antithesis of a pub. Pubs are associated with Australian

leisure andare

considered by youthas

un-Italian and therefore unacceptable.Youth consciously define themselves in ways that differentiate them from whatthey perceive to be Australian. In Barths (1969) terms, they consciouslyconstruct a social boundary.

The family domain can be a place of restrictive tradition and opposition to theoutside. By contrast, the informal youth network provides a space in which youthcan express themselves in ways that are perhaps not allowed at home. This doesnot mean that the informal youth network is free from restrictions. It, too, has itsown moral codes that must be respected. Inclusion and exclusion work through

gossip and who you know, how you dress, and what you do-getting a

reputation-honourable or not. According to the young people, the mostimportant function of the network is, to quote a male informant, as a huntingground where potential spouses are sought. In Hay Street Mall I was told by a

young man that he and his mates were waiting for good catches, while youngwomen at Kings Park expressed the desire to find someone and stitch him up.

The primary importance of the family domain is revealed in the fact that itworks to produce individuals who will in turn re-establish a similar paramount

reality (cf.Schutz

1967)for their

progeny.Youth do not

generallyleave home

unless it is to enter marriage and a new family domain. The ritual of thetrousseau-the collection of which usually begins on or at about the time of a girlsFirst Holy Communion-is an extended packing in preparation for marriage.There is a term in Italian for exactly this movement from one home domain toanother-sistemarsi-to establish oneself. The young peoples knowledge of themeanings which family holds for their elders is a powerful influence on theiractions. Rejecting the home world is the most difficult act imaginable. The youngpeoples habitus, as Bottomley (1992a: 123) points out, while not determining...

is a powerful mediating construct that can predefine what is necessary or evenimaginable.

Of major importance to the women in the network were two seeminglycontradictory concerns-social and sexual freedom, and making a good marriage.One informant explained that she and her friends wanted time to enjoy their youthand not go straight into marriage. Many youth were planning time for travel,particularly to Italy to visit their parents birthplaces, as well as the tourist sites,



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8

before settling down (Baldassar 1997, 1998). The young women believed thatincreased social and sexual freedom would enable them to make the best choice of

marriage partner. On the one hand, they were questioning their parents viewsabout social and sexual freedom, but on the other, they wanted to fulfil their

parents expectations that they would marry. All the young women I spoke to,whether engaged to be married or not, had begun to plan their weddings.

Italo-Australian weddingsMarriage not only reflects the success of the individual (to marry is to become asuccessful adult), it also reflects honour on the extended family and the com-munity in general (for having successfully raised a child). The wedding is there-fore considered the most

importantevent in a

young persons life,as well as one

of the most important social events for the family.According to Vasta (1992:167), weddings are cultural symbols that form the cultural cement which bindsfirst, second and third generations and working-class, petit-bourgeois andmiddle-class urban Italians. In this respect the Italian wedding can be seen as asymbol of what it means to be Italian inAustralia. It is thus not surprising that agreat amount of money is spent on them. Indeed, given the meanings which

marriage holds for Italians and given the context of migration-a better life forchildren-elaborate and expensive wedding feasts are proof of a successful

migration. The conspicuous materialistic nature of the Italo-Australian workingclass wedding has become well known to non-Italians as an over the top orexcessive ritual.l The Italo-Australian style of wedding can thus be interpretedas a boundary sustaining device.

The wedding provides fertile ground for an analysis of the differing genera-tional perspectives on gender, sexuality and ethnicity. The wedding is pertinent tothe relationship between the generations because it marks the beginning of a newfamily and, in most cases, represents the continuity of Italian culture in

Australia. During many Italo-Australian weddings in Perth a ritualised expres-sion of the transition from single to married status is a key aspect constitutingthe wedding as a rite of transition. The rituals can be analysed as a comment onthe social and sexual freedom of men and women.

There comes a point, usually late in the evening, after the speeches, the meal,and cutting of the cake, when attention is turned to the unmarried guests.All thesingle women are called together, usually into the centre of the room. The bridethen stands with her back to the group of single women and throws her bouquetover her head into the crowd. Sometimes a game is played where the winner

receives the bouquet. The single woman who receives the bouquet will, it is said,herself be married within two years. This belief reaffirms the importance of thewedding in these young womens lives.

