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The embrace of two Argentine tango dancers

For a more general overview, see Church-State relations in Argentina.

Sexuality in Argentina

Introduction

Argentina, especially Buenos Aires, is known to have a very sexually driven culture. Home of the passionate and sizzling Tango dance, Malbec red wine, and nightclubs open until 8am it isn’t hard to see why. Socio-cultural influences and change across age cohorts play a pivotal role in Argentine sexuality. The church, the state, and national media have traditional associated Argentine youth with trouble and sexual deviance. Now it is a matter of sexual education in schools as well as impact of society and the media in shaping the youth’s image of sexuality. In adulthood, there is a shift from the norm of marriage and traditional gender roles as well as a new trend of “consensual partners” and living with one’s family until marriage. Among older adults, sexuality is most unashamedly expressed through the art form of tango. Argentine sexuality is, in effect, a result of a complex mix of influences from the regressive and progressive periods of its history. Throughout the ages, Argentina’s sexual culture differs while each age group offers a piece of the puzzle to understanding Argentina today.

Youth Sexuality

Media Influence

Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

During the Easter season of 1962, Cardinal Antonio Caggiano of Buenos Aires sent a message to all Catholics. He focused on what he believed to be the gravest problem of the time “the deviation and perversion of the moral sense,” ). He particularly emphasized the “pernicious effects of cinema and TV” on the Catholics morals and family ideals, as well as called for “defending childhood and youth from the impacts of immorality; for containing the irruption of an overflowing pornography,” (p.447). During this time moral campaigns were targeted at subversive teenagers to defend Argentina’s youth from indecency as they were conceived above all else as sexualized beings. According to Manzano, the subjects of youth and sex were deeply intertwined and were interrelated “problems” to the state. The 60s jump-started a fight for sexual freedom of the youth in Argentina that was repressed by many military dictators to come before it could finally be expressed.

Government vs. Youth

In the 1970s the military government passed two decrees which restricted the sale of contraceptives and prohibited all family-planning activities in public hospitals . The Government’s pro-natalist population policy came from the belief that the unpopulated regions of the expansive country weakened its geopolitical power in the world and that they needed to procreate to gain more power. Only after Raul Alfonsin restored a democracy in 1986 were the restrictions lifted. Since then a weak relationship has continued between the Government and the youth because of failure to act on much-needed youth policies. With the support of international agencies since the early 1990s, these policies including sex education are finally starting to be implemented .

A giant condom on the Obelisk of Buenos Aires, Argentina, part of an awareness campaign for the 2005 World AIDS Day

Sexual Education

In the past, if a teacher decided to teach sexual education (usually left to biology teachers) it was no more than a description of the reproductive organs in plants and animals, and some references to the role of ovaries and testes in human reproduction. The teacher would generally not take questions or show pictures . The Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Program of Argentina has been in effect since 2002. This initiative establishes the right of adolescents to access universal and free contraceptive methods in public hospitals without being accompanied by an adult. In addition, it requires the Ministry of Education to design and implement sex programs

The Argentine Senate passed the National Program of Comprehensive Sex education in October 2006 and recognized “all students have the right to comprehensive sex education in every province in the country by combining biological, psychological, social, emotional and ethical aspects,” . The law was considered a milestone in Argentina because not only was it the first time the state ensured free distribution of contraceptives, but expressed a definite intent to spread reproductive health information across the country

Sexual Knowledge of Modern-Day Youth

Anibal Ponce, an Argentine scholar in the 1930s, studied the problems of growing up in Argentine society in his book Ambition and Anguish Among Adolescents. Regarding the common feelings of being isolated and alone, he said:

With a personality not yet formed, and while trying to awkwardly build the structures of his ego, the adolescent suffers more than anybody else, the anguish of solitude, because he or she needs more than anybody else the support of the others.

