Abstract
This paper was first published as an afterword in I. Illich, Genere. Per una critica storica dell'uguaglianza, Neri Pozza, Vicenza 2013. A second edition of the book was issued in October 2016 with the title, Gender. Per una critica storica dell'uguaglianza. Noteably, the word gender has become an Italian word during the last two years, due to the Catholic mobilization against a so called "gender theory" (in Butler's sense of the term). Quotations bear reference to the paging of the original version (1982). The present English translation is by Jane Upchurch. After the composition of this text, two noticeable books of memories appeared in Europe concerning the same subject: Franco La Cecla's, Ivan Illich e la sua eredità (Medusa: Milano, 2013) and Uwe Pörkssen's, Camelot in Grunewald. Szenen aus dem intellektuellen Leben der achtziger Jahre (C.H. Beck: München, 2014).