The single men are called together to compete for the brides garter. Usually thecompetition involves a test of masculinity-who can do the most push-ups or thebest limbo. Once the victor is decided, the bride stands on a chair, and the chosenman removes the garter from her leg. Often the audience is asked to choose in



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9

what manner he should do this, whether he should use his hands or his teeth. Thevote is usually unanimous-teeth. There is much whistling, hooting and cheeringas the garter is removed. The proud winner often displays his trophy (the garter)in his car, either hanging from the rear vision mirror or around the gear stick.

Often these rituals are performed in an exaggerated manner. There are alwayssome single women who clearly and exaggeratedly act as if they do not want tocatch the bouquet (they refuse to join the circle or they huddle at the rear andhold their hands behind their backs) and there are others who act as if they aredesperate to catch it (they rush to the front and try to block out any competitors).In the rite of the garter, the single men often ham up their masculinity and thebride may eitheract very demure or very risqu6, or a combination of both.

What do these rituals tell us about Italo-Australian sexuality, gender and

ethnicity?It is

importantto note that

theserituals are not

exclusiveto

Italo-Australian weddings There is nothing quintessentially Italian about themexcept that they have been appropriated by some Italians in Perth and are definedby them as expressions of Italo-Australian identity. In Gans (1979, 1994) terms,the bouquet and the garter are examples of symbolic ethnicity. They could bedefined as part of the general grammar of collected mementoes in Italian culture:every significant event has a souvenir; the most common being the bomboniere andsugared almonds of weddings, christenings, communions and confirmations. Thebouquet represents the brides virginity (cf. Goody 1993: 227; Rubin 1994: 159)which she will lose on her wedding night. It is for this reason that the bride givesaway her bouquet to a single (virgin) woman before she leaves for her marital bed.In giving away her bouquet the bride is bestowing her good fortune, evident in thefact that she is getting married, upon one of her unmarried companions. To quoteone female informant: Thats what good luck means, getting married.

The removal of the garter is a more complex act that can be read in a varietyof ways. The bouquet, given its association with purity, is connected with thesacred. Through their association with the Virgin Mary, women are identifiedwith the realm of the sacred

(cf. Peristianyand Pitt-Rivers

1992).The

garteris

instead directly related to the profane-it is a symbol of the flesh and representsthe brides sexuality. It is significant that the garter is removed, however pro-vocatively, in the presence of the groom. Indeed, all the single men who competefor the garter are known to both the bride and groom and their respectivefamilies; they are invited guests, many are kinsmen. These men would normallybe charged with defending the brides honour because her seduction would meantheir disgrace. The fact that an unmarried kinsman, not the husband, removesthe brides garter, makes the ritual what Bourdieu (1992: 81) terms a rite of

institution: [I]t effects a solemn, that is to say a licensed and extraordinary,transgression of the boundaries which constitute the social and ideational orderwhich it is concerned at all costs to protect.

The ritual is also a comment on the single mans sexuality. He is given thefreedom to remove the garter and this he does usually with great deliberation,earning much applause from the audience. The single mans action and theaudience reaction are a direct comment on mens sexual prowess and machismo



11/23

10

wherein sexual experience is seen as a constituent of masculinity (cf. Peristianyand Pitt-Rivers 1992: 115), and thus the seduction of a woman adds to therenown of the seducer (cf. di Bella 1992). This ritualised celebration of the

sexuality of single men and the bride is conducted in a highly formalised mannerin a context where gender discourses are clearly delineated-at a wedding, whichis an extension of the family domain. In the rite of the garter, the bride (virgin)symbolically acts out her diabolical nature (whore) through the pretence ofinfidelity. The fact that this acting out is done publicly, so obviously only feigned,reinforces the preclusion of such promiscuous behaviour for the Italo-Australianwoman. It is a rite which establishes consensus as to &dquo;how things are&dquo; and thus... fix[es] legitimacy (Peristiany and Pitt-Rivers 1992: 2), reinforcing the ideal ofthe good (virginavfaithful) woman and of the real (sexually proficient) man.

