A pinky finger gave you away? Dangers and joys of embodying femininity among Pakistani refugees in Italy

This contribution starts off from the awareness that in the South Asian region sexual variance is often constructed in bodily gendered terms – i.e., “men” who engage in homo-sex are both classified and stigmatized in terms of their gender variance (their “effeminacy”), rather than for their participation in homo-sex per se (Dutta and Roy, 2014) – to then investigate what happens to such gender-defiant embodiments when they are carried out beyond the borders of South Asia, within the highly regulated regime of SOGI refugee migration to Italy. Focusing on selected ethnographic vignettes that center on the life experiences of young Pakistani gay refugees currently living across different areas of Italy, the paper wants to shed light on the double-edged role that the body – especially in what are perceived as its more “feminine” movements and gestures – plays for self-identified gay men in opposite processes of both marginalization and community/intimacy formation throughout the migratory process. Be they small, involuntary gestures – such as automatically raising your pinky finger while drinking from a cup –, or carefully pondered upon actions – like doing your make-up before appearing in front of the authorities that will adjudicate your asylum case –, these everyday gender-defiant embodiments of femininity constantly hold within themselves the ambiguous potential of eliciting both sought-after joyous recognition and unwanted violent sanction.