1. Can the category 'culture' (or religion) be used?	The category culture can be used when the behaviour comes from a family member (mother/father/grandfather/grandmother, other relatives or friends) within certain groups, in the context of manifestations of pride in one's children/grandchildren. In this case we are faced with a cultural genital kissing/caressing/touching aimed to prize the male child, and not with a sexual genital kissing/caressing/touching aimed to give sexual pleasure to the adult.
2. Description of the cultural (or religious) practice and group.	The homage to a male child's genitals, known in literature as “homage to the penis” (Money, Prakasam, Joshi 1991), is a cultural practice, widespread in various groups, that may consist of a wide range of behaviours such as caressing, kissing, hickeying, tickling, rubbing, manipulation, display of photographs, praise and/or verbal appreciation of the child's penis (and/or testicles), all united in their phenomenological diversity by the following element: a celebratory attitude, devoid of any sexual component, towards the male child's genitals. The practice is a species of the broader genus 'Displays of affection concerning children's genitals' (see entry Displays of affection concerning children's genitals in this Guidebook) and is treated here separately for its peculiarities. Participants in the aforementioned behaviour diverge, depending on the cultural group: potentially both parents, or only the father or only the mother; more or less close relatives or only male or female relatives; and/or guests and friends of the family. As far as the recipients are concerned, they are male children. The age of the children who are the recipients of the various forms of “homage to the penis” may differ: in some groups, it is babies and infants, in others, children up to the age of six or seven. In some cases (Dominican Republic), the practice is attested until the child reaches puberty. The practice of 'penis homage' can present itself in a threefold phenomenology: physical, verbal, visual. In its physical phenomenology, the practice of 'penis homage' may consist of kissing, sucking, mouthing and lightly nibbling with the lips (in a loving way and without any pain for the child), touching, stroking, rubbing, playing with, tickling, uncovering and displaying the child's penis. In its verbal phenomenology, the 'penis tribute' may consist of words uttered by the adult to praise the child's penis (sometimes, in addition to the penis, the testicles are also celebrated), appreciate its beauty, jokingly challenge the child on genital-related issues, as well as may consist of encouraging the child to urinate during toilet training. In its visual phenomenology, the practice of the 'homage to the penis' may consist of taking and displaying photos of the male child naked or urinating in family albums or frames (Italy, Japan), and of sending photos of the child with its genitals in evidence to relatives and friends to celebrate the birth of the baby (Italy until 1970). With the advent of technology, photos have been joined by videos of babies, generally taken while bathing, which are sent via mobile phone to relatives. Historically, as we shall see (Anthropological Insights, §. 4. The ostentatio genitalium of the baby Jesus as a pictorial genre of Renaissance Europe), the pictorial genre of the ostentatio genitalium of the baby Jesus, widespread in Europe throughout the Renaissance until the Council of Trent, and the ostentatio urinarum or puer minguens, an artistic genre manifested in fountains or paintings, is part of the visual phenomenology, and survives, in some groups (including Italians), in family photographs that immortalise the male child while standing up to pee. Multiple, in their common celebratory attitude, are the functions that the behaviours enumerated above fulfill: expressing the glory of the family's prosperity and perpetuation; showing pride and happiness because a male child has been born; honouring the genitals as a symbol of fertility; expressing paternal pride for the continuation of the surname that occurs through the male child; praising the child's virility; teaching the child to become aware of its male gender (distinct from the female gender) and proud of its genitals to prepare it for its future reproductive function, according to a process defined as gendering the body (on the morphological and functional details in the individual groups infra detailed description of the practice). In no case is the function of the practice aimed at adult sexual gratification. Forms of homage to the child's penis are attested in Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and the Arab world in general, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, Spain, Italy, particularly Southern Italy, numerous Roma minority groups.
​3. Embedding the individual practice in the broader cultural (or religious) system.	The practice of homage to the penis is linked to the following other cultural elements: a high value attributed to fertility and reproduction; a high value attributed to the male gender; a cultural continuity, generally unconscious, i.e. a pagan legacy regarding the sacred nature of genitals (in ancient Rome, male genitals were sacred and there were public representations of the phallic symbol: it is an unproven hypothesis that in minority cultural enclaves in Italy, especially in rural areas, this form of celebration of male genitals is a cultural continuity with those pagan roots).
4. Is the practice essential (to the survival of the group), compulsory or optional?	The practice is optional: it is an automatism of which parents are often unaware, implemented in the family context. The groups do not even name the practice (the name 'homage to the penis' has been attributed by transcultural medical-psychological doctrine, Money, Prakasam, Joshi 1991), as it does not belong to the category of structured or ritualised behaviour, but rather to habits that are transmitted intergenerationally without a precise awareness of origin and meaning.
​5.     Is the practice shared by the group, or is it contested?	Homage to the penis is a cultural behaviour shared by the group where the child's socialisation takes place and is transmitted intergenerationally. No protest actions against the practice have been reported. It should be noted that, depending on the group, in certain social classes and in urban areas, the practice tends to disappear or remain only in its verbal manifestations.
​6.     How would the average person belonging to that culture (or religion) behave?	The father/mother/relatives belonging to the groups where the behaviour takes place would kiss, caress and make verbal appreciations directed at the child's penis.
