1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Journal of Language and Sexuality
  4. Volume 6, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 6, Issue 2
  • ISSN 2211-3770
  • E-ISSN: 2211-3789
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Since the late twentieth century, Buenos Aires has been widely publicized outside Argentina as a “gay-friendly” destination. This period has also seen increasing immigration to the city from other parts of South America, especially neighboring countries and others with sizeable indigenous populations. An ongoing popular national narrative highlights hyper-masculinity as a preeminently Argentine characteristic. Distinct discourses characterizing Argentina as racially white-majority and anti-foreign and anti-indigenous, overinvested in machismo, and at the same time welcoming to nonheterosexual foreigners seem, on the surface, to be at odds. In this essay I explore intersections among race, gender, sexuality, and foreign origin as cross-cutting planes of discourse, which are all subsumed within and constitutive of the Argentine national imaginary. While these distinct domains of reference can isolate and contain different sectors of Argentine society, I argue that it is the overlapping, simultaneous application of raced-sex terms that necessarily denies masculine superiority to others and promotes it among Argentine men. Ultimately, therefore, a “permissive” atmosphere cannot challenge heteronormativity. I consider the ways that racial and sexual epithets (including and “fag,” “Bolivian + Paraguayan alien” or “Indian,” and , literally “Brazilian” but code for “Afro-heritage/black”) are differently used in conversational settings and media reports about sports teams and sporting events, especially soccer, as well as during those events.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/jls.6.2.05fem
2017-09-22
2023-12-07

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/jls.6.2.05fem
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Abarca, Humberto & Sepúlveda, Mauricio
    2005 Barras bravas, pasión guerrera: Territorio, masculinidad y violencia en el fútbol chileno. InJóvenes sin Tregua: Culturas y Políticas de la Violencia, Francisco Ferrándiz & Carlos Feixa (eds), 145–169. Barcelona: Anthropos.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Andrews, George Reid
    1980 The Afro-Argentines of Buenos Aires, 1800–1900. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. 2016 Afro-Latin America, 1800–2000. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Archetti, Eduardo P.
    1992 Argentinean football: A ritual of violence?International Journal of the History of Sport9(2): 209–235. doi: 10.1080/09523369208713791
     https://doi.org/10.1080/09523369208713791 [Google Scholar]
  5. 1999 Masculinities: Football, Tango, and Polo in Argentina. Oxford: Berg.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Armus, Diego & Rinke, Stefan
    (eds) 2014 Del Football al Fútbol/Futebol: Historias Argentinas, Brasileras y Uruguayas en el Siglo XX. Madrid: AHILA Iberoamericana Vervuert.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Avila, Eduardo
    2009 Argentina: Xenophobia in the football stands. Global Voices. globalvoicesonline.org/2009/03/18/argentina-xenophobia-in-the-football-stands/ (February12 2014)
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Barrionuevo, Alexei
    2007a Macho Argentina warms to gay dollars and euros. New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/world/americas/29iht-journal.4.8532361.html?pagewanted=all (January21 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  9. 2007b Buenos Aires journal: In macho Argentina, a new beacon for gay tourists. New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/world/americas/03argentina.html˃ (January21 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Boellstorff, Tom
    2005 The Gay Archipelago: Sexuality and Nation in Indonesia. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Boliviabella.com
    Boliviabella.com 2014 Bolivia vs. Argentina in more ways than one. www.boliviabella.com/bolivia-vs-argentina.html (December30 2014)
  12. Brown, Stephen
    2002 “Con discriminación y represión no hay democracia”: The lesbian and gay movement in Argentina. Latin American Perspectives29(2): 119–138. doi: 10.1177/0094582X0202900207
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X0202900207 [Google Scholar]
  13. Carrier, Joseph
    1995 De los Otros: Intimacy and Homosexuality among Mexican Men. New York: Columbia University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Carvajal, Carol Styles & Horwood, Jane
    (eds) 1996 Oxford Spanish Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Chávez-Silverman, Susana & Hernández, Librada
    2000 Reading and Writing the Ambiente: Queer Sexualities in Latino, Latin American, and Spanish Culture. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Connell, R. W.