The Argentine youth of today are just as awkward, curious and expressive about their sexuality. It is seen as normal for boys to play exploratory games with other boys as well as girls with other girls. However, sexual behavior differs from one group to another depending on location and lifestyle. In the larger cities of Buenos Aires, Rosario, Cordoba and Santa Fe the youth are exposed to a more cosmopolitan lifestyle and receive more information on sex and sexuality. In addition, they are swarmed by magazines and media, which cannot be hidden by the Catholic Church or their parents.

In the pampas and other unpopulated regions of Argentina, sexual knowledge is not as prevalent and the Catholic Church has a much firmer hold. They are not as educated in contraceptive methods and truly believe that purely instinctive sex leads to pregnancy, confronting the boy with the responsibility of an early marriage that he is not yet ready to assume, and the girl with the responsibility of an unwanted motherhood for which she also is not prepared .

Middle Age Sexuality

Delayed Marriage and Consensual Unions

From adolescence to adulthood, Argentinians are experiencing a new trend of not conforming to the traditional values of the past. In reaction to the repressive military dictatorship throughout the 70s and early 80s as well a reaction to the strict laws of the Catholic Church, men and women are waiting longer until marriage or agreeing not to marry at all. Within this new generation lies the trend in consensual unions and partners before marriage and, consequently, delayed childbearing. In the city of Buenos Aires the average age of marriage has always been much greater in comparison to other Latin American Countries. From the 1890s to the early 1900s, the average age of marriage in Argentina was between 22 to 23 years old, compared to the region’s average of 20 years old. By 1999, Argentina’s average increased to 28.6 years old due to the increasing number of consensual unions from 7.6 percent of the population in 1990 to 13.7 percent in 1990. The study shows that if many consensual unions are a previous step to marriage then the picture could be one of overall delayed childbearing .

Some love hotels have multiple complex entrances designed for the discretion of customers.

In part because of the reaction against its history and religion and trend in consensual partners, as well because of the effects of the horrible economic depression of 2001, more and more adults are living with their parents past the age of 30 and up until marriage.In Buenos Aires, it is nearly impossible to rent an apartment with astronomical prices and numerous obstacles, hence a family will stay together for much longer than other cultures . It is interesting to point the repercussions of this trend in how society has adapted. As previously stated, telos have become an answer to the ongoing problem of where to bring a spouse, girlfriend, or any person for the night.

Telos

Telos are sex hotels in Argentina, mostly in Buenos Aires, which have provided a socially-accepted, safe and comfortable way to have sex without bringing the person to the family home. “It’s a business like anything else here. The same as a supermarket,” says José, a 70-year-old employee of a telo in Constitución in Buenos Aires. “It’s not shameful. We’re providing a service which people obviously want. The majority of people who come here are middle aged, maybe 60% of them . Anna Wortman, an anthropologist at the University of Buenos Aires states that people are becoming more liberal and are not ashamed of their sexuality— especially since the introduction of democracy. “However, in Argentina we live by double moral standards. We’ll happily talk about telo experiences freely, but not who we go with!” .

Portrait of a gaucho from Argentina. Photographed in Peru, 1868.

Machismo Society and Gender Roles

In terms of double standards, although people are becoming more liberal, there is still a strong double standard in gender roles. Argentina has always been a male-dominated society where those who do not behave “macho” are scorned by men]] and women alike. They have been raised in the same machismo culture of most Latin American nations, are taught in [[Argentina to idolize the tough, macho gaucho (cowboy), and are typically praised by the number of sexual encounters they have . However, attitudes are slowly changing with the return to democratic freedom and TV messages from foreign countries penetrating into households.

The sexual behavior of Argentine women has always been much more conditioned by norms, rules, regulations, and taboos than the sexual behavior of men. The great Argentine heroine, Eva Peron, is said by her enemies to have been a woman of “loose morals who slept her way to the top” and married President Juan Perón . In contrast to Evita’s lifestyle, women were supposed to reach marriage in a virginal state, take care of the home, go to church, bear and educate children, and support their men in political, professional activities.