​7.     Is the subject sincere?	Factually ascertain that the family member engaging in the behaviour is not a paedophile.
8.     The search for the cultural equivalent: the translation of the minority practice into a corresponding (Italian) majority practice. ​	8. The search for the cultural equivalent. The translation of minority practice into a corresponding (Italian) majority practice. The practice of penis homage has been and is widespread in Italy. It manifests itself in the three physical, verbal and visual forms examined above (question 2). On a physical level, in several areas, especially in southern Italy, it was and still is customary for mothers to kiss the child's penis. For example, in the Piana degli Albanesi in Sicily, the kiss on the infant's penis given by the mother could be born out of a gesture of pride, performed to affirm 'you are a man' (source: Professor Antonino Colajanni personal communication, Rome, June 2019). Throughout Italy it is still common, especially after a bath, to kiss the baby all over the body and, in several families, even the genitals may be the object of a superficial kiss in a context in which the whole baby is sprinkled with kisses. In this case, we are mainly dealing with a cuddle, less connected to aspects of pride in the child's virility, although still reflecting a celebratory and joyful emotion. On a verbal level, one can speak of a linguistic practice of 'penis homage' in Italy when parents appreciate the way the child urinates or make benevolent and laudatory comments about his sex. The fathers' pride in their newborn male child may manifest itself in the following phrases: 'what nice balls' (addressed to testicles), 'what a nice willy', even accompanied by caresses or tickling. The logic of this verbal practice, which is not recurrent with girls whose sex is rarely mentioned in a celebratory way, is the same as the other forms of 'homage to the penis' analysed here (expressing pride in virility in particular) and may, therefore, fall into this category in the strict sense. On a visual level, the practice of 'penis homage' appears in Italy in various morphologies. Until the 1970s it was an established custom, when a male child was born, to send relatives and friends a photo announcing the birth of the baby. The baby, only a few months old, generally appeared lying down or sitting up, naked with his genitals clearly in view. This custom was a way of saying 'we had a baby boy' (source: Maria Teresa Mele, retired teacher, Modolo village, age 84). Even today, albeit without the same celebratory attitude towards the male, it is still customary in Italy to take and send photographs of the baby, just a few months old, naked after a bath or lying on the parents' bed to relatives and friends. With the advent of the Internet, this practice has been replaced by sending digital photos and videos. Again on a visual level, in Italian family albums, and often also in photos placed in special tables in homes or on shelves in various rooms, it is usual in Italy to place photos of their young children naked or while, standing, peeing. The latter is a form of ostentatio urinarum, comparable, mutatis mutandis, to the sculptural and pictorial genre of the puer minguens, which likewise contains a celebration of the child's penis devoid of any sexual component (Steinberg 1983). Historically in Italy there are two forms of homage to the penis totally devoid of sexual intent. These are the ostentio genitalium and the puer minguens (see Anthropological Insights below), - two pictorique genra developped from the Renaissance to Baroque -  which can still be observed today in major museums in Italy and around the world and which do not generate any reaction from the legal system.
9.      Does the practice cause harm? ​	No. When the child is an infant he actually benefits from physical contact. When the child grows up he is able to understand from the context that the gesture made by his parents is harmless. The practice could be harmful in those cases in which the child is no longer a baby, if the child, transferred to another culture such as the Italian one, were to acquire a different reading of the practice (e.g. knowing that children who are no longer babies and who are caressed or kissed on the genitals are the object of paedophile attention, the child might wonder if he were in such a situation): in this case, at the child's request, the parents should refrain from practising it. In any case, criminal prosecution of the behaviour should be ruled out and the resolution of the conflict arising from the child's new perception of the act should be resolved within the family and the school.
​10.  What impact does the minority practice have on the culture, constitutional values, and rights of the (Italian) majority?	The practice can easily be confused with a paedophile act, especially in morphologies not common in Italy. The practice, once its meaning is known, does not contravene the values and rights protected in Italy as it is not a sexual act and does not harm the child.
​11.   Does the practice perpetuate patriarchy?	Yes. In general, in the majority of groups the practice corresponds to a patriarchal logic that feminism criticises as 'phallocentrism', insofar as it emphasises the male child's genitals. The practice, in fact, is characterised by an over-celebration of the male child's genitals and a silencing of those of the girl’s. However, it should be revealed that in some groups where the practices of kissing and caressing the children's genitals are symmetrical for boys and girls (see the entry Displays of affection concerning children's genitals) this connotation fades, even though kissing and caressing the girls' genitals are, in general, performed to cuddle or to gender the body, rather than to pay homage to the girl. There are no attested forms of 'homage to the vagina'. This being said, the answer to this test question cannot be used as an argument to reject the cultural practice or prohibit it, as it is a patriarchal practice with no immediate harm, but rather reinforces the (male) child’s self-esteem.
12.  What good reasons does the minority present for continuing the practice? The criterion of an equally valid life choice.	Minorities engage in the behaviour spontaneously, as a form of expressing enthusiasm and admiration for the male child. Since there is no harm to the child, minorities have good reason to claim the right to perpetuate their culture (Art. 27  International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966) and to be able to freely express themselves in the forms of physicality and affection towards their children (Art. 30 of the Italian Constitution).