    2005 Masculinities2nd edition. Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Cottrol, Robert J.
    2007 Beyond invisibility: Afro-Argentines in their nation’s culture and memory. Latin American Research Review42(1): 139–156. doi: 10.1353/lar.2007.0005
     https://doi.org/10.1353/lar.2007.0005 [Google Scholar]
  18. Courtis, Corina , Pacecca, María Inés , Lemon, Diana , Belvedere, Carlos , Caggiano, Sergio , Casaravilla, Diego & Halpern, Gerardo
    2009 Racism and discourse: A portrait of the Argentine situation. InRacism and Discourse in Latin America, Teun A. van Dijk (ed), 13–56. Plymouth: Lexington Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Diarioregistrado.com
    Diarioregistrado.com 2014 Alex Freyre: La mitad más uno de los putos también es hincha de Boca. Diario Registrado. www.diarioregistrado.com/deportes/107562-alex-freyre--la-mitad-mas-uno-de-los-putos-tambien-es-hincha-de-boca.html (April3 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Duke, Vic & Crolley, Liz
    1996 Football spectator behaviour in Argentina: A case of separate evolution. Sociological Review44(2): 272–293. doi: 10.1111/j.1467‑954X.1996.tb00425.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.1996.tb00425.x [Google Scholar]
  21. Dunning, Eric
    1999 Sport Matters: Sociological Studies of Sport, Violence, and Civilization. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Espiritugay.com
    Espiritugay.com 2012 Argentina la nueva meca del turismo gay de latinoamerica. www.espiritugay.com/argentina-la-nueva-meca-del-turismo-gay-de-latinoamerica/ (January21 2015)
  23. Femenías, Blenda
    2008 The Andean diaspora in Buenos Aires. (Paper presented at theAnnual Symposium of the Program in Latin American Studies, Johns Hopkins University)
     [Google Scholar]
  24. 2010 ‘How could this Indian be a diplomat?’: Gender, power, and transregional interactions in Argentina. (Paper presented at theAnnual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans)
     [Google Scholar]
  25. 2011 Arts and identities among Andean migrants in Buenos Aires. (Paper presented at theSociety for Applied Anthropology 71st Annual Meeting, Seattle)
     [Google Scholar]
  26. 2014 Slurs, sports, and spectacle: Nationality and the negation of masculinity in Buenos Aires. (Paper presented at the21st Annual Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference, American University, Washington, DC)
     [Google Scholar]
  27. 2015 Uncommon threads: Artists and laborers as Andean garment producers. (Paper presented at theWorkshop on Learning How: Training Bodies, Producing Knowledge. Freie Universität, Max Planck Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin)
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Foster, David W.
    1998 Buenos Aires: Perspectives on the City and Cultural Production. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Frydenberg, Julio , Daskal, Rodrigo & Torres, Cesar R.
    2013 Sports clubs with football in Argentina: Conflicts, debates and continuities. International Journal of the History of Sport30(14): 1670–1686. doi: 10.1080/09523367.2013.831840
     https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2013.831840 [Google Scholar]
  30. Gordillo, Gastón & Hirsch, Silvia
    2003 Indigenous struggles and contested identities in Argentina: Histories of invisibilization and reemergence. Journal of Latin American Anthropology8(3): 4–30. doi: 10.1525/jlca.2003.8.3.4
     https://doi.org/10.1525/jlca.2003.8.3.4 [Google Scholar]
  31. Govan, Fiona
    2012 Britain’s ambassador to Chile angers Argentina after Falkland Islands “cowards” tweet. The Telegraph. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/falklandislands/9611250/Britains-ambassador-to-Chile-angers-Argentina-after-Falkland-Islands-cowards-tweet.html (January21 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Grimson, Alejandro
    2005 Ethnic (in)visibility in neoliberal Argentina. NACLA Report on the Americas38(4): 25–29. doi: 10.1080/10714839.2005.11724497
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10714839.2005.11724497 [Google Scholar]
  33. Grimson, Alejandro & Jelin, Elizabeth
    (eds) 2006 Migraciones Regionales hacia la Argentina. Buenos Aires: Prometeo.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Guy, Donna
    1991 Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires: Prostitution, Family, and Nation in Argentina. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Helg, Aline
    1990 Race in Argentina and Cuba, 1880–1930: Theory, policies, and popular reaction. InThe Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870–1940, Richard Graham (ed), 37–70. Austin: University of Texas Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Hernández, Tanya Katerí
    2011 Hate speech and the language of racism in Latin America: A lens for considering global hate speech restrictions and legislation models. University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law32(3): 805–841.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Herrera, Clarisa
    2014 Buenos Aires, capital mundial del turismo gay. PanAmericanWorld. www.panamericanworld.com/es/articulo/buenos-aires-capital-mundial-del-turismo-gay (January21 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Joseph, Galen
    2000 Taking race seriously: Whiteness in Argentina’s national and transnational imaginary. Identities7(3): 333–371. doi: 10.1080/1070289X.2000.9962671
     https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2000.9962671 [Google Scholar]
  39. Lanacion.com.ar
    Lanacion.com.ar 2009 Las repercusiones tras la dura derrota: Messi: “Es imposible jugar en la altura.” La Nación. www.lanacion.com.ar/1114675-messi-es-imposible-jugar-en-la-altura (March18 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Leap, William L.