Although the double standard was socially accepted for centuries, since the late 1940s, women have taken major steps towards equal rights and independence from parents and spouses . In reaction to the 1976 Dictatorship’s attempt to repress the subversive youth by kidnapping sons and daughters, drugging them, and throwing them into the Rio de la Plata, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo paved the way for female expression. Since then, women have been leading social movements and in the 2001 economic meltdown, it was the women who took to the streets protesting and banging pots and pans . Adrian Sapetti, head of the Argentine Society of Human Sexuality, believes women are now more assertive than men in the country. “Women are much more active than 30 years ago… that new social dynamic also applies to sex. I have more and more male patients come to see me because they are struggling with this ‘new woman,’” .

Sexuality in Older Age

Tango

In order to portray the sexuality of older persons, the art of tango serves as a prime example. Tango is the soul and dance of Argentina. It is one of the only outlets in Argentine culture that openly allows and encourages male emotion over a woman. An Argentine writes, “in the lyric of the tango one does not look so much for pleasure in the poetry but for the emotive spirit of 'porteñoness’” or more, the emotion of a man from Buenos Aires . In the first half of the 20th century the dance evolved from being associated with the lower class and immigrants to a highly stylized dance form for all social classes to participate in . After the dictatorship of 1976 and the ban on the dance as a form of expression, a “new” tango evolved— focusing on nostalgia and the dance form. Astor Piazzolla became famous for popularizing tango once again for all generations and stayed true to classic tango form:

“Balada Para Un Loco” Words: Horacio Ferrer Music: Astor Piazzolla Subject: modern, pure poetry.

Quereme así, piantao, piantao, piantao... Abrite a los amores que vamos a intentar la mágica locura total de revivir... Vení, vola, vení!

Love me as I am, wild, wild, wild... Open up to love, we will attempt the magic insanity of a total renovation... Come, fly with me, come!

Although it has lost most of its popularity in youth culture, tango is still danced by older generations. The new ways of thinking and making love are also resounding among couples over age 55. It is often their children and grandchildren who awaken them to the new sexual behavioral patterns. Nowadays, grandparents do not stay away from a wedding where the bride in a long white gown shows signs of pregnancy and a granddaughter moving from home to the apartment of her boyfriend is not grounds for scandal. In Argentina, there is still strong interaction among the generations and the oldest easily perceive the freedom that the new generations have won.

Generativity vs. Stagnation

Most elderly couples, however, have yet to reach this openness and acceptance. They let their sexual drive disappear without seeking remedies. Many drift into depression and develop hypochondriac behavior. Open-minded elderly persons, however, are known to keep their own vitality and sensuality alive and are not ashamed to show love through hugging and kissing. They take sexual matters into their own hands and consult the gynecologist when the woman’s sex drive declines or the urologist at the first signs of impotence in the man. Although sexual behavior of older generations varies, there is a general trend in more liberal thought towards sexuality .

Conclusion

Throughout the ages, each group deals with different societal issues in Argentina’s sexual culture. In the awkward and curious stages of adolescence, sexual education programs are finally being developed and implemented throughout the country. The government has started to take note of youth’s issues but still has far to go to gain back the youth’s respect from years and years of repression and silence. Adults are experiencing a shift in traditional values and, in reaction to their history and strict religious values of the past, are choosing to live together in a committed relationship rather than tying the knot under the “eyes of god.” Because of the economic crash of 2001 many are choosing to save money by living with their parents, which then creates social implications of finding other places to be intimate with another person— hence the social phenomenon of telos as an answer.

An Argentine once said, “Tango: eres un estado de alma de la multitud.” Tango: you are the condition of the multitude’s soul . It is the one form of expression true to Argentina that lives through older generations in search of a time when tango and emotion of both sexes were celebrated. Although Argentina still falls into the category of other Latin American countries in its social progression, because of the influence of a globalized culture, it is a leader in the region in paving the way for sexual expression of all ages.

References

Category:Christianity in Argentina Category:History of Argentina Category:Politics of Argentina Argentina