It is pertinentto note

that the rite of the garter is not part of weddingceremonies in modern Italy.At the working class weddings I attended in theVeneto and Marche regions of Italy, the groom sometimes has his tie cut in two

by the bride amidst much clapping and cheering. In both the Italian andItalo-Australian contexts, the object of celebration is different, though compa-rable. In the Italian example, the grooms sexual restrictions are established, whilein the Australian context it is the sexual freedom of single men which is

applauded. The implication of the two actions, tie-cutting and garter-taking, arecongruent-outside of marriage men are sexually free; within marriage they arenot. The position which the bride holds in the two contexts is howevercontradictory. In the Italian example she cuts the tie and is therefore seen as theagent of restriction, while in theAustralian context her sexual freedom is

highlighted as is her potential corruption. The brides freedom to be sexuallyactive is defined by very clear limits-that is, within her marriage. Sex outsidemarriage would result in a fall from grace. Both the Italian and Italo-Australianrituals celebrate the single mens sexual freedom and machismo, particularly inthe treatment of the garter as trophy. In this example, as in others described

below,the womans

perceivedfreedom contains

ambiguities.Besides tie-cutting and garter-taking, other aspects of the wedding ceremonydiffer between the two countries. Weddings in Italy do not include bridesmaidsand groomsmen. Instead two witnesses, a male chosen by the groom and a femalechosen by the bride, are asked to sign the wedding papers. Nor do these witnessesdress up in any particular fashion, rather they wear an outfit of their own choice.Italo-Australian weddings, in contrast, are quite famous for the presence ofelaborate bridesmaids and groomsmen. Indeed, the more of them there are, themore really Italian the wedding is thought to be. Bridesmaids and groomsmen area British tradition that has been incorporated into Italo-Australian weddings. Thisincorporation of non-Italian customs indicates that a unique Italo-Australian

identity exists inAustralia and that it is continually being created.12There is an obvious difference in the treatment of men and women in the

various wedding customs. The wedding ceremony gives symbolic expression to thefact that it is acceptable for single men to be sexually active while it is unacceptablefor single women. In the remainder of the paper I analyse how young women inthe informal youth network deal with this apparent gender inequality.



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11

Marias and stallions13The rituals that comprise the Italo-Australian weddings suggest that single mencan be sexually active and single women cannot. The sexual freedom indicates the

generalsocial freedom of males.

You call a girl a Maria and that means that shes a virgin because Maria is an Italianname and Italian girls dont have sex, well supposedly, so the popular name is Maria.Italian guys are stallions, studs, hot blooded, basically sexual (male informant).

In contrast, young women are monitored in their goings and comings,chaperoned, curfewed, controlled, protected. The usual warnings include, toquote a female informant:

Dont be home too late, careful what you do, theres always people around, dont drink,dont drive too fast, careful who you talk to, things like that. My dad doesnt brief mybrother, he just laughs, like hes got girls ringing him up and dad thinks, ha, ha, ha, thatsmy boy.

Italian women are traditionally accorded spiritual and emotional superiority tomen by reference to the Virgin at the most abstract level (hence the name Maria),and to the mother at the more mundane (indeed the well-known stereotype is of amamma Maria).According to the Mediterranean honour and shame maxim asdescribed by Bottomley (1983: 193; see also Peristiany 1965), women are, at the

same time, believed to be temptresses with voracious sexual appetites, thusrequiring constant supervision. The key to this contradiction lies in the fact thatmale honour depends on female modesty. Female infidelity is considered a graveinsult to men and a serious threat to family stability.At the same time however, itis expected of a normal, healthy man that he will take every opportunity for sexthat presents itself and his self-image, evident in the garter display, will thereby beenhanced. If a woman were to engage in the same kind of behaviour, she would be

realising her potential corruption and forsaking her chances of being seen as awoman in the positive sense (Goddard 1987: 178). Many of the women I spoketo, and some of the men, question the fairness of this double standard.