    2010 Globalization and gay language. InThe Handbook of Language and Globalization, Nikolas Coupland (ed), 555–574. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9781444324068.ch25
     https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444324068.ch25 [Google Scholar]
  41. Linovich, Walter
    2009 Enojo por las banderas. Infierno Rojo. www.infiernorojo.com/independiente/2009/03/enojo-por-las-banderas/?cp=all (March31 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Long, Gideon
    2013 Daniel Zamudio: The homophobic murder that changed Chile. BBC News. www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24722180 (March31 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Marchetti, Pablo
    2015 Puto El Que Lee: Diccionario de Insultos, Injurias e Improperios. Buenos Aires: Granica.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Miranda, Andrea
    2010 Una ciudad gay friendly. Mercado. www.mercado.com.ar/notas/vida-y-estilo/363982/buenos-aires-ciudad-gay-friendly (January21 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Molteni, Guido
    2011 Discriminación en el fútbol argentino: La violencia que nadie quiere ver. La Nación. canchallena.lanacion.com.ar/1352127-discriminacion-en-el-futbol-argentino-la-violencia-que-nadie-quiere-ver (June5 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Moreno, Aluminé
    2008 The politics of visibility and the GLTTTBI movement in Argentina. Feminist Review89: 138–143. doi: 10.1057/fr.2008.1
     https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.2008.1 [Google Scholar]
  47. Morgan, Joe
    2014 Gay man attacked and left for dead in Buenos Aires. Gay Star News. www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-man-attacked-and-left-dead-buenos-aires100614 (April20 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Mount, Ian
    2007 Gay World Cup. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/24/football.gayrights (April20 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Moya, José C.
    1998 Cousins and Strangers: Spanish Immigrants in Buenos Aires, 1850–1930. Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Museo de la Inmigración
    Museo de la Inmigración 2017 Argentina, Dirección Nacional de Migraciones. www.migraciones.gov.ar/accesible/indexN.php?museo (August10 2017)
  51. Noticias.univision.com
    Noticias.univision.com 2012 Buenos Aires atrae al turismo homosexual celebrando bodas. AFP – Agence France-Presse. www.univision.com/noticias/noticias-de-latinoamerica/buenos-aires-atrae-al-turismo-homosexual-celebrando-bodas (March5 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Olle, Nick
    2012 Modern marriage meets machismo. The Global Mail. www.theglobalmail.org/feature/modern-marriage-meets-machismo/10/ (January16 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Opinion.com.bo
    Opinion.com.bo 2011 En Bolivia. www.opinion.com.bo/opinion/articulos/2011/0701/noticias.php?id=16240 (February5 2014)
  54. Ortega Román, Juan José
    2007 Un territorio lingüístico en expansión geográfica: La jerga gay española. Anales de Geografía27(1): 69–82.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Paerregaard, Karsten
    2008 Peruvians Dispersed: A Global Ethnography of Migration. Plymouth: Lexington Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Parrish, Charles T. & Nauright, John
    2013 Fútbol cantitos: Negotiating masculinity in Argentina. Soccer & Society14(1): 1–19. doi: 10.1080/14660970.2012.692677
     https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2012.692677 [Google Scholar]
  57. Paz Soldán, Edmundo
    2008 “¡Dejen de molestar, bolivianos!” El boomerán(g), blog literario de Edmundo Paz Soldán. www.elboomeran.com/blog-post/117/4976/edmundo-paz-soldan/dejen-de-molestar-bolivianos/ (March31 2015)
  58. Podalsky, Laura
    2004 Specular City: Transforming Culture, Consumption, and Space in Buenos Aires, 1955–1973. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Posadagotan.com
    Posadagotan.com 2015 <posadagotan.com/blog/?p=415 (January21 2015)
  60. Prieur, Annick
    1996 Domination and desire: Male homosexuality and the construction of masculinity in Mexico. InMachos, Mistresses, Madonnas: Contesting the Power of Latin American Gender Imagery, Marit Melhuus & Kristi Anne Stølen (eds), 83–107. London: Verso.
