Tempo libero, gioco e sport nei secoli: una questione di genere? Introduzione alla sezione monografica/Leisure Pursuits, Games and Sports Over the Centuries: a question of gender? Introduction to the monographic section

Women and men of all epochs and civilisations have played, spent their leisure time or practised sports together or separately, and have attributed value and meaning to the promotion, participation and enjoyment of such games and practices – as well as to being excluded from them or forced to do so. The issue concerns people and groups of various ages, origins and social status, ethnic, cultural, political or religious affiliation. Gender difference, however, has a special status: it divides (or unites) humanity in half; yet its naturalness is largely apparent, given that the distinction in social roles is essentially a cultural construct, which varies according to circumstances and latitudes. Which practices and which recreational contexts, in particular, lend themselves to significantly exemplifying the important symbolic capital that women and men have invested in them from time to time, each in their own way, and how have the very forms of playfulness contributed to defining, reinforcing or undermining, among other identities, that of gender?