Given the honour/shame model, the Italo-Australian women in the network

explained that there are really only two types of acceptable relationships they canhave-Platonic friendships or serious relationships. The latter are characterised bythe fact that the couple frequent each others homes (fidanzamento in casa), that is,they have met each others families and have become a part of each others familydomains. There are regional and social class variations regarding the strictness ofthis division between serious and Platonic relationships.According to the youth, the

South Italian-Australian experience is often more restrictive. Singlemen

joke aboutwatching out for young South Italian women for fear of the marriage contract.One young man explained, If you get involved with certain Italian girls before youknow it you have to sign a marriage contract. The way youth talk about makinggood catches and stitching someone up reveals their expectation that a seriousrelationship will lead to marriage. Casual sexual relationships with network womenare therefore not acceptable. Italo-Australian men treat women in the network verydifferently from non-network women, their attitude to the two groups of women is



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summed up in the following statement conveyed to me on numerous occasions byboth males and females: Italian guys feel thatAustralian girls are there to be usedwhile Italian girls are there to be respected.A shared belief of the network

participantsis that Italian

girlsare for

marrying and, by implication, that Australian girls are for sex. The use of thelabels Italian girls and Australian girls is not a strict reference to ethnicity atall. Australian simply refers to all non-network women whatever their ethnicity.Indeed, Italo-Australian women who have bad reputations are said to havebecome Australian. Likewise, any woman in a serious relationship with anetwork male is accepted into the network even if she is not ethnically Italian.The distinction is between serious relationships (sex in marriage) and casual

relationships (sex out of marriage).

These types of relationships stem directly from traditional conceptions ofsexual morality, and the influence of the young peoples habitus on their actionsand perceptions is again clear, as one young woman explained: Our parents areItalian, we must face up to this. In their day the woman had one man, the firstguy she met she married. Thats how they want it to be with us. Italo-Australiansingle women who frequent the network do not advocate virginity on marriageas their parents do. However, neither do they advocate casual sex.Although it isacceptable for Italo-Australian single men to have casual relations with non-network women, this will be condoned only if the single men are not in a seriousrelationship with anyone from the network.

Italo-Australian single men say that they brag about their sexual exploits tomale friends. In the presence of female friends from within the network theyspeak very derogatorily about the so-called Australian girls with whom theyhave casual relationships. Generally, Italo-Australian single women disapprove ofthe males treatment of these women. They often voice pity for the Australian

girls involved, although they do imply that it is the womens fault for allowingmen to treat them this way. Non-network women are defined as being stupid

enough to fall for thesemen

who obviously are not interested in them foranything but sex. Clearly, this is the Italo-Australian womens definition of whatis happening. In this paper I do not cover non-network womens perspectives.

The so-called Australian women are not seen as being socially and sexuallyfree at all, nor are they perceived to be in a better position-one of moreequality. The Italo-Australian women are far from envious of non-networkwomen and, indeed, given the condescending way they refer to these outsiders,network women appear to feel superior to them. Vasta (1993: 219) describes thismoral/social superiority prejudice as a form of ethnicity which emerges from the

discriminatory ethnic, class and gender power relations experienced by migrantsin theAustralian context. Women in the informal youth network have a socialprotection that non-network women lack. It is much more difficult for anItalo-Australian woman to be used because she is continually being monitoredby others in the network. Obviously, the network women enjoy their positionwhich does command much respect from the men. They see themselves as havingpride, a very important concept in Italo-Australian conception of self. Given their



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central positions in the family domain, and their association with the sacredrealm, in many ways network women feel they are superior to network men. Toparaphrase Martin (1986: 245), the family is a sphere of validation for women(particularly the first generation), providing a base of opposition from and withinwhich they can act. The womens position of superiority, however, is stillcontained within a patriarchal system. This contradiction is a polemic to which Ireturn later in discussing the feminist concern with how women expressthemselves socially and sexually within the constraints of patriarchy.

There is leeway for sex outside marriage and serious relationships as long asreputations are not ruined.Age is an important factor in female sexual freedom.By their late twenties women are given more freedom, particularly if they arefinancially independent (and especially if they have a professional career), perhapseven moving out of home into shared or single accommodation without beingmarried (although the majority are married by this age).A woman may lose herhonour in a serious relationship, but that honour can be restored by marriage.Indeed, not only is honour restored in marriage, it is increased because thewomans position as wife and future mother places her at the very centre of thepowerful family domain.

Honour from a female perspectiveIt is important to consider how women hold power within their culture. Martin(1986: 245) notes that, although the family is the site of female oppression, it isan extraordinarily ambiguous and contradictory site. At first glance thereappears to be gender inequality-men have more freedom than women. However,men also have restrictions, particularly evident in their position in the familydomain compared with that of women. Men are brought up within the home-avery female-oriented domain. Inside the home men are considered quite uselessand, traditionally, everything needs to be done for them. In contrast, womencreate the home world from which

theydetermine and maintain the moral order.