     [Google Scholar]
  61. Rein, Raanan
    2015 Fútbol, Jews, and the Making of Argentina. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  62. Ridge, Patrick Thomas
    2014 Um bando du louco: Corinthians and masculinity in Boleiros and Linha de passe. Romance Notes 54(3): 419–425.
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Rockefeller, Stuart Alexander
    2010 Starting from Quirpini: The Travels and Places of a Bolivian People. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  64. Romero, Amílcar G.
    1985 Deporte, Violencia y Política: Crónica Negra. Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de América Latina.
     [Google Scholar]
  65. Ruggeri, Joaquín
    2014 Buenos Aires, meca del turismo gay. El Destape. www.eldestapeweb.com/buenos-aires-meca-del-turismo-gay-n1145 (January21 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  66. Salman, Ton & Zoomers, Annelies
    (eds) 2001 The Andean Exodus: Transnational Migration from Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Amsterdam: CEDLA.
     [Google Scholar]
  67. Salvatore, Ricardo
    2003 Wandering Paysanos: State Order and Subaltern Experience in Buenos Aires during the Rosas Era. Durham: Duke University Press. doi: 10.1215/9780822384731
     https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822384731 [Google Scholar]
  68. Salvemosalfutbol.org
    Salvemosalfutbol.org 2009 Discriminación, racismo y xenofobia en el fútbol. salvemosalfutbol.org/2009/07/discriminacion-racismo-y-xenofobia-en-el-futbol-argentino-un-problema-de-toda-la-cancha-y-mas-alla/ (March31 2015)
  69. Schávelzon, Daniel
    2003 Buenos Aires Negra: Arqueología Histórica de una Ciudad Silenciada. Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores.
     [Google Scholar]
  70. Scobie, James
    1974 Buenos Aires: Plaza to Suburb, 1870–1910. New York: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  71. Sofer, Eugene F.
    1982 From Pale to Pampa: A Social History of the Jews of Buenos Aires. New York: Holmes & Meier.
     [Google Scholar]
  72. Taylor, Diana
    1997 Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina’s “Dirty War.”Durham: Duke University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  73. Telegraph.co.uk
    Telegraph.co.uk 2014 Fifa fails to punish a dozen of clear racist and homophobic incidents at World Cup 2014, according to Fare report. Telegraph. www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10958490/Fifa-fails-to-punish-a-dozen-of-clear-racist-and-homophobic-incidents-at-World-Cup-2014-according-to-Fare-report.html?mobile=basic (March5 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  74. Terra.com.ar
    Terra.com.ar 2009 El árbitro Laverni detiene el Vélez-Boca por cantos racistas. Terra. deportes.terra.com.ar/futbol/sudamericana/el-arbitro-laverni-detiene-el-velez-boca-por-cantos-racistas,20281c68f0b5e310VgnCLD200000bbcceb0aRCRD.html (March31 2015)
     [Google Scholar]
  75. TourismArgentina.com
    TourismArgentina.com 2008 Gays in Argentina. www.tourismargentina.com/datos/datos_practicos.php?id_nodo=7&show=articulos&id_articulo=54 (January12 2015)
  76. TUR Noticias
    TUR Noticias 2012 Cinco destinos LGBT en la Argentina. www.caribbeannewsdigital.com/noticia/cinco-destinos-lgbt-en-la-argentina (January14 2017)
  77. Villalpando, Waldo , Feierstein, Daniel , Fernández, Norma , González, Ana , Ravenna, Horacio , Sonderéguer, María & Cassino, Miranda
    2005 Towards a National Plan Against Discrimination: Discrimination in Argentina. Buenos Aires: INADI.
     [Google Scholar]
  78. Wright, Timothy
    2000 Gay organizations, NGOs and the globalization of gay identity: The case of Bolivia. Journal of Latin American Studies5(2): 89–111.
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1075/jls.6.2.05fem
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Argentina; discourse; homosexuality; hypermasculinity; machismo; nationality; race; sexual epithets; slurs; sports

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error