Abstract
The analysis of the so-called gender paradox represents the starting point of a theoretical-interpretative framework which, through a structuralist analysis of gender identity, intends to introduce understanding criteria capable of shedding new light on a paradox that only appears to be such. After examining the achievements of the most recent sociological literature on gender, with particular reference to the multidimensional perspectives that look at gender as a structure in the Giddensian sense, the article proposes an original interpretative framework that explores the potentialities of structuration theory, delving into the dual nature inherent in structures, through the recurrence of “cultural patterns” and “symbolic resources”. The second part of the article proposes a theoretical shift that assumes gender identity as a structure, to thematize the processes of social structuring that, starting from modernity, have led to the emergence of individuation processes, then declined, in late-modern societies, into individualization and singularization. The proposed interpretative framework allows, in the concluding part of the article, both to highlight how the gender paradox is not paradoxical at all, and to read the strong polarisation of the public debate around the redefinition of possible gender identifications as an expression of the new cleavage between hyper-culture and cultural essentialism.