The home world is a sacred place, evident in the rules governing who can beadmitted. It is not acceptable for single men to bring home their girlfriends unlessthey are serious about them. Most importantly though, if a man gets a seriousgirlfriend pregnant he is obliged to marry her because it is considered his fault,his responsibility. This belief is comparable to the traditional practice whereby awomans honour could be taken in exchange for a marriage promise (cf. Ferrante1990), thus the view that a serious relationship is as good as marriage.According to Goddard (1987: 173), an analysis of honour from a female per-

spective sees women themselves as having a system, if not of honour, then of self-appraisal and self-esteem which is related to their judgement of others. Goddardnotes that by focusing on the normative aspects of the honour code from the pointof view of the interests of the men of the society, the classical literature on this

subject does not provide insights into the operation and implications of the code forwomen. She goes on to explain that although the rules restrict womens capacityfor autonomy and very much determine the direction of their self-realisation, these



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rules can also be played by women to try to gain recognition, self-respect, andfulfilment within socially established terms (1987: 178). From this interpretationGoddard (1987: 188) concludes that in spite of all attempts to control and containwomen, they are the ones who ultimately decide how and when to allocate theirsexuality. The types of relationships I have described are cultural ways ofattempting to control women, but also provide some protection from error. Thereare cases, albeit rare, of the manipulation of honour, where women use pregnancyas a way of gaining parental consent to marriage.A female informant describedsuch a case in the following terms:

No one wanted her to marry this guy so she thought fine, Ill get myself pregnant, thenIll have to marry him. Hes Italian. See, that way she used the rules to her advantage.It took a lot of guts, she went through a hell of a lot.

Of course, men are also capable of manipulating honour. There are cases ofjilted boyfriends, for example, who purposely ruin their desired girlfriends repu-tations by spreading malicious gossip about the womans conduct. In one case, thejilted young man caused the break-up of a serious relationship. The mother of thiswomans boyfriend found out about the rumours and began to put pressure on herson to end the relationship. The young womans female friend explained:At first he said he didnt care what his mother thought but then it created so muchproblem he just said to her: I cant keep going like this, its either you or my Mum, and

I just have to stick with my Mum.And he just left her and shewas

pretty upset ... atone stage he was talking of marrying her and everything.

This scenario clearly shows both the extent and the limitations of womensinfluence.A comparison of the position of the mother and the girlfriend revealsthat the womans perceived freedom contains ambiguities and reflects the feministconcern to which I referred earlier. On the one hand, we can acknowledge theposition of strength these women have within their culture, but on the other, theirpower, although it is real, is also their powerlessness. Orsi (1985: 146), in his

studyof Italian Harlem notes that:

[A]lthough women were powerful in the [family domain], their power was also theircage, the bars of which were fashioned from the material of the public definition of thegood woman. They were compelled to exercise only a certain kind of power in a certainway, as defined by the community by means of the normative ideal of the good woman.This public ideal was available to men to wield against women in retaliation for, or asa result of, the power exercised in the [family domain].

Italian women. are often the principal agents of control over their children andherein lies their power. Women are guardians of the very morality that I have been

describing.As Orsi shows, in this context womens power itself becomes anotherform of constraint.

The public ideal of the good woman is however contested, especially in theinformal network. In discussing what she calls the myth of the good Italian girl,Pallotta-Chiarolli (1989) explains that Italian mothers generally raise theirdaughters in accordance with traditional patriarchal laws and values, shapingtheir daughters to fit the myth. However, Pallotta-Chiarolli (1989: 55) also



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acknowledges that Italian mothers could not prevent daughters being faced withdifferent ideals emanating from the external society, those of liberal

individuality. The network women I spoke to almost all described their mothersas intermediaries, mediating the opposing views and tensions between theirfathers and themselves. These young second generation women are trying to

change their mothers, and are adamant that they will not be like them in certainrespects. Such young women are bringing about change and the area where thisis most evident is gender role inequity.

