How did the restoration of democracy in 1983, following years of repression and censorship, transform sexuality, as well as representations and ideas about it? This talk by Natalia Milanesio, Professor of Modern Latin American History at the University of Houston, addresses this question by exploring the unprecedented sexualization of Argentine culture and society after the fall of the last military dictatorship. Sex became omnipresent, not only symbolizing indulgence and fantasy but also carrying a wide array of social, political, and cultural meanings such as citizenship, social progress, national development, and modernity. These associations transformed sexual culture into a powerful metaphor for democracy and the reconstruction of Argentine society.

Natalia Milanesio is the author of Destape: Sex, Democracy, and Freedom in Postdictatorial Argentina (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019) and Workers Go Shopping in Argentina: The Rise of Popular Consumer Culture (University of New Mexico, 2013).