Although Spanish-speaking lands are often imagined as lands of sexual intolerance, Buenos Aires is better characterized by ineffectual repression and by its recent celebration of sexual diversity. In this chapter we analyze sexuality in Buenos Aires against the backdrop of economic, socio-demographic, cultural, and political transformations that often undermined the regulations of authorities. The decades between 1880, when Buenos Aires became the capital, and the overthrow of President Juan Perón in 1955 were crucial for the formation of modern Argentina and constitute its focus. We begin with some preceding historical trends in the colonial and early independent era, and end with a succinct analysis of a few salient trends after 1955, especially those leading to Buenos Aires becoming a leader of LGBTQ+ rights in the twenty-first century. We discuss immigration, class differences in sexual behaviours, commercialized sex, sexual diversity with marica and homosexual identities, the rise of family sociability, and the push for sexual ‘normalcy’.

Various prologues and public statements made by Borges about Domingo F. Sarmiento respond to specific historical conjunctures where violence evinces anxiety about barbarism. In 1944, the prologue to ’Recuerdos de provincia’ responds to the immediate context of the Second World War and equates Nazism unequivocally with barbarism. In 1957 and 1968, Sarmiento’s formula of civilization/barbarism continues to serve as a framework for interpreting reality under Perón’s two governments. At the same time, however, the other classic work of Argentine literature, ’Martin Fierro’, evokes a world of courage and rebellion that crystallizes the aesthetic phenomenon. With the return of Perón in 1974, Martin Fierro is displaced again by Facundo as a compelling archetype in and for the national imaginary.

Throughout his life, Borges was concerned with the identity of his nation. The model of the gaucho from nineteenth century letters was replaced by faith in the criollos, who Borges in the 1920s believed should join forces with immigrants to create a democratic and progressive model for the nation. In the 1940s and 1950s, Borges took up a position against right-wing nationalists including General Perón. Later, after he had declared support for the military coup of 1976, Borges acknowledged his mistake and expressed a utopian vision of a world modelled on the Swiss Confederation.