The traditional model of honour and shame is being challenged by youngItalo-Australian women. All of the women are in constant tension with their

parents about social freedom, going out, curfew, and friendships. The welldeveloped relationships which the young women have with their female friends,

relatives and especially their mothers, enables the mediation of tensions betweengenerations and genders. The close ties, particularly between mother and

daughter, are, I think, central to the current development of female awareness andincreased power. Mothers are changing through the influence of their daughterswithin the family domain.

The single women spoke of getting their mothers to trust them, to stop worry-ing about what other people will think. Their relationships of trust are breakingdown the restrictions imposed by maintaining an honourable reputation. Sex is amoral issue for single Italo-Australian women and they are not about to rejecttheir parents beliefs and values. Indeed, they say they will uphold them and try toinstil them in their children. However, they do want more freedom and this hasbeen achieved in the youth network. Sometimes, in trying to gain this freedom,young women choose to keep certain things secret from their families. In othercases, not secrecy but a form of conspiracy exists between daughters and their

mothers, especially concerning contraception. One female network participant,who was in a serious relationship with an Italo-Australian man, told me that sheused contraception and that her mother probably knew, but she [Mum] would

never say anything and I would never tell her because if I did she would feel likeshe had to disapprove.

Conclusion

When discussing gender inequality it is important to consider womens agencyfrom the perspective of the viewed as well as the viewer.A culturally informed

perspective reveals insights into the ways Italo-Australian women manoeuvrewithin the structures of their culture. The honour/shame model, for instance,

tends to view women as mens property with little or no power, void of volition,passive (see, for example, Peristiany 1965).A different understanding of womenis gained if they are seen as agents who are integral to the social structure andwho actively direct their lives (see, for example, Goddard 1987; Gabaccia 1994).Once women are viewed as agents, the traditional gender stereotypes of virginaland diabolical woman become, as Herzfeld (1991: 80) argues, rhetorical

strategies that only make sense in terms of social practice.At issue here is the



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way ideas of gender (gender discourses) are manifested in action, articulatedacross difference (cf. Hall 1987), and the way this kind of relativising is embodiedin the second generation (cf. Bottomley 1992a: 132).

Loizos and

Papataxiarchis(1991: 5) point out that

genderdiscourses vary in

accordance with the context in which they are established, and the less institutedthe context, the more problematic is their delineation. Context here refers to

spheres of activity in which ideas of gender can be identified, and they may rangefrom discrete domains, such as the household or family (cf. Collier and Yanagisako1987), to more informal and transient sets of practices, such as those representedby the informal network of second generation Italo-Australian youth in Perth. Ineach of these spheres of activity, ideas about gender are inextricably linked to ideasabout sexuality and ethnicity. However, in the less delineated context of the

network, ideas about maleness, femaleness, sexual relationships and ethnicidentity are less formal, being either provisional or on their way to fuller institu-tionalisation. By concentrating on the way ideas of gender inform roles and rela-tions as actually observed (cf. Loizos and Papataxiarchis 1991: 4), new patterns ofvariation which transcend traditional ideas about both male and female sexual

relations, and what it means to be Italo-Australian, can be accounted for.

However, it is clear that whatever the context, no matter the level of delineation,the individual is influenced by habitus-the dialectical interplay between history,structured circumstance and ones actions and orientations. While habitus does not

determine behaviour, it helps to explain that even when rebelling against a parentaltradition, as is evident in the youth network, the forms of resistance are mediatedby the very cultural practices and perceptions being resisted.

Italian families, like the Greek families Bottomley (1983: 197) researched, are

extremely efficient at sustaining traditions of morality and that these traditions arealso reinforced by elements in the Anglo-Australian environment. I, too,continually received the message that perceivedAnglo-Australian alternatives werenot attractive. However, attention to the moral community of the youth revealed

ways in which these traditions of morality were being transformed, resisted andpassed on. The inside domain, or the informal network of second generation youth,provides an appropriate site for an analysis of theories of identity construction andcultural transmission. By focusing on the social interrelations of the young people,and the social networks they create, we can begin to see the space in which parentalrules, community gossip, societal laws and individual volition are negotiated (thisis an example of Bhabhas 1990 notion of the third space).

