1 Maria Gulczynska-Baci The Unfortunate Dual Nature of an Average Italian Woman An essay/social criticism Once upon a time there were supposed to be clear boundaries and there was Mars and Venus, national borders and cultural particularities or such was the conviction placed upon us by whoever decided the fate and nature of human identification. Then an Italian female walked into the scene and gave the world a dual citizenship in her body. Has it been forced on her or voluntarily chosen? One can only try to guess. Just imagine an auto-portrait, or a selfie as digital natives would like to call it, a picture of a woman with two faces, two façades of the same entity based on its biblical image. The first (or last?),would be the one... the only... Madonna! No, it´s not the one you are thinking of. She does not sing that she is ´like a virgin´ because she IS supposed to be a virgin - stainless and untouched by the mundane affairs of the common people. A person defined by her motherhood - warm, understanding, with a love toward her (preferably male) child that verges on the obsessive. This child cannot learn to make mistakes on their own because she will tidy up and cook, she will make fresh pasta from scratch and iron everything, including underwear and socks, to keep him away from self-reliance. You have to worship her, admire and god forbid contradict her holiness when it comes to child protection or rights. This image either discriminates or gives an excuse to the paternal figure to be absent or to feel and act as if there was a ´reduced tariff´on his obligations to service as a father. Hence, all depends on the mother and the reward for it might be the image of a being that is