Sexuality can be analysed as a site of contention in power and authorityrelationships in each of the contexts of meaning and social action in which the net-

work youth participate. The family domain corresponds to Pallotta-Chiarolli andSkrbis (1994) notion of parental authority. From the perspective of the youth,parental authority is often a reflection of communal authority where what otherswill think or the politics of reputation (Bottomley 1979) provides a strict behav-iour guide. In contradistinction to the family domain, the outside representsAustralian society at large, or, in Pallotta-Chiarolli and Skrbis (1994) terms,societal authority. The informal youth network is a sphere of activity which could



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be defined as part of communal authority; however, it is a bounded off section ofthe community, representing a separate type of authority with a different con-struction of morality which bears witness to the generation-specific constructionof identities.

The informal youth network represents a moral community which reinforcesits members understanding of the world. The moral community represented bythe network is, however, not exactly the same as the family domain. Vastas(1993: 220) claim that, despite the cultural ambivalence they experience, thesecond generation develop double cultural competences, can be seen to be occur-ing in the network. The relative freedom provided by the youth network providesa place for the development of these cultural competences. But, more importantly,it provides a province of meaning and social action in which traditional beliefs

and modes of behaviour can be tested and changed to suit the specific needs ofthis generation. In Martins (1986) terms, it provides another sphere of validationfor women; it is another structure, however, which both supports and containstheir agency.

Change in this context does not imply loss of culture or loss of ethnic identity.Rather, the network gives youth some freedom to construct their own life-worldand to develop their own symbolic expression of ethnicity. It enables both affirma-tion and transformation of the values of the family domain in a two-way process.Not only are values taken from the home and changed, but changes are broughtinto the home by youth. If transformation were not possible, the traditions wouldremain static and unchanging and would consequently have to be fiercely coerciveover individuals in order to contain them. Many Italo-Australian women areconcerned about unfairness in the home and the double standard. They do not,however, define womens domestic role as necessarily negative and restrictive, nordo they undervalue the role of wife and mother. The representation of other iscentral here, just as the network womens construction of non-network women

presented in this paper can be seen to be a misinterpretation. The construction of

Italianwomen

by many outsidersis often

justas

misleading.Goddard (1987) views the control of women and their sexuality, which resultsin their exclusion from various activities and spheres, in terms of womens role as

boundary makers and carriers of group identity. Yuval-Davis (1997: 22) putsforward a similar argument with regards to the biological reproduction of thenation. Defining women as the bearers of group identity gives them a very irnpor-tant part to play in the process of demarcation of group boundaries. This rolebecomes particularly important in a multicultural society where, on the one hand,the existence of the socio-cultural group is threatened by conflicting values found

in the outside, while on the other hand, the group is constructed as the(homogeneous) Italian community despite its internal divisions. Obviously,cultural controls on who women marry, or more to the point, whose children theybear, have a direct effect on the composition of the group. In the Italo-Australian

case, it is not so important which ethnic group spouses come from, as long as theyaccept the value system of their partners culture (cf. Chock 1987).According toGoddard (1987: 190):



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The necessity for controlling womens sexuality meets a crucial obstacle: the fact that

ultimately it is women themselves who control their sexuality. The contradictionbetween the power over women established to control them and the power of women

to subvert the relations through which they are controlled is expressed in the

ambivalent perceptions ofwomen

as passive victims and predatory nymphomaniacs.These young Italo-Australian women are resisting the traditional ideal of the

good woman through the relative freedom afforded them by the informal youthnetwork. How then is one to explain their involvement in the rites of the garterand bouquet that symbolically reproduce the classical model of honour andshame? I have argued that the rituals of the garter and the bouquet are rites ofinstitution, reinforcing the ideal of the good (virginal/faithful) woman throughthe symbolic acting out of the brides diabolical nature (whore). It is important to

note that these rituals take place ina

highly formalised public context,at a

wedding. In this public, and therefore male domain, women have little choice butto play out the roles assigned them. However, this says nothing of what thewomen feel about these roles.

Heeding Herzfelds (1991: 96) charge that we should note any situations inwhich women clearly play up their submissive role because exaggeration is theessence of a poetics that addresses the social manipulation of cultural form thewomens participation in the rituals can be interpreted as a form of resistance. The

exaggerated performances in both the rite of the bouquet and the garter can beseen as a form of subversion, though not one that challenges the communitysstanding in the wider society. Rather, it is a form of resistance that does not subvertthe boundary sustaining function of the Italo-Australian wedding. Much like thefamily domain, the wedding rites are ambiguous and contradictory sites of bothfemale oppression, female validation and resistance (cf. Martin 1986: 24S) .14

Bourdieus notion of habitus provides a way of understanding the specificadaptations of the young women to their network. It seems to provide a readyexplanation for the apparent inconsistencies between the wedding rituals and the

youngwomens

dispositionsin the context of the network. Whatever the

context,no matter the level of delineation, the individual is influenced by habitus.As notedearlier, while habitus is not determining ... [it] is a powerful mediating constructthat can predefine what is necessary or even imaginable (Bottomley 1992a: 123).

The contradictory images of women presented by the tie-cutting and garter-taking rites challenge the ambivalent perceptions Goddard (1987) identifies bypresenting women as both active controllers of sexuality and as active sexualbeings. My research demonstrates that the patriarchal context within whichwomens power is contained does not mean that they lack agency, nor that their

agency is faulty or weak. Similarly, the ambiguous nature of the network womenssexual and social freedom does not mean that they are passive recipients oftraditional value structures. The ambiguity is instead representative of thecomplexities inherent in the construction of gender, sexuality and ethnicity. Thisambiguity allows for change and negotiation.



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Notes1 I would like to thank colleagues and students in the Departments ofAnthropology and

Womens Studies for their helpful comments on this paper, and in particular, DrMichael Pinches (UWA), Dr Cheryl Lange (UWA) and Dr Zlatko Skrbis (QUT).

2 The informal youth network discussed in this paper does not, of course, include allItalo-Australian youth in Perth.As di Leonardo (1984) points out, a homogeneousethnic culture (with its implicit judgments about normative ethnic behaviour) cannotbe assumed. The comments I make about the informal network are not necessarilyrelevant to Italo-Australian youth who do not belong to the network.

3 Price (1993: 6) found that for the period 1987-90 half or more of second-generationbrides of Italian origin were marrying within their own ethnic community.

4 For a discussion of the importance of separating the concepts of ethnicity and culturesee Govers and Vermeulen (1997: 6); Bottomley (1992b, 1994a: 62, 1998: 35) and

Eipper (1983).5 In these formulations, the dominant institutions in Australian society are seen ashegemonic in their functioning. Ethnicity is described as a marginalising device, whilemulticulturalism is defined as assimilation in disguise (cf. Martin 1978; de

Lepervanche 1984; Papastergiadis 1986; Castles et al 1990; Bottomley 1992a, 1994b;Vasta 1993).

6 Bottomley (1991: 95) points out, for example, that second generation migrants arealso first generationAustralians, although they are rarely described as such.

7 Given its informal structure, it was impossible to estimate the exact number of partici-pants in the network.At the nightclub considered to be the main meeting place therewas invariably a full house of 300 patrons.

8 Being of a similar age and ethnic background, I was easily adopted into a friendshipgroup of six young women whom I interviewed and went out to network gatheringswith regularly. I also had six principal male informants each of whom I interviewedthree times. These six male informants comprised a friendship group and they oftenattended network gatherings together. The twelve principal informants each kept a

diary of their social activities over a period of six months which I used to graph theirindividual social fields and the broader social activities of the network.

9 I attempted to interview equal numbers of people from Northern and Southern

regions. The main regionsinclude

Sicily,Abruzzi, Molise, Calabria, Veneto, Lombardyand Tuscany.10 Indeed, Italo-Australian weddings are also the butt of much humour amongst Italians

themselves (Vasta 1993: 221).

11I have witnessed the rite of the garter at working class Australian weddings in Perthand the rite of the bouquet is even more widespread.

12 I have received bomboniere at non-Italian weddings in Perth.As is evident in the

popularity of different types of cuisine, the adoption of cultural traditions is not onlyfrom host to immigrant.

13A man is said to have become a stallion after his first sexual

experience (cf. Peristianyand Pitt-Rivers 1992: 115).14 In this paper I have focused on the womens perspective. Given that the men also exag-

gerate their performances in the rites, one could argue that the wedding is also an

ambiguous and contradictory site for the construction of second generation mensethnicity and sexuality.



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